Pretty Nice Mid-Size Mill

I bought this mill nearly a year ago. I was pleasantly surprised with how big and beefy it was in person. I purchased the power feed attachment at the same time and that was a very easy install. It has been a great accessory to have for longitudinal feed. I've cut aluminum, 12L14 Steel, and hardened tool stool on this mill. I don't agree with the previous reviewer who said it would only cut aluminum. I haven't found that to be the case. The issue is you can't take those huge hog-leg 250 thou cuts on this machine like it was a Bridgeport! It will cut anything you want, you just have to take lighter passes on harder metals. I routinely take .150" cuts into 6061 alum with no problem on this. Also, in the specs it says the mill capacity is 3/4" end mill. However, I have a 1" end mill that I've used and again, no issues. It's really about how careful and caring you are about your machine and your tools. I am overall very happy with this mill.



However, there is one problem that caused me at least a months worth of headache, and because of this, I took off one star. If I had known about this issue or been more perceptive, I might have either gone with a different model, or one that already had a DRO installed on it. So, the issue is with installing a DRO onto this mill yourself. Installing a scale and read head for the longitudinal feed is stupid easy. Plenty of space and no real extra fabricating needs to be done to attach that portion of the DRO to the back side of the table.



Where the issue lies is with the Y axis (front to back). Because the base of the mill is not flat, it is a NIGHTMARE....nightmare I tell you, to attach the scale and read head for this axis. Let me save everyone some time and calculating. The angle on the side of the base is approximately 34 degrees (you won't find this on the website or anywhere in the manual, and this approximation is good enough for proper installation. You don't need it down to minutes; take my word for it.). So, you can't just put the scale directly onto the side of the base and get to going. I had to take some aluminum square stock and layout a 34 degree angle on one side of the alum stock, mill it, and then attach three 34 degree "stand off" pieces that I then drilled and tapped, attaching it to the side of the base. This allowed the scale to be attached and dialed in perfectly square/parallel.



The next horror is trying to find a spot to attach the read head. The issue is that the only space (that I found acceptable, personally) where you could begin to think about attaching some type of bracket for the read head is directly under the table, above the base, on a 7" long strip. This little bitty strip is just that....tiny. While it is 7" long, it is only 3/8" thick. So, I went out and found some 3/8" wide x 1/2" thick x 24" pieces of aluminum. I essentially had to create a "box" and the "arms" extending away from the table had to be long enough that when I finally attached the bracket that the read head would be attached to, that it had a correct amount of spacing to not rub the scale as the read head moved with the movement of the table. I also added a middle bracing piece that was also drilled and tapped into the one piece attached to that little 7" strip under the table. Because I had to create those 34 degree standoffs, the read head had to actually be on the outside or away from the mill and away from the scale, in order to move freely and work properly (I attached it to the left side of the table, so think of it this way - read head all the way to the left, then the scale, then the standoffs, and then the side of the mill).



It is rigid and has worked, but I was pretty frustrated and annoyed with how involved it became just to attach the Y axis, all because the base was angled. MORAL OF THE STORY: Get the G0704 that has the DRO already on it. It's a different number than the 0704, but it's the exact same machine, just with the DRO already installed. Or don't, and have fun engineering something for the Y axis.



There are others ways it could've been attached, but for me, this is the first way to do it that popped into my head and it's what I went with. And before you waste your time (I did. Probably 4 or 5 hours over a two week period), there is absolutely nothing on YouTube or a forum or on the interwebs where someone installs a DRO on the G0704 and tackles the angled base to give you some idea. There are a few DRO video installs on YouTube for the G0704, but they are all the iGaging type DRO system. And that's completely different than a "real" DRO package (not putting down the iGaging type DRO system at all, but for a lack of better description, "real" is what I'm going with).



Anyway, great machine, and I hope that I could help at least one person who is installing a DRO after purchase, making their install easier than mine was! Happy machining!