[ellik]

What! You gave up already. I was just starting to enjoy this..
When it comes to color schemes I have decided not to get a new mill unless its pink....

Sigh!

[nocashvalue]

So now that the argument is settled, does anyone have rough CAD models of the mill? I know I have seen some people posting screen shots of solidworks models. Is there anyone who would like to share? Maybe some STEP or IGES models for us Pro/E users?

I just got my G0704 this week and have been following this thread pretty closely. I am new to the hobby CNC world, and am extremely happy to see the amount of support on this forum.

[hi_im_sean]

i think thats because alot of the info here ISNT subjective, and most of us are here to learn instead of forcing our subjective views onto others.

i make guitars, so i frequent guitar forums. the fighting in those places is just plain silly.

i will be buying one of these to mainly make dirtbike parts, try going into a dirtbike forum, its like full grown 3 years olds in there, and then they try to get all witty on you.

anyway; ihavenofish, in hosses thread, in one of his videos, he shows the actual motor nameplate rated at 600W, the machine nameplate says 750W, and the site/manual claims 850W (roughly 1 hp), so its more like a 3/4hp motor.

[ihavenofish]

i will be buying one of these to mainly make dirtbike parts, try going into a dirtbike forum, its like full grown 3 years olds in there, and then they try to get all witty on you.

anyway; ihavenofish, in hosses thread, in one of his videos, he shows the actual motor nameplate rated at 650W, the machine nameplate says 750W, and the site/manual claims 850W (roughly 1 hp), so its more like a 3/4hp motor.

740w = 1hp.

i would trust the writing on the motor itself (well, as trustworthy as that can be). its possible grizzly ordered them with 1hp motors and the factory botched it. weiss's website specs say 700w on the wmd25, and 600w on the wmd20.

[hi_im_sean]

740w = 1hp.

i would trust the writing on the motor itself (well, as trustworthy as that can be). its possible grizzly ordered them with 1hp motors and the factory botched it. weiss's website specs say 700w on the wmd25, and 600w on the wmd20.

youre right for some reason i thought 840W was 1 hp. either way it works out to a 4/5hp motor.

[ihavenofish]

youre right for some reason i thought 840W was 1 hp. either way it works out to a 4/5hp motor.

even 600w is pretty powerful in low gear on the mill though. i dont think power will be an issue until one swaps in a higher speed belt drive.

[mattbesquare]

I am pretty ticked at grizzly-my last couple of interactions were extremely unprofessional.

The mill that was confirmed "en route", was not. And apparently them telling me "your mill is en route" and then not calling me when "it isnt any more"-because they have no method of tracking whose order is whose (?!?!?) is also not their fault.

So I have to deal with the pile of electronics and tooling that is not going to be used until ("some time in July"). Interestingly enough the person who said they have no capability of knowing when my mill is en route, is the same one who was happy to quote the next date when "your mill will be en route". When I asked what his definition of en route was, did it mean it was "in the state of transfer to my location", the conversation started to get ugly. I dont think the "technical manager" was capable of grasping the irony of his own words...

Completely unimpressed. (nuts)

So, I am told the RF45 is a fantastic machine, but heavy. I am loaded the machine from my driveway up to my garage (a mild slope) into my garage (concrete) and rolling to the back wall. I know there is unloading service, but I am unsure if I can move 700 pounds myself.

Any ideas? maybe I could rent a pallet jack and wheel it, use my cherry picker to lift? still about 800.00 more dollars (with stand and freight). Is it worth the extra cost? (my electronics should have no problem moving it).

[photomankc]

Matt, when did you order yours? So it's now 6 months backordered huh. Might interfere with my plans to return the X2.

[Enraged]

seems like we should be basing the arrival date on the order date. hoss ordered jan 5, got it feb 22 (?), I ordered jan 25, so maybe mine will be mar 15? lol

[mattbesquare]

Matt, when did you order yours? So it's now 6 months backordered huh. Might interfere with my plans to return the X2.

about four and a half weeks ago. I was ok with waiting, but being told it was coming set forth a big over hall of my workshop(wiring, insulation, external cooling (as in outside), and heating/air conditioning are all being installed this last week-I have been making chairs for a long time, markup is decreasing with the quality of my wood availability.

I am actually using this mill as a research project in conjunction with a local manufacturer to research the costs analysis benefits of higher volume/increased part count component manufacturing. The guy at grizzly may have thought he was telling some kid to go f himself, but it may cost them a whole lot of machines (I hope so, now more than ever).

The larger RF45 machines have a dramatically larger work surface. We will have to recalculate their average part volumetric-but it more than doubles the stock working space so may even work better..

[hoss2006]

If anyone doesn't want to wait for grizzly and is willing to spend a few more dollars
Precision Mathews, just up the road from me in Pittsburgh, are carrying the BF class mills now too.
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-MV-BenchMills.html
They are still working on posting the specs, but claim to have 20's, 25's and 30's ready to ship (FREE).
Base and Vise included.
Hoss

[madbee]

That's too bad Matt, I too had several issues with Grizzly and I was forced to cancel my current order. Management said the confusion was due to two new employees telling me the wrong thing and also confusion about the new product. Too many things went wrong.

I am pretty ticked at grizzly-my last couple of interactions were extremely unprofessional.

The mill that was confirmed "en route", was not. And apparently them telling me "your mill is en route" and then not calling me when "it isnt any more"-because they have no method of tracking whose order is whose (?!?!?) is also not their fault.

[mattbesquare]

Oops, about 25 minutes too late. Actually, I just had a perfectly painless and quick transaction with Michael Elson from Penn tools. He even took another hundred dollars off of the DM-45 because of the increased expense to ship to residential. Going forth quite satisfied now and not looking back. (thanks machinechick for the reference)

That was a huge night and day difference to what I got from Grizzly.

Can they really expect us to believe their quality control is better if they can't manage their own product flow? Or at least make sure their customer support staff dont act like complete d-bags? (nuts)

Its amazing how one very, very lousy interaction with a person self proclaiming to be a manager taints the image of an entire company. It is good to know about these other machines-I had my blinders on and was only watching a few specific locations.

live-learn.

on to building my table.

If anyone doesn't want to wait for grizzly and is willing to spend a few more dollars
Precision Mathews, just up the road from me in Pittsburgh, are carrying the BF class mills now too.
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-MV-BenchMills.html
They are still working on posting the specs, but claim to have 20's, 25's and 30's ready to ship (FREE).
Base and Vise included.
Hoss

[jalessi]

Matt,

What was the final price for the ZX45?

Jeff...

[photomankc]

Thanks for the link Hoss. I just canceled the Grizzly order and took the PM-25. Looks like I'll lose about 2-1/4" of X travel but everything else looked similar enough to be fine with me. I was fine with waiting a few weeks but I wouldn't be ok with waiting until June or July. Since it's obvious Grizzly has no idea where anyone is in line I'd rather have something in hand sooner than later.

[mattbesquare]

Matt,

What was the final price for the ZX45?

Jeff...

1670.00 to my door (residential and lift gate service). A lot more yes, but the increased size and travel over seemed worth it to me. (I was already modeling an extension).

Mostly what sealed the deal was the incredible response time I got from penn tools. They may have been my rebound, but after price shopping (seemed around average) and getting a personal reference to this machine-I am happy to support an attentive dealer. Really, I emailed them this morning requesting info, and had the order finalized like an hour later?

[jalessi]

Matt,

Did you purchase your mill from Penn Tools or Wholesale Tool?

Jeff...

[wisp]

Precision Mathews, just up the road from me in Pittsburgh, are carrying the BF class mills now too.
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-MV-BenchMills.html
Hoss

Hi guys, just thought I would put in a good word for the guys at Quality Machine Tools. We purchased a PM1236 lathe from them a couple years ago, and they were very helpful, including support after the lathe arrived.

Their PM1236 lathe is very nice too, and hold tight tolorances. The fit and finish was excellent, and it hard turned many a ballscrew before we purchased an Okuma CNC lathe.




i would say their machines are at least on par with Grizzly, possibly better with certain machines.

Cheers,
Michael

[mattbesquare]

Matt,

Did you purchase your mill from Penn Tools or Wholesale Tool?

Jeff...

Penn Tools, Michael Elson was the salesperson.

Update:

I have tracking now, I get it tomorrow. 4 days handshake to handoff.

[Signal9]

Matt,

You have a phone # / website for Penn Tools?

Excuse me for being a noob if its listed somewhere else on this site.