Steel Guitar Builder

At some point I may get a smaller Mill and thats one reason I was wondering how much I could do on a smaller machine.I have looked into it and should be able to do a lot on the smaller machines.The biggest problem might be necks or pedal board but I think I can manage

Right you are. A large mill really shines for those 2 things alone. Other drawbacks with a smaller mill is the need to make smaller cuts with smaller cutters to lessen vibration. My old TOS is worth it for the lack of vibration alone, plus it feels nice to hog out an end plate by making a 1/2" wide by 1" deep cut with a 1" end mill and the machine is just playing with it.

Yes I see what you mean.I really think having a larger machine would be great.Im looking at a lot of smaller new machines but I wish I could find a nice used large mill and I might actually do that but most of the used ones around me are kind of rough.

I could always just do wooden necks and get by a little easier but I really wanna make some metal necks at some point so I need a machine that can handle it.The Grizzly company has some good deals On smaller machines I found one for like 1500 that seemed good and it had a table travel of 19 inches or so and that would be good even though thats still not enough for the necks.

I have looked at Grizzly milling machines and they have several models at a good price.Is there any more companies I should look into that might have something 1200 dollars and under although I wouldnt mind finding something under 1000.

I found a company called Birmingham that makes milling machines and they have a nice little model for 895.00 that can do a lot and it gets good reviews.The table can travel 18 inches long and 6inches cross travel so not bad for the money.

I want to hear from some of you who have these smaller mills.Do you like them and do they perform ok with the projects you work on.Another thing if I was looking at machines under 800 dollars what do you reccomend.I think the best machine I have found is by wholesale tool and its 700 dollars and actually seems ok i mean it has a cross travel of 5 and a half inches and longitude travel of 9inches so not too bad for the money but I wanna hear some more opinions and I wanna know what brand or model you ended up with.

Hi Shobudmaverick,

I have a small 'Cowells mill' which has a travel of 6" x 3" which I did a lot of work on, I have recently purchased a 'Warco WM14' which is the same as the 'Grizzly G0704' and am currently using that to build my pedal steel.

The size of mill is really dependent on how much room you have to install it in. I would dearly love a 'Bridgeport mill' and maybe a 'Colchester Triumph lathe' and a surface grinder, unfortunately I only have a 12' x 10' workshop and a limited budget.

You can do some good work on small machines using your ingenuity to overcome their limitations.

Best Regards Ron Mc

I have heard of Warco Mills before but I dont know if I have ever ran across any online or not.I dont want to spend a whole lot and had originally hoped I could find an atleast ok machine for 700 dollars or less.I actually found a company called wholesale tool that makes one for 700 dollars that actually looks like a good machine.I have seen the GO704 from Grizzly and that really looks like an awesome mill.Is the price of the grizzly and warco about the same.

The mill is virtually the same model, it is of chinese manufacture and sold badged under different tool supplier logo's, so they are all 'six to half a dozen' and the same configuration.