Grizzly, early impressions -- and some new items

Very early days still with the G0704 - but now have it bearably stable and starting to getting familiarized a bit - much practice yet required. By the way - the test piece of Al shown was not as clean on vertical face of the cut as desired - cutter was far from new and not sure actually if Y axis was properly locked down. Comments on machine and we show a few new budget type items to compliment it. Have found a local contact to acquire some more small pieces of much needed assorted stock to extend size options. Still planning to do a series of dial indicator checks on the grizzly for all axes etc.

[@ronkluwe4875]

Chris; A couple of suggestions from a fellow Chinese mill owner. 1) Look up "hossmachine" on KZbin and check out all his videos on his G0704. He has a lot of good tips and has made a lot of excellent modifications to his mill. Check out his other mill videos too for other tips. 2) If you haven't done so already, tear the mill apart completely and clean thoroughly. This is one area where the factory seems to miss the boat. I have found casting sand painted over on the inside of my mill castings. 3) True the gibs up. The parallelism and surface finish on the factory gibs are usually not too good. 4) If you know how to scrape and have the tools and surface plates, scraping the ways is definitely worth the effort. Another area where the factory doesn't do a very good job. 5) Consider replacing the spindle bearings with high quality taper bearings. I did this on my mill and significantly reduced the spindle run out. 6) Replacing the gears with a belt drive system is a good idea. The gear drive will break sooner or later. 7) One thing to keep in mind is that these machines don't have the stiffness necessary to make really heavy cuts. Even though the motor horsepower would lead you to thinking that you can take some deep cuts, the frame just isn't stiff enough to do this without risk of chatter. 8) Double check the lead screw nuts to make sure they are adjusted to minimize backlash. Another area often overlooked by the factory. All the above said, these are good value for the money and by doing a little bit of work to true up the mill, you can get some pretty decent accuracy out of them. Regards; Ron Kluwe

[@ChrisB257]

Hi Ron - yes, already discovered Hossmachines - lot of stuff to see there when time - always finding time problem.! Many thx for all the suggestions -- early days yet but like as not there will be some mods made to improve things eventually - yet to do my critical indicating tests on all aspects to discover how good or not-so-good things might be..

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

Glad to see you are getting things set up. I would like to get a dividing head but for now I seem to always spend my money on my other interests. Be careful doing that ceiling. A fall can be a major inconvenience for us older folks. Thanks for sharing.

[@ChrisB257]

Yes - ceiling will be a bear of a job and care very necessary for this old fart!

[@tonyburndred9828]

I'am sure it will give you hours of pleasure once you're up to speed, Looking forward to see you make some chips nice looking machine good luck and keep the vids coming Tony

[@ChrisB257]

Hi Tony - certainly look fwd to practice and getting going in earnest. Just want more time and a less cold shop!

[@patw52pb1]

Woo hoo, Santa was good to you. Congratulations, the new additions should make your projects a little easier to machine. Thanks, for your time effort and sharing, looking forward to many new videos.

[@outsidescrewball]

Hi Chris Nice to see you getting the new machine setup in the shop while enduring the cold weather. Regarding import tools, I agree they are better than nothing. Suggestion for an early project is to make yourself an aluminum tooling plate that fits in your vise. I copied the Oxtool design with the attachment of the round stock to the bottom so the plate can also be set at an angle to hold work. Looking forward to your builds.... ATB Chuck

[@grobsaw]

Looking good. If you can, pick up a few 3/8 or 1/2" roughing endmills. You can remove a huge amount of stock with them and save your other mills for finnishing

[@ChrisB257]

Good advice Bill - makes a lot of sense. Thanks. Ordered a 1/2" M-42 for starters.

[@grobsaw]

You'll like it. They make small chips that are easy to suck up in the shop vac. They don't take a lot of hp to run them either. A couple magnets and a few pieces of plexiglass will make you some cheap moveable shields

[@MrEh5]

Hi Chris. Be very careful tightening the set screw on the coaxial center finder,if it is like mine the screw is coated brass. Did you get a compensation chart for when you are using different size probes?.

[@ChrisB257]

Thx for the heads up Bob - will inspect. No actual chart unfortunately - I'll have to scout around for a chart from another make probably... thoughts?

[@mrmyford]

making your own tee nuts is a good start, I always make them in one length, and cut down to size, I make them longer than the one supplied, that way , you have less stress on the bed the machine looks good anyway, only thing I would change , if it was mine would be the vice !! good luck, thanks for sharing regards...Keith in Swindon u.k

[@ChrisB257]

Agreed Keith - longer T-nuts are very logical to reduce/spread bed load. Just trying that vice out in the mill for now but, have other options yet to bring into use.

[@geneintn9320]

Excellent!!!! Someone once told me... "With a Lathe and a Mill, you can make anything...Including another Lathe and Mill." Enjoy.....

[@johnforya]

Hi Chris, good to see them chips! Not meaning anything with it, but wouldn't you say that a little bit of runout kinda goes sorta 'on par' with getting older too? LOL. Just got the same set of endmills in myself and they do look like the 'handle with care' type! Since I already had the 3/4 set of boring bars I ordered the 3" from shars. Now on the lookout for a bigger mill myself, hence the bigger stuff to match my lathe..:). Again, congrats, you're gonna have alot of fun so it seems! Keep vids coming!!!

[@ChrisB257]

Thx John - the age thing -- tell me about it! :)

[@rchopp]

I agree something is always better than nothing, have fun.

[@powaybob]

Good info. Just got a G0759 myself. Do you have more info on LED rings? Ebay?

[@ChrisB257]

Congrats on joining the Grizzly Club! :) Check this video of mine re the LED rings - kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5jaapuFobqrf7M Put a search into eBay for "angel eyes' - sold supposedly for adding to a vehicle!

[@ShuffleSk8Ter]

Hi Chris Nice Bits you have there...I have not done any milling with the drill press vise wondering how it got on with it? looks to be ok

[@ChrisB257]

Hey Lawrence - drill press vice seems very capable - ideal for some jobs but otherwise it'll be clamping probably.

[@acklan3]

Good video. Question: Is it possible to cut a hole in the floor and lay a concrete block or brick base to set your mill on?

[@FredMiller]

Making great progress there Chris. I went through the very steps you are going through about 3 years ago. I totally enjoy time spent in my machine shop. In the process I have also gotten to be great friends with our UPS man. He brings me presents at least 2 time per week. LOL Check out some of the projects I have made on my channel. Enjoy the journey my friend and make lots of ships.... Fred

[@gizzo123us]

P.S. how do you like the mill I just got and sieg x2 from little machine shop I am happy and sad at the same time it has no reverse!!

[@ChrisB257]

Thus far pleased - seems it'll manage what I want - time will tell of course!

[@pojotex6542]

Wire in a double pole double throw switch on the motor. That will give you reverse.

[@pojotex6542]

Nice mill. Hope to see some new projects posted.

[@gizzo123us]

I just bought the same two things from allindustrlal I will let you know how they are the co ax is the same as mine I have not got the boring head yet.

[@Opinionator52]

Now it starts Chris, fun, fun, fun....... You'll be able to get vibrations and chatter out by snugging locks here and there... You've got the idea already with your boring head. I think you'll have fun with your co-axial indicator! Take care! :o] O,,,

[@Cpl.Cadaver]

Question: What is your maximum depth of cut? I manage about .020 using a HSS 1/2" end mill when working with 4140 steel.

[@ChrisB257]

Hi William, I am probably similar to you - and in fact tend anyways to avoid super heavy cuts - being kind to the machine and tool! With a 1/2" carbide end mill on regular CRS may well take .050 cuts at higher RPMs ... HSS tooling probably half that at lower RPMs. Carbide insert facing cutter (1 1/2" perhaps) run fairly slow - probably still modest cuts such as .020/.025. never so far pushed the limits - maybe it's also due to age and being patient! :)

[@AeroSport103]

Make your own T-Nuts. They are easy to make and are a good starter project. I have the same boring head as you. The set/grub screws are very soft and so are the supplied allen wrenches. Mine did not last long at all. User 'hossmachine' can tell you anything you would like to know about the G0704 from what oil to use to how to convert to CNC. He has hundreds of videos... Take care, be safe!

[@ChrisB257]

Point taken re the grub screws, thx -- and I use other hex keys usually due to many supplied ones being too soft. I visited the g0704 site - lots of interesting stuff. I do have some T-nuts coming in a set of various things including clamps, studs etc - but may yet make some T-nuts anyways.

[@johnforya]

ChrisB257 Chris, get bolts that fit in the width of the slot and grind the head to fit...I did and works like a charm. I'm cheap, I know..:)

[@ChrisB257]

John Noneyabizz Done that John in past sometimes -- only thing is the loading on the slots can be a bit localized. Do prefer 'conventional' t-nuts when possible.

[@EddieTheGrouch]

It's been a couple of hours - are you done practicing, yet?! Machining videos are like watching NASCAR. We come for the accidents! :P Anyway, now ya have a mill and a whole new range of capabilities so we want to see some good stuff. I have bought stuff from allindustrial and when you order a keyless chuck - give them a miss. Very poor runout. Shars chucks are much better. A good bit of practice would be making a fly cutter :)

[@ChrisB257]

Hey Eddie - nowhere near done practicing! Lack of time and low temps all conspire to slow me down on that. I got my keyless chucks from from Shars - quite pleased with those. I do have some fly cutters so - other projects are in mind - eventually!

[@FredMiller]

I agree Eddie. I do like Shars items. For what I do they perform fine with minimum runout. I also do like my flycutters. They certainly live up to their name. Chip control is a constant challenge and cleanup can take a bit of time... Fred

[@EddieTheGrouch]

Fred Miller LoL. Unless you put the thing in a box there is no chip control. That's when we make copious use of that greatest shop machine ever invented - the Shop-Vac. Now that you mention it, I wonder how long Chris's sneeze shield will be in place...

[@ChrisB257]

Eddie the Grouch Haha - 'sneeze shield! :) Chance are that will be de-activated very soon.