Gentlemen,
After all these years I decided to retire the round column Enco mill for something a little user friendly.
I searched for a good long time for something that met my needs. First and foremost it had to go down into my basement workshop. Secondly it had to be a knee type mill. I guess if there was a third requirement it had to have enough head space to be able to set up a vise or dividing head and be able to still get a drill in.
To fill the first requirement left out Bridgeports and their clones. Just too much weight to safely get down the stairs into the basement. I decided on 2 models from the Grizzly catalog and after some time narrowed it down to the G0695vs.
Before I made the purchase I had to sell my old machine. With the economy the way that it is I wasn't sure that I would have much success but as luck would have it I got 3 calls from which the 3rd fellow gave me a deposit and didn't haggle over the price. A couple of weeks later he showed up with some help and we dismantled the old machine and lugged it up the stairs into his waiting vehicle.
With the empty spot in the basement just crying out for another machine I went ahead and ordered the new mill.
It went without a hitch. It was delivered truck freight by UPS and was moved from the truck right up in front of my garage.
The next day a good friend showed up and we uncrated and started disassembling the machine for it's trip down to the basement. Everything got moved except the column and the base. These would have to wait for an appliance hand truck to safely make the trip downstairs.
The following weekend my boys came over to help me move the last 2 parts and we had it all assembled in about 3 hours.
From there is was just some fine tuning, adjusting and hooking up the wiring.
I'm happy to say that my expectations were met or exceeded. I think I'm going to have many happy hours on this machine.
I have just ordered the digital readouts from DroPros and should have them by week's end.
gbritnell
