considering an upgrade to a grizzly g3616

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  • lost_cause
    Senior Member
    • May 2010
    • 353

    considering an upgrade to a grizzly g3616

    i was hoping for a little feedback from the people here. i have a chance to buy a barely used grizzly g3616 vertical mill with a bunch of basic tooling such as an end mill set, boring head & bar set, hold down clamp set, and then the basics that come with it, such as a vise and collet set. there was more tooling, but to be honest i can't remember it all, because some of the tooling went with a g4106 lathe which is also for sale. looking at grizzly, the g3616 is $3750 with shipping - correction: it was $3750 shipped, but it appears they have just discontinued it in the last few days. the machine is being sold due to an untimely death but from what i understand the price on the mill is pretty much firm at $2300

    i currently have an older enco version of an rf-30/31 that i bought used a while back. i use it only for personal work. sure, i do the occasional thing for friends, but i'm not a professional. i know there is really no such thing as too big when it comes to machinery, but i bought that rf as a low price entry machine to have for the time being. i do a lot of drilling, but there are those occasional slots and grooves and notches that a mill just seems to be great for. i most always work in steel, but nothing really heavy.

    i'm wondering whether the g3616 is a decent size upgrade or not? table size and travel is about the same, but the weight of the g3616 is at least double, not to mention that it has a solid base as opposed to the sheet metal stand i have now. the other big differences i see are: not having the round column issue when i change head height, having the ability to rotate the head of the mill, power feed, and built in coolant system. anyone else have any observations / opinions / suggestions on whether this would be a good upgrade? one thing i will throw out now is that in my area, any sort of used metalworking machinery doesn't come up often, so buying a used bridgeport, etc. isn't always easy. sure, they can be found, but they are old and have all been used. this one i know is nearly new, and not likely to need any sort of work.
  • Toolguy
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2010
    • 6666

    #2
    Mill

    I would jump on that deal. That mill will probably do anything you will need to do for a long time to come. You will enjoy using that one a lot more, most likely. It could be a long time before another nice machine comes along for cheap.
    Kansas City area

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    • Davo J
      Senior Member
      • Jun 2008
      • 767

      #3
      I would say go for it, and maybe keep your current one as a drilling machine.
      I have the Australian equivalent to the 3617 and although mine has accuracy issues, I have not heard the same about the Grizzly ones.
      You will be way ahead with this mill over a round column mill and they are a lot more rigid.
      The power feed X is great and you can add the Y and Z axis ones like I did if you want for around $200 US each. The Bridgeport ones fit with Minor modification.
      The only issue I have seen with the Grizzly ones is the fine down feed worm is only supported on one end (the front), but is an easy fix.

      Dave

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