Grizzly Horizontal Boring Machine

[Matt Pringle]

Anyone seen or used this machine? It's G0540 in the newest catalogue.

Matt

[Jay Pique]

I've been eyeballing the one just below it on the same page - G4185. This one has a pneumatic clamp and can accomodate three-spindle boring heads. Seems to me like *the* way to go if you're doing doweled construction. At $1700 with a 3 spindle boring head though, it's not cheap.

Questions: Can you use just 2 of the 3 spindles on a 3 spindle head? Are there any more cost effective alternatives out there that you know of?

Thanks - JP

[Young_carpenter]

Hand drill?

[Jay Pique]

(re: cheaper alternatives to $1700 horizontal boring machine)

Indeed!

But in the long run, I gotta figure it's much much *less* cost effective. First off, you have to mark the boards so they mate properly. This need not be done with an HBM as you can just rig a stopper block and leave it and the table height alone. Secondly, the accuracy will greatly suffer. With an HBM you get precision boring to a set depth, width, height and circumference (versus the wobble of a hand drill, or even the possibly angled in approach of the board if you have a fixed bit HBM). Thirdly, every little iota that the joint is off you'll need to sand down to make flush. That takes time as well. Lastly, it would have to be pretty unusual to have a messed up boring if you've already got it set up properly. The pneumatic clamp keeps the stock stock still. (Huh?). Therefore, if you even save a couple hours a month you're ahead of the game. Plus - it's a very cool tool (VCT?).

JMHO.

JP

[Tom]

Seen a couple in recent auctions in $400-500 range.