Grizzly Mini Mill [Archive]

KCSO

10-31-2008, 10:58 AM

Folks have asked about a small mill for light gunsmiting work and so I thought I woulld post this. I have a small Grizzly mini mill that I use for my small jobs. The first picture is the front of the mill and will have the model number. This mill is sold by several outfits and is a foreign import. The second photo shows spotting the recoil hole for a front sight on a bobbed 44 mag revolver. This is mostly a demonstration photo as if I were really drillling the barrel I would have it off the frame and securely mounted, but it does show that there is adaquate room for most gun work. The Little Machine Shop has lots of acessories and lots of good info on these millls. My only suggestion is that when you get the mill get a spare set of gears too as they are plastic gears and sooner or later you will jam things up and strip a gear. The last photo is of a few of the tools that I have made using the mini mill. The screw jack, the firing pin depth gauge and the fly cutter were all made using the mini mill. Now the Mill itself was on sale for $479 and so fat i have built about $300 woth of tools on it and that's not counting the gunsmiting jobs completed. It will mill a 45 slide for a bomar cut but you need to go slow and use lots of cutting fluid. I also have a rotary tablle set up and am putting a power feed on this little devil. I actually use it almost as much as my big Smithy Mill/Drill.

lathesmith

10-31-2008, 11:49 AM

Nice post KC. I have the HF version of this mill, and have installed a belt drive and air spring conversion kit from LMS. This mill is great for small jobs, and as you point out it works fine for many gunsmithing tasks. Right now, I use it mostly for making Star dies, and I also got a 4-inch rotary table that is quite useful on occasion. I also recommend one of those small (3"or so) screwless tool vises, they are just the right size for this machine. I have been considering one of those power feed kits, I'd like to hear your report on yours once you get it up and going.
lathesmith

largom

10-31-2008, 09:29 PM

I have had a Grizzly Mill/Drill for about 12 yrs. now, it has paid for itself many times over just drilling and tapping receivers for scope base. I had to have the motor repaied once but that is the only repairs so far. Good machine.
Larry

Buckshot

11-01-2008, 11:47 PM

.............What's really cool also is the CNC setups on the small 3"x12" mini-mills. The entire setup is $2700. Anyone interested in making sights ? :-)

..............Buckshot

corvette8n

11-03-2008, 05:06 PM

could I cut dovetails in rifle barrels for front sights with it?

lathesmith

11-03-2008, 07:10 PM

Dovetails(no CNC needed) and sights(with CNC) are easily within the capability of this little mill.
lathesmith

KCSO

11-03-2008, 07:26 PM

I just finished making a folding leaf rear sight for a hand made Jaeger copy this weekend. Regular front and rear sights are a snap with this little machine. I also have a small rotary table set up and have made spare parts for S and W and the old Micro rear sights. Your realy don't need CNC to make nice sights for the older rifles with this unit.

Buckshot

11-04-2008, 02:17 AM

KCSO

11-04-2008, 10:57 AM

Well if you are retro like me you mill out a die and then forge your sights. I once made a whole bunch out of a sled runner. I was a poor boy in the country and it took me years to move up from a forge and a mexican milling machine.

Boomer Mikey

11-19-2008, 02:44 PM

KCSO,

Congrats on your MINI.

The little Mini Mills are better machines than the Smithy mill head's... I haven't used the mill head on my Smithy 1324 since getting a bench top mill and I removed the mill head from the machine last year.

It's amazing what you can do with the Mini Mills for their reasonable cost but beware the tooling and accessories will cost more than the machine.

I built a little gantry style CNC Mill using a Mini Mill head assembly and belt drive with a 2HP treadmill motor:

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/505/medium/Mike_s_R8_Mini_Gantry_Mill.JPG http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/505/medium/R8_Spindle.JPG

The CNC stuff is really cool but very expensive and the learning curve long. I enjoy the manual machines more.

Have fun,

Boomer :Fire: