Info on Enco Square column mill/drill

[gdm62]

I'm looking at buying a mill sometime in the future. I know a knee mill would be the best but my projects won't be that big to justify a big mill. Does any one here have or have seen the Enco 20" square column mill/drill. It looks like it would be better then a regular mill/drill. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks
Gary

[JohnnyHopper]

I joined this group because I'm also sold on the square column mill.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mill_drill/

I just need to sell my wife on the idea.

[SGW]

You know of course that projects expand to require machines just slightly larger than the ones you have?

I'm afraid I can't give any specific feedback on the Enco machine. I encourage you go to see it "in person" if you can though. When I visited an Enco showroom about 18-20 years ago, I was pretty appalled by the bad quality of most of their stuff. Maybe it's gotten better.

[JohnnyHopper]

I know the quality won't be breath taking, but I don't have the resources (time and money) to inspect, buy and move a used BP clone. I love the stories I read here and envy all of you that are in machine rich areas with good auctions. I know I'm not in the loop and have very few connections, but Charleston SC does not seem to have many idle machine tools.

[zl1byz]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by JohnnyHopper:
I joined this group because I'm also sold on the square column mill.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mill_drill/

I just need to sell my wife on the idea.</font>

Hell I miss read that last line the first time and thought you said "you just need to sell your wife". Was thinking not sure if I would go that far for a mill. Well at least not an asian one, hehe. LOL

John.

[JohnnyHopper]

LOL! If I sell my wife, who will load parts into it after it's converted to CNC?

[WJHartson]

You might want to take a look at this web site. I have purchased from lathemaster and have been happy with the price and quality.

Joe

[JRouche]

I just bought the Enco. Free shipping to my door. They look (from the surface) to be "nicely" made machines. I am very familiar with HF stuff for example and the fit and finish on the Enco is nicer. The machine is stout, very stout for it's size. I have a fair amount of smallish machinery and this one kinda scared me while lifting it.

I am waiting on an ordered CNC conversion system for it. It will use servos and ball screws. I saw the company while visiting the cnc zone. You can see the system at http://industrialhobbies.com/. If anything, go there just for the freebie tips and how to section.

The mill is painted a standard type grey VS ugly red or green. The cool thing is the Z travel. You get the quill travel and the head on the column travel. Anyway I like it for the price. It's not a Bridgeport by any means but I'm gonna try to make it a nice small benchtop CNC mill. JRouche