Looking for Mini Mill Suggestions

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

https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-25mv/
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?
 
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?

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 $
 
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 $
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...
 

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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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.



Absolutely

That dro on the grizzly looks like the iGaging and it's not what i consider a dro.
 
The "mill/drill" class are round columns.

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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It looks like the PM-25MV has a DRO option. It looks better than the grizzly one. Any experience with the PM DRO?
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?
 
So how much travel do you have now with the factory DRO installed?
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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