My Pm727.

.001 over 6" is pretty dang close. I don't know that you will be able to get it any closer than that. Once you get the column itself sorted out, you won't have to worry about it again. Then all you have to worry about is the head itself.
 
.001 over 6" is pretty dang close. I don't know that you will be able to get it any closer than that. Once you get the column itself sorted out, you won't have to worry about it again. Then all you have to worry about is the head itself.
 
Well time to post a picture (if I can figure it out) and some first impressions. Went the rout of building my own stand which turned out ok although two more inches taller would be ok.

What happened to the pictures?
 
Well I don't realy have a good excuse for not posting a picture of the stand other then I never could figure it out on the old forum software. I ended up adding a maple top that was 1 1/2 thick and that did get to a better height. The stand is on 4 inch casters and is leveled on four hockey puck leveling feet. As for the mill, still happy after getting the tram set like me and Lee talked about. A bigger mill would have been nice but money and space dictated the 727. In my opinion its a very nice machine and can work well with common sense ( not a Bridgeport ). The variable speed model would be the cats meow though.
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I only use mine to make small things for firearm related stuff, its been a real work horse though. I've drilled many 1" and smaller holes to a 1" depth with my PM727m, so far the motor has handled it fine. The 727 is just big enough for my needs, a 1/2" 4 flute end mill pushes it hard in steel. I have found the limits when milling, learned right away to purchase steel close to the size I need. I work with 1" thick 1018 bars often and it gets the job done. My first mill, its so nice to not need an outside machine shop anymore. I can finally make most things I want at home now. I bought the PM high percision 4" vice and its pretty good for the money, I'm happy with it overall, nice bench top unit.
 
What did the overall height of the stand end up at?
Variable speed can always be added easily. There are Leeson 3 phase motors that will drop right in and of course add a VFD
 
I ended up with 34 inches to the bottom of the chip pan. I wouldn't argue if the stand was an inch or two higher but where it is now does start to be a reach with the head at the top of the travel to loosen the draw bar. I'm 5' 8" if that helps. I used a very scientific method to get my stand height, held my arm out and pretended to crank the x hand wheel while the wife made a measurement. That was loosely based on what the guys here said. Hope this helps you.
 
Can you post a pic of your mill on the stand. I am getting ready to build my stand. I am 6'2" and don't want to build it too short.
 
Thanks. I used the same method to determine height for the stand on my Pm1127, but the end result seems a little high. I'm 6'2" and I measure 45" to elbow center. I was thinking 33" for stand height (for PM727) so it sounds like I'm on the right track. Besides considering comfortable height for turning knobs, I also consider having good visibility of part and machining operation to be important. Hadn't thought about accessing drawbar bolt, but I hope to make drawbar pnuematic as well as CNC control of leadscrews in future.
 
Well here is a picture of the almost finished stand, I will be adding three drawers to hold tooling and what not. As you can see my shop is a disaster due to too many projects and not enough time.
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