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Originally Posted by dlavery
The answer to your question is that the only way to know for sure is to inspect the exact machine that you would be buying. Harbor Freight has been known to carry both higher-quality Rong Fu equipment and cheesy knock-off clones...
...if a company does not care enough about their business to even proofread their catalog copy to ensure that it is correct and error-free, then how likely are they to care about me as a customer?
-dave
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I have to agree with this. As an alumnus of a team that has had years with access to Bridgeport's as well as years using only an ENCO (Model: 105-1117) mill, my opinion is that you should look at the mill in person before buying. Having said that, even though my teams ENCO mill is by no means a Bridgeport or CNC mill, I think it was more than adequate for the parts I made.
Incidentally, the ENCO 105-1117 is a round column mill. The only issue I ever had with the mill was that I had to open the pulley cowling to change a mill bit, and the vice that shipped with the mill broke in half after a year.
The specs. are identical to the ENCO mill I used, except the ENCO mill is lighter, and doesn't list specifics (though the ranges are the same) for speeds. Does that mean it's the same, or better, quality? You'll have to check at Harbor Freight to make sure it's not a knock-off.
Hope this helps.
-Mike