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Does anyone have a: Grizzly G0619, Seig SX3, Shop Fox M1111 or a Busy Bee CX611

Kelly McLaughlin

Kelly McLaughlin

Well-Known Member
From my research these are all the same machine it's a small variable speed Mill 6 x 20 table R8 spindle dove tail column. I'm wondering about quality, power functionality. It's come to light that as I liquidate my big machines I have some holes. After selling the Mill I realized that I did a lot of drilling in the mill because it allowed for accurate location and pacing of holes. I have a small CNC mill but I'm looking for something that I can do small manual jobs in and get good accuracy and repeatability, I lusted after a bunch of the Vintage vertical bench top mills (Duro, Benchmaster etc) but almost none have a quill so the drill function isn't there It has led me to this machine that seems to be a decent price at least south of the border and loaded with features. your comments would be welcome.
 

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Well I have the smaller cx600 https://www.busybeetools.com/products/milling-machine-digital-readout-r8-cx600.html
I quite like it. The milling machines from busybee seem better than the lathes. I added iGaging scales for x & y and the built in vertical z gauge is handy. The dove tail vertical design is pretty rigid for a smaller machine. I would buy it again. Pros/cons It is missing ball oilers and the fuse blows relatively easily. I really like the easy variable speed and no belts. The safety plexiglass shield is annoying. The cx611 mill looks good to me too.
 
Hey Kelly! I also have the CX600 like John. Aside from a few minor issues with mine, I have been pleasantly surprised. Any issues that arose, Busybee took care of promptly. If you do end up in Calgary at Busybee, look for John, he has been a pleasure to deal with and offers a fair bit of knowledge of their machines.

Hi John! If you haven't figured out the safety plexiglass shield yet, if you undo the 2 mounting bolts attaching the assembly to the machine, the whole assembly will come off and the 2 wires connected to it just need to be connected to each other. Then the shield is out of the way but will still function as though the shield was closed.
 
Ok Thanks, I will probably drive in next week and have a look, I thought I was going to buy a used one in the US but freight killed that idea. 4 to 600 US to get it from california to Sweetgrass and I'd still have to get it either crated or paletized somehow. So new with warranty is looking better all the time : )
 
As much as I like my machine, the warranty is almost a necessity with craftex brand tools. When I say minor issues, I ment minor as in Busybee didn't have any issues resolving the issue. My speed controller has gone on it twice and the tach sensor for the rpm readout doesn't always work. Every once in a while the speed dial will develop a dead spot. This has to do with the 5 dials on the controller on the back panel of the electrical box. Once well adjusted the dial will function again as it should. One last thing to look out for with these machines is that the quality control isn't very good. When breaking in the machine, make sure that the speed readout doesn't go beyond the listed speed for the machine. If it does, make sure to turn the max speed dial on the speed controller board down until it is right. The one on the Busybee floor got up to about 3800 on a 2250 machine. Mine was around 3200. And I am confident this is the reason the speed controller has gone twice. With the gear ratios in the machine and a 5600 RPM motor, the max speed the motor would like to see is around 2600 RPM.
 
The one I was looking at was a grizzly, are they actually all the same or are some quality standards higher, I've read that about the grizzly but without the machines side by side I'd never know.
 
If they are identical you are in luck - Grizzly stocks all replacement parts and shipping from the US is fast. Prices used to be good as well - there are some issues with their CAD conversion rate so maybe need to buy in USD.
 
So two of you have 600's has the 611 been problematic, for the money, it has a ton of features. The web site show a greyed out price of 3599.00 abd currectly 2999.00 does anyone know it that's a ficticious price or is it really the regular price and I need to buy before that changes? I'm using the Calgary members as an information source, sorry : )
 
Kelly McLaughlin said:
So two of you have 600's has the 611 been problematic, for the money, it has a ton of features. The web site show a greyed out price of 3599.00 abd currectly 2999.00 does anyone know it that's a ficticious price or is it really the regular price and I need to buy before that changes? I'm using the Calgary members as an information source, sorry : )
Click to expand...
I haven't had any experience with the 611. But I did ask about them a little while ago and was told they use the same motor as the knee mill they sell, just running on 110V. As for the price, $2999.00 will be the regular price. All of the prices are advertised as sales prices but haven't moved for the last year and a half.
 
Well, the prices did move a lot in the last 4 years - I started machining in 2014 - I got a mini-mill for $999 + tax. In 2015 I got a lathe for $2300 or $2400 (forgot exact #). Now they sell for https://www.busybeetools.com/products/mini-mill-3-4hp-brushless-motor-cx-serie.html == $1399 a 40% increase in price in just 4 years (not even)! and https://www.busybeetools.com/products/metal-lathe-600mm-with-stand.html for $3099 which is 35% increase in price (granted they added 1amp to the motor and extra V)

The only class of machines that seem to hold price are the mini-lathes especially when on sale at Princess Auto. https://www.kmstools.com/king-industrial-1-1-4-mill-drill-machine-2661 also oscilated in price at KMS from aroun 1800 not long ago to 2200 now but few years ago it was 2000 - so quite stable.

Maybe its just Busy Bee that is jacking up the prices?

Is it getting off topic too much - I don't want to steal the thread.
 
My cx600 cost $1400 $1500 or so about 3-4 years ago. It’s $1900 now. It’s partly the dollars decline I suppose. Bicycles have gone up too - higher prices for less features. Tools are more too. Canada....
 
I may be wrong on the increases over the last 4 or so years. I've only gotten into metal stuff within the last year and a half. Everything that I have seen at Busy Bee has sat at the same price. I see something, and then save. And when I have the money, the price hasn't moved. This has been my experience.
 
Kelly, if you haven't already, check out YouTube vids of the mill under all its name permutations. You have machining experience so you will recognize how it sounds, how its cutting in various materials, speeds & feeds you can relate to etc. Don't count on the local dealer knowing much. I always search on <name> + keywords like 'problems', 'rebuild', 'electrical', 'warranty'... and that will usually flush out any reoccurring or unresolved issues. Also this machine size/class is a favorite for bench top CNC conversion, if you put that in the search, you might find project builds where guys completely strip it down. That way so you get to see all the innards in their glory.
 
Hi Peter! I think I got them all : ) From what I'm seeing they seem like a good buy, I've only found a couple of used ones for sale where I expect to see a lot if they're problematic. From what I've been able to find they became available in 2012 so enough time to shake out the bugs, I hope : )
I haven't been able to speak to anyone close that has one but I'm still hoping. The conversion articles I've read give it good reviews but I've not found anything say a year down the road after the conversion. I'm still looking though. The quill travel is very good for machines of this size and Thats a big one for me. I didn't realize how much I used that on my mill for making brackets and bole patterns till It was gone. One way to see if a machine is worth having is take it out of the shop for a week and see if you miss it. Boy do I miss it : )
Thanks for your suggestions.
 
I dont have this model, mine is smaller, but i can tell you right off the start get the unit with the biggest motor. Even my tinker toy mill is amazing after several hundred $ in modifications but i still want a more powerful motor (unchanged from original) the two shown by tom have different motor power, one is 3/4hp one is 1hp, i need more power for simple drill press type use, not enough torque at low rpm and once the motor gets warm the system shuts it down to prevent burnout, but i am not using a brushless dc either,
 
Hi There! The 611 shows 1000 watts which works out to 1 1/4 hp my cnc is 1/3 hp so fo the type of work I need them for it should be really over powered. I have access to big machinery if I need to do something large but part of this move is to get away from that and do the things I want to do. It also allows me to say "I'm sorry my machinery is too small for that job : ) I'm really interested to see these mills, I worked on a small mill when I was first learning and it was very basic, having said that we turned out a lot of good work with it. These machines have so many features that will make a lot of jobs easier. I see Grizzly has a power feed but Busy Bee doesn't offer it that I can see so down the road i can see one in my future : )
 
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