Grizzly Lathe Opinons

[Caroline]

Matt-

We mainly machine aluminum and plastic on our lathes, and the stock is usually a small diameter (under 2"). However, there are the instances when we need to machine steel and larger stock. Our machines are put under an unusual amount of abuse, seeing as we have 50 student members.

In terms of quality and precision, one thing I found with tools in our shop is that many times we design parts based on the quality of tools we have. For example, before 2001 we would never design a part that needed very precise milling done on it. However, we bought a new bridgeport mill in 2001 and suddenly the parts we designed had much lower tolerances, since we knew it was now feasable for us to machine the part.

The hard thing is that we are unsure of our budget as of right now. Our fundraising efforts have just started, so we're unsure of the amount of money we want to spend. However, if we can find a good, reliable machine for a reasonable price we'll probably look to buy it.

-Caroline