You can usually work around any play on a table on a mill, for the
most part, but less or none is best. The old saying you get what you
pay for. I can't say what are better ones or not, as I got burned when
I supposedly bought one of the better brands of limported lathes, and
my friend got screwed just as royal with the same brand of Milling
machine. Its one of those supposedly white painted pieces of
machinery..........no manes called!

Lots of folks are content with a harbor freight mill or lathe, and
the work they turn out is as fine as others making same things on high
end machines. I would look for one that will fit your budget. I am
sure there will be plenty of opijions as to which ones are better than
others, but for the most part its still a crap shoot. Put your eyes
and hands on the one you want to buy or are at least interested in and
give it a try. See if you can find someone in your area that has
similar interests and see if they will let yo try theirs out.
Usually though if you invest n a good machine to begin with you can
usually get a good return on it as compared to reselling a harbor
freight type machine. If you really look you can probably come up with
a good used american made mill perhaps even a Bridgeport. I would
rather own a bridgeport with a bit of slop than a tight china import
anyday, as its inevitable its going to need parts someday and that can
present problems on import machines.



On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 12:51:52 -0500, "Paul Farber"
wrote:

===I'm a hobbiest just starting out, so I really don't want to throw a lot of
===money into a mill for a few years.
===
===I've been looking at low end mills (some import, some domestic) and one
===thing that I've read about is freeplay on the shafts. Most that i've
===fiddled with seem to have almost 1/4 turn of the shaft before the gears will
===start moving the table. Is that normal?
===
===For less than $1000-$1500 what low end mills are 'pretty good'?
===
===Thanks
===

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