Originally Posted by
jwatte
For sure, bearings and dovetails and other mechanical parts will be slightly smaller when cold, which may lead to more play? Also, oil and grease may be more viscous, leading to different mechanical properties. (But those should warm up quickly with use.) Also, if the mill has been standing without maintenance, or if you've forgotten to hit the manual oiler regularly, that could affect things. Or maybe the cutter got chipped in the meanwhile. Or maybe the bearings got worn, if you have been using it a lot.
One simple test would be to add a space heater to the garage, waste some energy for a bit to bring it up to 80 degrees (and the material you cut,) and then see how it does. Spending a fiver in electricity to avoid a thousand dollar service call seems like a reasonably good deal to me. (Turn off the fan while cutting, though, if it's all on the same circuit, or you'll trip the breaker .... don't ask how I know :-)