Mike Berger wrote:

I'm looking for a mill for my home shop. I've passed up a few
great deals on Bridgeports (and a really nice hardinge lathe)
because my shop is located in the basement. It's dry, there's
lots of headroom, and it has a nice concrete floor. But it's
still downstairs. I'm trying to limit any machines that go
downstairs to 1000 pounds or so (per subassembly if they can
be disassembled without a lot of trouble!).

I want something better than the mill/drill units, something with
more stability and precision. I'll be working with mostly softer
metals, fabricating parts for small engines and projects.

I was considering the following three mills from Grizzly and
wondered if anybody had experience with them:

G3102 It's 915 pounds and looks almost like a real mill, only
smaller! $ 1800

G6760 At 1701 pounds it's definitely a stretch, and at $ 2700
it's at the high end of my price range, but it might be feasible
if it's substantially better.

G3616 This looks more like a Bridgeport than the others, and it's
even a little cheaper at $ 3400, but weighs 1996 pounds, and if
it doesn't break down into a few pieces it's probably too big.

I freely acknowledge the superiority of a lot of the older US made
machinery (thus the Clausing 5400 series lathe instead of the
Grizzly, Enco, et. al. alternatives) but my primary limitation is
that the equipment has to get down to the basement safely.

Comments on the above machines, or suggested alternatives, are
welcome.

Get the Bridgeport, you won't regret it.

Safely rigging a 1,000# mill into a basement and safely rigging a 3,000#
mill into a basement are just about the same. The Bridgeport will
readily breakdown into base, head and table sections that are relatively
easy to handle with suitable rigging. Lathes can usually be broken down
into a few manageable sections as well.

Pete C.