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(More customer reviews)There isn't enough space to tell of the problems I've had with this machine. It epitomizes the stereotypical image of junk machinery built in the China of yesterday. I've seen lots of decent equipment come out of China in the last few years, but it seems that Grizzly has bypassed those manufacturers in favor of saving a few bucks. If you are going to be machining anything other than plastics, aluminum and other soft materials, don't waste your money. With anything heavier than 1/8" steel it's nothing more than a glorified drill press. And don't even think about using a boring head. The headstock and quill move so much under even a .050 cut as to be on the verge of dangerous. I've had to:
A. Rework the lead screw nuts. They are poorly cast bronze with a very clumsy system of adjusting backlash. Basically the nut is split with a saw and a cap screw is used to squeeze the threads together.
B. Spent several hours getting the quill so that an R8 collet could be inserted. The interior of the quill was not finished properly and the pins for the slots in the collets were set too long.
C. The motor will not start when cold without a lot of coaxing. They sent me another motor, but I could not get the pulley off of the original motor so I'm waiting for another pulley before I can see if a motor switch solves the problem. I'm just praying they send the keyway key as I requested. Obviously, being unable to remove the old pulley, I don't have the old keyway key.
D. The manual downfeed crank has a spot that binds on every revolution of the crank. I'm betting it's a poorly formed worm gear.
E. Not directly related to the mill, but the set of R8 collets I purchased with the mill had a collet that was marked as 1/2" but in fact was a 7/16" collet. Grizzly couldn't just exchange the single collet, they had to send me a complete set, charging my credit card. Several weeks after they had received the defective kit and determined that I indeed knew how to measure a collet size, they refunded the purchase price of the replacement collet set. But it took several emails and a phone call to get my return shipping costs reimbursed.
F. And on the matter of spare parts, except for the collet set, of the 1/2 dozen or so parts I've had to order for this machine, NOT ONE was correct in the first shipment.
Add a DRO for some accuracy and you might get some service out of this machine in soft materials. But if you are going to do more than drill 1/2" holes in steel, don't waste your time.
Gary - Plains, MT - gfb at mypage dot net.
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Grizzly G3358 Mill / DrillThis is one of the best bargains on the market today. This Milling / Drilling machine features a powerful 2 H.P. motor, standard R-8 spindle with 5" of travel, 4-1/2" cast iron column, easy-to-read dials, reversing switch and more. And its a heavy brute! Weighing in at 620 lbs., you can expect lots of rigid, heavy duty performance. A lot of machine for the dollar; check out the specs below. Specifications: * Spindle taper:R-8 * Spindle travel:5" * Swing:15-7/8" * Max. distance spindle nose to table:17-3/4" * Column size:4-1/2" * Table size:28-3/4" x 8-1/4" * Max. table travel:19-3/9" * Cross-slide travel:7" * Drilling capacity:1-1/4" * Number of speeds:12 * Range of speeds:140-2570 RPM * Motor size (Single Phase 110V/220V):2 H.P., 20/10.5A * Approx. shipping weight:620 lbs.*Features: * 1/2" Drill Chuck * Clutch-type Downfeed Mechanism * Graduations are in inches
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