looking for a better milling machine

[doug931]

I'm a new member, so bear with me if I ramble a little. I will turn 63 in feb and feel its about time for me to upgrade from the milldrill I have had for the last ten years.All my experience on machine tools has been totally self taught. I started with a 6in. atlas lathe in 1974 and have used it to good effect in my shop, where i restore old british motorcycles. the problem with the mill drill is the limited space between the chuck and the post. so, I am looking for a vertical/horizontal mill, single phaze, r4, power crossfeed and probably dro. I have found a suitable machine at grizzly, but they will not ship to a canadian adress, due to a no- competition clause with a canadian competitor( name withheld). Is there a source for these machines(probably made in taiwan), in canada. Or, does any one out there have one for sale, new or used.

[Thrud]

Doug

If you are in western Canada you could contact a few good suppliers out her to find you a good machine if you do not wish to do any footwork yourself. Thomas Skinner is a reliable dealer (1-800-661-9429) explain your needs and your expected budget and they migh be able to fid you a good reliable machine in the price range you are looking for. Alternately you will neen to go to some auctions and industrial sales and hope to come across a suitable machine.

If you need more machinery dealer contacts here in canada contact me by email and I will email you a long list of suggestions to get you started.

[SGW]

How about that "Canadian competitor"? If they're really a competitor, they ought to have the machine too. If not...maybe you could get 'em to write you a waiver for that that particular machine to let Grizzly sell it to you. (Although probably too logical....)

[doug931]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by doug931:

I'm a new member, so bear with me if I ramble a little. I will turn 63 in feb and feel its about time for me to upgrade from the milldrill I have had for the last ten years.All my experience on machine tools has been totally self taught. I started with a 6in. atlas lathe in 1974 and have used it to good effect in my shop, where i restore old british motorcycles. the problem with the mill drill is the limited space between the chuck and the post. so, I am looking for a vertical/horizontal mill, single phaze, r4, power crossfeed and probably dro. I have found a suitable machine at grizzly, but they will not ship to a canadian adress, due to a no- competition clause with a canadian competitor( name withheld). Is there a source for these machines(probably made in taiwan), in canada. Or, does any one out there have one for sale, new or used.</font>

thanks to thrud and sgw for there prompt response. I did find out that busy-bee can special order any machine from grizzly's catalog. so, even though they would not admit to being the mystery competitor,my guess is they are. I also had a good respnse from modern machine in edmonton.