Brass padlock cutaway advice

[adrenalynn]

Agreed. Harbor Freight or Grizzly.

[SnowyBoy]

Agreed. Harbor Freight or Grizzly.

Same as axminster. They are all the same machine, indentical in fact..... just painted a differn't colour carrying a differn't name. They are all chinese knock offs, but they are very good for what they cost.

[adrenalynn]

Actually, they do differ a bit. Table size, calibration on the dials, extruded aluminum vs pot-metal.

I've had both the Grizzly and the Harbor Freight - the Grizzly was worth the $25 more for the precision of the table and dial markings.

[tballard]

Actually, they do differ a bit. Table size, calibration on the dials, extruded aluminum vs pot-metal.

I've had both the Grizzly and the Harbor Freight - the Grizzly was worth the $25 more for the precision of the table and dial markings.

Man, we really need a whole 'nother forum dedicated just to tooling. I'm interested to see you say that about the X2 from HF vs. Grizzly.

I'm perpetually delaying buying a mill because I can't afford what I want, and can't bring myself to buy what I can afford.

I'd finally just about decided I could stomach buying an X2 through Harbor Freight, and now this comes along.... The price differential is more like 150 dollars between the HF and the Grizzly ones. (HF is here in town, Grizzly requires freight, and is a little more expensive) Would you say there is a 150 buck difference between the tables and handwheels? I thought the only "better" X2 was the one from MicroMark with the true inch leadscrews and stuff.

(I'm going back to drool over Sherlines now...)

[adrenalynn]

I wouldn't think there was $150 difference. I picked up the Grizzly locally from someone selling them "at cost" - ie. retail without shipping.

HF is local to me.

For $150, I'd go with the HF.

[Baloopaloop]

Thank you so much everyone, I still need to know if anyone knows where I can get one in the us. Does anyone know if you could get one at a minards or something? If not, how much do you think it would cost me to ship over a mill from the uk snowboy?

[adrenalynn]

Harbor Freight and Grizzly are both US-based.

Harbor Freight has stores in like fourty something states.

Shipping a mill from the UK to the US would have to be many hundreds of dollars in cost. By the time you shipped it, you could probably have bought the mill and half a lifetime of tooling at HF or Grizzly.

harborfreight dot com. (Not sure if that's kosher - mods - whack it if it's not, no big, with apologies)

[unlisted]

harborfreight dot com. (Not sure if that's kosher - mods - whack it if it's not, no big, with apologies)

Ya, in this case providing a link is okay, since you are not pushing anyone to purchase something, and its a generic main page link.


Onto a joke, (my girlfriend is jewish BTW) One day we were hanging out with some friends at a restaurant and someone asked if something was kosher. The little sister to another person there (who was very not jewish) asked and answered in one sentence:

"What does kosher mean? Does that mean you eat a lot of pickles?"

We all had a very good laugh at that one.. .

[adrenalynn]

Don't care for pickles.

I figured they wouldn't get the benefit of the inbound link if I spelled it out.

[SnowyBoy]

harborfreight dot com. (Not sure if that's kosher - mods - whack it if it's not, no big, with apologies)

Ya, in this case providing a link is okay, since you are not pushing anyone to purchase something, and its a generic main page link.


Onto a joke, (my girlfriend is jewish BTW) One day we were hanging out with some friends at a restaurant and someone asked if something was kosher. The little sister to another person there (who was very not jewish) asked and answered in one sentence:

"What does kosher mean? Does that mean you eat a lot of pickles?"

We all had a very good laugh at that one.. .

Kosher means 'legitimate'

[SnowyBoy]

Oh right, i thought you were asking. Didn't know it was a joke lol

[Baloopaloop]

Good news all, I just found out my best friends dad (he's a machanic and works with cars alot) has a milling machine!! I'm sooo excited to mess with it and see what I can do. And advice on what cuts should happen first to avoid warping the brass? Thanks for all the info everyone!!

[SnowyBoy]

Good news all, I just found out my best friends dad (he's a machanic and works with cars alot) has a milling machine!! I'm sooo excited to mess with it and see what I can do. And advice on what cuts should happen first to avoid warping the brass? Thanks for all the info everyone!!

If its a good mill machine with quality cutting attachments you have nothing to worry about warping anything, it will slice through like a hot knife through butter.

[Baloopaloop]

I was more worried about the clamping and vicing warping it than the bits. But I haven't looked at the machine yet and still don't really understand how it is opperated, is there a depth gauge so I don't over cut?

[SnowyBoy]

I was more worried about the clamping and vicing warping it than the bits. But I haven't looked at the machine yet and still don't really understand how it is opperated, is there a depth gauge so I don't over cut?

Depending on what machine it is i don't know. But all milling machines have measurements on the wheels that operate the tables and the chuck. On mine its a long strip with measurements in 1mm increments, but then on the fine tuning wheel it is 0.025mm increments.