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Looking for a mini mill!

Garret H.

Garret H.

New Member
Hi everyone, I know its un likely but do any of you have an emco unimat for sale? it doesn't have to be an emco but anything in that size is what im after. I have so far only found a few options in that size and most are out of my price range. (500$) the one that caught my eye for a fleeting moment was the Sieg x0. Thoughts?
 
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I know where you are coming from size & budget wise. And I don't have much direct exposure to these specific machines. I believe Unimats are getting to be a bit scarce & even entering collectors territory so accessories & parts harder to come by. No direct knowledge on the Sieg other than I've seen them in used in some other forums. I think there are user groups out there & that would be a much better way to flush out what its good at & what are some known issues or limitations.

Personally I would consider Sherline. They are USA made, have been around for a long time, well supported in parts & accessories. Yes, probably more expensive but I do see used ones in nice shape come up when people exit the hobby or whatever. I have also seen some incredible projects come off them. Pushed to the limits & lots of setup ingenuity & patience with limited power, yes. All these micro machines suffer similarly. But if you ever got a bigger lathe/mill, chances are you might hang onto a Sherline for specialized finicky work. I have bought a few of their accessories & I think its decent value. Some of the offshore stuff in this class is kind of hit & miss. https://www.sherline.com/
 
Thanks for your input! I do really like the Sherline and Tiag equipment, one other that caught my eye is Manix. The machines they make seem very similar to emco and look to be of superb quality. Unfortunately the lack of North American supplier rules out that option. I appreciate the suggestion of buying domestic and I would really like to for many different reasons but the options seem so cornered, is there no north American tool manufacturers aside from Tiag and Sherline?
 
As for other forums there is a lot of great information out there but very little of it is specifically about the machine ive been looking at. I think im going to give it a pass though anyways, if it is this hard to get their product this side of the pond I cant imagine what a pain customer service would be. No to mention it seems like a low quality tool with an almost non existent supporting product line.
 
Generally the craftex mills have proven to be pretty good. Better than the lathes. A number of us have them. One forum member I recall had a dud but other people including me have done fine with them. I have a cx600. If you wanted to try it post which one you are interested in and somebody might have it and let you do some testing to get a better feel for it.
 
It so happens I just had one of those given to me a few weeks ago. I re-furbished it just for fun (it only took a couple of hours), but would be willing to part with it as I am very unlikely to use it, and I already hoard way too much stuff. It has some accessories for milling and sawing, but they are not complete. the lathe portion is complete, but needs a new belt or two (the belts are like large O-rings). I promised the person that gave it to me that if I sold it I would give them the money, so I want to get something at least semi-reasonable for it. I don't have a lot of idea what it is worth.

It is probably reasonably good for working on aluminum things less than an inch in diameter and maybe up to a couple of inches long. Maybe even some smaller mild steel, but I don't think it is rigid enough to really work with ferrous metals very accurately.

It is small and light. Fits on a desktop and can be put away into a small box.
 
John are you referring to a untimat? I would be extremely happy to have one if so. I would be more then willing to give you a fair price as I have been watching the market for some time now and feel I know about what a fair price would be. My number is 5873410837 if you would like to send some pictures I sure would like to see it!
 
Yes, it is a Unimat. I replied privately with more details. I haven't looked at the list for a few days.
 
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