I have been poring over mini milling machines from Grizzly, Proxxon, Sherlin, Micro-Mark, you name it. It appears to me that for $800- $1000 (with some accessories), I could buy a mighty fine machine.
But, I am seriously wondering if I need, or even want, a machine like this.
For one thing, these machines are serious machine-shop tools that weigh
500 pounds and up. This makes them a big pain to get, move, install, etc.
I want to simply be able to drill holes and mill out cavities in soft metal, plastic, or wood. This is all for work on small models for model trains (N-Scale). I'm not trying to cut any gears, or do anything with that type of intense accuracy,
although I think I need to have an accuracy at least in the .003 - .005 inch range.
I also see the Microlux jewelers drill press at Micro-Mark, and they make a nice X-Y table attachment for it.
Can anybody tell me:
1. Is this setup really going to be smooth, and free enough of "play" for me to
mill and drill things within, say, .003 - .005 inch accuracy?
2. Any experiences using this setup as a simple milling machine?
Thanks everyone.