Granite Pre-Purchase FAQ

What is the difference between the Midas and Granite Machines?

Both the Midas and the Granite are combo lathe-mill-drills can accomplish your machining needs. The Granite series machines are our high end machines, built to a tighter tolerance with features and tooling more common to the industrial setting. Many of the features on the Granite line are automated so the machine is easier and faster to use. It has a quick change gear box for faster selection when setting carriage feed rates or choosing your thread pitch on the lathe. These machines have the industrial standard R8 taper in the mill spindle and a D1-4 cam lock chuck mount on the lathe. These industry standards not only make the tooling change over much quicker and easier but also give you enormous variety of common tooling from endless suppliers. Granite machines have brushless DC variable speed motors with an electronic rheostat for infinite adjustment throughout their full rpm range. The Granite series machines are also upgradeable at any point to Computer Numeric Control (CNC) as a customer installed option.

When selecting a machine, you should consider, what you will be machining and what sort of travels you will need, your budget, and what convenience features and accuracy you require. The charts below give you a quick comparison between the models.

All Granite machines have the R-8 Bridgeport standard mill spindle and a D1-4 lathe spindle nose. All Midas machines have a MT3 mill spindle and a bolt on style lathe spindle nose.

What sort of tolerance can I expect from these machines?

The Granite series machines specification is one-half to one thousandth of an inch production tolerance. The “TIR” (total indicated run-out) should not exceed .001” on any axis assuming that you have followed proper setup procedures and have not exceeded the physical capacities of the machine or surpassed the safe feed/speed rates.

What are the machine weights and dimensions? Will they fit in a standard 8' pick-up bed?

Yes, all combo lathe-mill-drills fit into a standard 8" pick-up bed. If you order a stand with your shipment the stand is shipped with "assembly required" in order to avoid damage and to better accommodate space restrictions at the time of pick-up or delivery.

What are the power requirements for the machines? What plug style do I need for the 220 Volt Machines? What amp service is required?

All Granite Combo Lathe-Mill-Drills run on single phase power and plug into a standard household outlets. Our Granite 1324 I-MAX and Granite 1340 I-MAX which run on 220 V use a NEMA 6-15 plug. All other models plug into a standard 110 V outlet. Although the motors are DC motors, they still plug into a normal wall out. The AC to DC conversion is done by the motor controller or drive.

The motors draw from 8-16 amps. We recommend using a dedicated 20 AMP breaker.

Does your machine have the hole through the center of the spindle and what size is it?

Yes, all our machines have a hole through the center for passing stock through. Our Granites have a 1.125" spindle bore.

How much space do I need to accommodate the machine?

Take a look at the foot print specification on the machine you are interested in. This specification gives you a working footprint, taking into consideration having the pulley box door opened and tables at their full travel and about 18" from the wall to be able to access the oil port and motor.

Are the dials in inch or metric?

Inch

What is included in the machine tool package that comes with the machine?

Smithy machines are shipped with tools that allow you to do basic milling and turning from day. A listing of the tools are including on the pricing page for each machine.

What are the differences between the Granite Classic, Granite MAX and Granite Industrial MAX?

What are the differences between the Granite 1324 Series and Granite 1340 Series?

Smithy models numbers give you the swing in the first two numbers and distance between centers in the last two. All our Granite lathe-mill-drills have a 13" diameter swing. The 1324 is 24" between centers while the 1340 is 40". All the other features are the same.

Do you offer a larger chuck for the Granite? Can I exchange the standard chuck for it?

We offer a 8" 4 Jaw chuck plus a 6" 4 Jaw chuck but no larger 3 jaw chucks are offered at this time. Any D1-4 chuck will work the Granite spindles. We do not offer "trade-up" on the machines accessories.

If I purchase a Granite machine and decide to put CNC on it later, will it be just a straight CNC or can I switch back from CNC to manual?

The advantage of upgrading our Granite machines with CNC is that you loose none of the original functionality of the machines. You can still retain the original power feed as well as the mechanical feed on the machines.

Who uses the Granite and what profession are they?

Usually Smithy customers are trying to make money with the machines in a small business or home environment. Some of our users are retired machinists, but typically Smithy buyers do not have a lot of experience as machinist. One of the reasons they buy a machine from Smithy is because of our high quality and reputation for helpful service after the sale. One example of a Smithy user might be the owner of a motorcycle shop. They customize and do special parts such as brakes, bushings, brackets and many other unique parts. They use their machine to lessen the cost of parts, rather than sending them out to a machine shop and having to wait, it is more convenient and they can monitor the accuracy.