Enco GL-30B

[Matt G.]

This tool disease is a terrible thing...

There's two small vertical mills available here in my price range at the moment. One is an Enco GL-30B and the other a Grizzly G0705. If both are in decent condition which would you pick? Neither has much tooling; the Grizzly has a vise, the Enco does not. A couple people I know have a similar Enco mill that I've used before.

Any thoughts? Time to go see if I can rearrange some things out in the shop to squeeze one in.

Oh, and before anybody asks, I don't have room for a bridgeport, and the going rate for one seems to be about $3.5k on up, so also out of my price range.

[cutter]

They're both Rong Fu RF30 mill drills, maybe a different color, apparently the same size & just like my Harbor Freight.
Buy the one in the best condition or with the most accessories, the best deal, etc.
Be prepared for lots of tinkering.

[milomilo]

I'd get the one with the vise, if it is any good.

[Matt G.]

Went to look at the Enco tonight. It is in pretty good shape, runs quiet, etc. It has no vise but has a hold-down set, about 5 collets, and a small pile of end mills, and a 4" or so rotary table, which wasn't in the listing. What made me decide to buy this one without looking at the Grizzly is that he offered to deliver for free since he needs the room in his shop so bad. That beats tearing it down into pieces small enough to shove into my S10.

Time to get the garage rearranged and look for a vise...

[milomilo]

Sounds like a good deal for you.

[Matt G.]

Well, today the Enco arrived in my garage. I spent the morning cleaning and lubricating it. It appears to have barely been used. Belts appear original and are shot, so I'm going to pick up some new ones after work on Monday. I ended up getting a partial set of collets, some end mills, hold-down kit, 6" rotary table, and an Albrecht keyless chuck. I looked the chuck up on MSC...holy crap Between that and the rotary table, I think I bought those and got a free mill!

I'm looking for suggestions for a vise since it did not come with one. Anybody have one of the CDCO vises? That or maybe this. Thoughts?

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Matt G.

Anybody have one of the CDCO vises? That or maybe this. Thoughts?

I don't have any of their vises but some of the odd and ends I have
purchased from them have been good quality imports.

Good in the sense of good better best. They are adequate for most
needs but not all.

[cutter]

Belts:
If you will use Fenner or Fenner-type link belts they will take a lot of vibration out of the machine and be easier to live with for speed changes.
Not just better, much-much better. They're somewhat pricey but they're worth it.
Harbor freight has their version & I've used them successfully too.

As to CDCO vises, I don't know. I've use quite a bit of product from them & I've been pleased and their shipping & reliabilty has been excellent. As Shade says, good enough for most of what you'll do in a home shop.

Which CDCO vise are you thinking about?
At first glace I thought that the CDCO 21030 would probably be your best bet but from looking closely at the picture I don't see any bolt tabs. You'd have to clamp it down all the time & that's not acceptable for me for general use but YMMV?
You might buy the 21002 swivel vise and store the swivel base for most operations but I don't know. It may not be milled flat except in the mating area with the base?
I have an old Kurt that came from Old Man by way of Platypus20 with home made replacement jaws and I have the new Wilton imported copy of a Kurt.
For my purposes either one is good enough and I honestly can't tell the difference in so far as how they perform. They just work.
Chances are pretty good that a import vise of the same type would work just fine but I have no idea. I would avoid any kind of swivel base, quick-release or 2 part import that claims to be the new hot thing. You do need structural rigidity and strong straight-line clamping force.

Sounds like you got a heck of a bonus with the Albrecht chuck & rotary table, unless you paid too much for the mill.

[cutter]

One more thing:
Now that you've bought the mill, this thread & any others related to it should be in the Machining Forum.

[Matt G.]

Originally Posted by cutter

One more thing:
Now that you've bought the mill, this thread & any others related to it should be in the Machining Forum.

I was wondering that...Any chance this can be moved over there and maybe the title shortened to "Enco GL-30B" or something like that?

Have a job to do this morning, when I get back and it's raining all afternoon I'll look at vises some more. Thanks for the input. Does HF have 5/8" versions of those link belts? I have 1/2" ones for the SB lathe and on my horizontal band saw, but I don't recall them having larger ones. When I go to the local belt/bearing supply place Monday I'll see if I can stand the price of the 5/8" link belts.