Looking for Mini Mill Suggestions

12345678910 said:
It's your money, but I consider this much more usefull

https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-25mv/
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Looking that one over and its now the front runner.
Question, i have never been around a milling machine (woodworking background) some of the mills I have looked at say mill/drill and the PM-25mv just says mill - so can the PM-25 be used just like a drill press too?
 
Spalted said:
Looking that one over and its now the front runner.
Question, i have never been around a milling machine (woodworking background) some of the mills I have looked at say mill/drill and the PM-25mv just says mill - so can the PM-25 be used just like a drill press too?
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Yes, of course you can use a drill chuck and drill.

The "mill/drill" class are round columns.
If you have to go between a longer tool and smaller tool, raising and lowering the head means it swings left and right so you lose your position.

The one I linked to has dovetailed square column and you don't lose position.

Dro option is worth the $
 
12345678910 said:
Yes, of course you can use a drill chuck and drill.

The "mill/drill" class are round columns.
If you have to go between a longer tool and smaller tool, raising and lowering the head means it swings left and right so you lose your position.

The one I linked to has dovetailed square column and you don't lose position.

Dro option is worth the $
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The DRO is nice for sure. Be aware that you lose some travel to the DRO.

I only use my mill for drilling if I need holes with accurate spacing and/or holes that need to be perpendicular to the face with better tolerance than the drill press has. Everything is slower on the mill. It takes a lot more turns to move the quill the same distance. For changing drill bits, you have to raise and lower the head. Again, that's a lot of cranking compared to moving the drill press table up and down. Plus, the drill chuck is never installed when you need it...
 
barlowchiro said:
https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-6-x-20-3-4-hp-mill-drill-with-dro/g0758z

I'm leaning towards this grizzly. It has the built in DRO.
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I would not focus on the DRO being built-in. This one does not seem to have any functions at all, just the positional readout. It seems to be $150 extra on top of the model without the DRO. You can buy aftermarket DROs with a lot of functions and scales with 1 micron resolution (which is most likely 5 times more than this one has) and install it yourself. It won't be that much more expensive... And it will be a lot better. Blondihacks has a nice video on the type of DRO unit I am talking about.

 
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pafka said:
I would not focus on the DRO being built-in. This one does not seem to have any functions at all, just the positional readout. It seems to be $150 extra on top of the model without the DRO. You can buy aftermarket DROs with a lot of functions and scales with 1 micron resolution (which is most likely 5 times more than this one has) and install it yourself. It won't be that much more expensive... And it will be a lot better. Blondihacks has a nice video on the type of DRO unit I am talking about.

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Absolutely

That dro on the grizzly looks like the iGaging and it's not what i consider a dro.
 
12345678910 said:
The "mill/drill" class are round columns.
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The only place I had really looked at mills was Grizzly. I just looked again and of the 20 cheapest mills listed 14 of them say mill/drill and of those 14 only 2 are round post. not sure what the difference is. But it dosent matter now the PM mills are probably what I will get.
The PM-25mv is probably what I will get ( mainly want one to relieve liners) but for just a couple hundred more this one is alot more machine https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-932m/
Looks like the hardest part will be waiting for their mills to come back in stock, most all are backordered.
 
this video showed a good comparison between Grizzly and the PM mills
 
It looks like the PM-25MV has a DRO option. It looks better than the grizzly one. Any experience with the PM DRO?
 
That's literally the one in the video I linked - Blondihacks has PM mill with this option. But the same/nearly identical DRO unit can be purchased separately from the usual suspects.

Mine is a little different, it looks like this (I picked it because it has a nicer display), but the functionality is very similar (if not the same).

Complete-Set-3-Axis-LCD-Digital-Readout-DRO-with-3-Pieces-0-1000mm-Glass-Linear-Scale.jpg_640x640.jpg

I paid 250$ for the DRO incl. 3 scales (1 micron resolution). The DRO for the PM mill seems to be $600, and by default has 5 micron resolution. So... yeah. Of course, the installation is something you'd have to do. But if I did it, you can too.
 
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barlowchiro said:
It looks like the PM-25MV has a DRO option. It looks better than the grizzly one. Any experience with the PM DRO?
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I have a PM-30MV and the DRO is great. From the pictures, it looks like the same one. The only downside of the factory installed DRO is that it takes up a lot of travel. I don't recall the exact amount, but I think it's over 3/4". Not sure if you can find anything with a lower profile, though. I've had the mill for a little over a year and I am very happy with it.
 
So how much travel do you have now with the factory DRO installed?
 
barlowchiro said:
So how much travel do you have now with the factory DRO installed?
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The cross travel is where it hurts the most. I have the 30MV which has 8.75" without DRO and I think it is just under 8" with DRO. The 25MV has less travel to start wtih, I think it is 7" cross travel without DRO. I can measure it later today.
 
I can get 7.95" before the sensor bar from the DRO hits the column. The bar itself is 1.25" deep.
 
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