[pearldiver]

Im currently looking for a turret kneemill and my current budget is around
$5,000-$6,000. I was hoping to get a used bridgeport, but most of the one I have found are very much beaten up :-(
A used full size chinese machine is another option, but I will end up spending more since usually the toolings are not
included.

Currently I'm eyeing on a HM-52 from Hares and Forbes. Looks like a pretty good deal, since it has all the other accessories ( DRO, Coolant system, Collet Chucks ) included
in the package, but I'm not sure if this is good reliable machine. Any advice would be greatly be appreciated :-)

.....I'll be using the mill for knife making ( mostly machining stainless steel and titanium )

[aarggh]

The 52 ( with slightly smaller table, horizontal arbor, and NT30 instead of NT40 fittings) looks to come from the same factory as the Machtech V1000 from Dandenong Machinery (but more $$):

MACHTECH V1000

I'm quite happy with mine, but I do find it quite difficult to get that last little innacuracy out with the dial gauge which is kinda insanely annoying for me anyway, but I strongly suspect I'm just being too fussy. The locking levers tend to cause slight movement, so there is a bit of play that can be a bit troublesome when trying to keep tight tolerances while adjusting on the fly.

It's reasonably quiet machining in the lower gears, but high speed will likely annoy the neighbours. I underestimated how much noisier gears were over belt drive. I suspect I may eventually regret getting gears instead of belt drive??

My main dislikes would probably be the damn useless lamp that never quite reaches where you want it but it's in the way when you want to use it.
The depth stop and protective guard screws are a crap fit and don't quite tighten well.
I absolutely hate, hate, hate, the fact that it doesn't have a quill lock, which makes changing endmills more than a PITA! I'll be fitting a power drawbar first chance I get!
Casting is probably a little better than I expected from China, but it still has quite rough spots, around all the fitting areas, making tramming the axis a little hit and miss at times to get just perfect.
The way protection is more cosmetic than functional, but does kinda perform. Good luck with the bizarre and somewhat useless ER?? collet set it comes standard with, you'll need to hit ebay, around $350-400 will buy a brilliant ER40 collet chuck with a set each of (24) imperial and (24) metric collets which will do any size tooling (including standard 1/4" and 1/2" router bits! Really, really handy that!) you'll possibly need. Only other things you'll need are a drill chuck, and an indexable face mill. Both fairly cheap on ebay.

My likes would be that its a pretty damn powerful machine with a fairly good movement range, the aftermarket DRO performs well, and is essential anyway. As a drill press it rocks. It's uber heavy, so it doesn't have any feeling of give or vibration at all when heavy machining, although the gears do seem to whine a little bit unhappily under a fairly heavy load. The motor gets very warm but I wouldn't consider it overly warm after a fair amount of running time. I am still getting to grips with toolling and milling specs, so i'm using cheap Chinese endmills as it hurts less when I destroy them, but I can machine normal steel and aluminium like it's butter. Tis a thing of beauty seeing the aluminium swarf flying off in shiny little curls!

Can't think of too much else to add, but basically, we live in OZ so we are screwed on tooling, machinery, and pretty much everything inbetween, but this machine is good value and I don't regret buying it at all, I'd be happier with tighter manufacturing, and greater repeatable precision, but the price would go up (dramatically) accordingly, but it's easy to get really great results and repeatable tolerances. Certainly within a thou or two at most anyway. It's just not quite as tight a machine as the Bridgeports appear to be, from everything I've seen and heard. I wouldn't hesitate at all to buy it again if that is the price range I had to work to.

Sorry if this is a bit long!

cheers,
Ian

[Sneaky]

Pearldiver, where are you located?
If you're in Perth, there's a nice english knee mill on Gumtree that you'd get for $3K, even if you're not in Perth, freight wouldn't make it out of the price range.