[Zumba]

Enco had a 3" Criterion boring head, DBL-203, on sale for $250, but now it's back up to $290, about $5 off retail price, which sucks.

Now I'm debating whether i should just bite the bullet and go with a 4" head, the DBL-204. With the added diameter and offset, the maximum capacity when the boring bar is held vertically is about 7". I don't plan on boring any 7" holes, but it sure would be nice to be able to do facing on material up to 7" wide in one pass. Another plus is that it uses 1" boring bars, which should be much stiffer than a 3/4".

My concern is the R-8 arbor... is it stiff enough to prevent a large head from flexing? If I were to do really wide facing, I'd make sure that I was only taking off .001-.002"...

[lakeside]

I don't plan on boring any 7" holes, but it sure would be nice to be able to do facing on material up to 7" wide in one pass. My concern is the R-8 arbor... is it stiff enough to prevent a large head from flexing? If I were to do really wide facing, I'd make sure that I was only taking off .001-.002"...

are you sure that this is a boring and facing head for $300? As far as R-8 can handle this head if you do not have spindle bearing issue or a worn out spindle taper

[Zumba]

The 4" head that I'm looking at is $430.

[lakeside]

HAVE YOU CONSIDED USED YOU COULD GET A REAL NICE HEAD FOR THAT MONEY(I'M A CHEAP YANKEE) HERE'S A LINK
http://www.machinetools.com/MT/machi...p&groupid=8037

[Zumba]

Thanks for the link, Mike.

I'm seeing a few heads from Chandler-Duplex. Are these much higher quality than Criterion? Specs say that the accuracy is .0001" when new...

[ViperTX]

Ah....well....there are facing heads and boring heads......they are similar but different. I would not use a boring head for facing......it's alot of stop and go.....