Which mini-mill should I get?

I just took delivery of my PM-25MV a few weeks ago. Its a very well built machine for its class as most would agree. I chose this over the similar Grizzly machine for two reasons. First it has a belt drive instead of plastic gears, and secondly because it came with a 3 year as oppose to 1 year warranty. There were a few other reasons but those alone I thought was worth the few hundred more that it cost. I did order mine with the 3 axis DRO as well. This is an expensive option and certainly a person could find a much less expensive after market alternative if you were willing to install it yourself. Even though years ago I installed DRO's for a living, I didn't want to mess with it...but that's just me.
I also went to Amazon to get started on tooling. Don't skimp on the vice. When milling, the more solid everything is, the better when it comes to avoiding chatter. I purchased a 4" vice that came with a swivel mount..its blue and cost around 100 bucks...I'm sure you've seen it. Anyways, I'm happy with it. I did remove the swivel base and will only put it back on if I need it. Again, the more solid, the less moving parts, the better.
You'll need a clamp kit and R8 collets which I see you've gotten. Of course you'll also need endmills. Your also going to need a test indicator and magnetic base for tramming the head (mine was good to go when checked) and also for squaring the vice. You'll need to order some oil for the ways, and also some cutting oil. The manual lists the types of lubricants, but for cutting oil its your preference. Oh...you'll need a drill chuck if you're going to do any drilling with the machine. Again, don't get a cheap one, but you don't need to spend a fortune on one either. I got on of the middle of the road keyless chucks that PM sells. There are also incidental tools like machinist squares, edge finders, calipers, micrometers, parallels (absolutely necessary for clamping work), chip brush, oil cans....heck we could go on and on here, but I think I've listed the essentials. You'll find, as all of us have, that eventually you'll have spent more on tooling that on the machine itself, but that's part of the fun of it. When it comes to tools, buy what you need for the job at hand...you don't have to go all crazy all at once, LOL
 
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Oh...I'll add that one of the first things I did was remove the chip shield. Its easy to do, and when removed the micro switch that senses the position of the guard stays active so you can still run the machine. The other thing I did was to tighten up the gibs, especially on the z axis. I noticed (with the DRO) that when tightening the z axis clamps, the axis would move several thousandths. Tightening the gibs eliminated much of the problem, and now the movement is less than a thousandth. This is not a problem since close tolerance positioning of the z axis is done with the collet and not the z axis per se.
 
TonyRV2 said:
I did order mine with the 3 axis DRO as well. This is an expensive option and certainly a person could find a much less expensive after market alternative if you were willing to install it yourself. Even though years ago I installed DRO's for a living, I didn't want to mess with it...but that's just me.
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That was a wise move in my opinion, a milling machine definitely benefits from having a DRO, it just makes a huge difference in accuracy especially for older ,tired eyes.:D , they can be a pain to install so depending on how much extra it would cost to order one already installed, I would seriously consider that option.
 
The 3 axis DRO from PM for the PM25 is a $550 add on. I cringed at the price seeing that it added 33% to the price of the mill, but hey, my motto is pay once, cry once... and I didn't have to worry about messing with it, which is worth at least a dollar right there. ;)
 
Ok, guys. I bought the following items. I don't think it comes with a chuck. What else should I get? I'm buying the rest of the stuff from Amazon

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I think you'll be happier with an R8-ER32 chuck and a set of ER-32 collets. it's going to cost twice the price of a good chuck but you'll be able you hold drill bits and end mills.
There have been many discussions on ER collets on this site if you want to know more.
I recommend only what I have used not what I've heard, Technik collets are good quality and for the collet chuck I recommend Glacern R8-er32 :
https://www.glacern.com/er_collet_chucks
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Techniks-E...381344&hash=item45e59f6ee1:g:6LMAAOSwg9JZ09Eb
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Techniks-E...793119&hash=item53d3e92f1a:g:xxQAAOSwHIlZ09OA
OR a bit cheaper alternative is TPACtools , they sell on ebay and have good reviews.
 
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The R8 collet set is fine for starting out. Better to put money on a thin parallel set for now since you will soon need them. How about end mills? Some 2 flute and 4 flute HSS end mills for a starter set. An edge/center finder is also a good inexpensive tool. A DRO really is a great addition but is expensive. A dial test indicator for tramming.

Congrats on the PM-25MV. That is a very nice mill, so much nicer than my little HF mini mill.
Don't forget to save some money for materials if you don't already have them.

Roy
 
Pcmaker said:
I already bought an 11 piece R-8 collet set. Is this not good enough to start with?
not sure what R-8 is. If it's an R-8 collet set, then I need an R-8 chuck?
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If the mill is advertised as r8 (looks like it is) you just need a collet set which you've already ordered. A collet is the metal sleeve or collar that holds your tool in the spindle. for example, assuming you have a 1/2 shank end mill and you want to use it in your mill, you would select your 1/2" r8 collet, insert the collet and end mill into the machine, tighten the drawbar, which pulls the collet into the machine which causes the collet to squeeze the shank of your bit. the outside diameter of an R8 collet does not change, but the inside diameter does which is why they come in a set.

You may be wondering, why not just use a drill chuck? the answer is rigidity and accuracy. a drill chuck holding that same 1/2 end mill will usually only have 3 contact points, and extend further away from your headstock, reducing the amount of lateral force you can apply to your end mill along with increased chances of the tool slipping, and it will have more T.I.R.

R8 is not the only option, but it is a standard on these small table top mills / mills with limited HP. ER collets and a ER to R8 adapter is worth researching, I used R8 for a long time before looking for alternatives and as Roy pointed out, it is fine when you're starting out.

Ken from ontario said:
I think you'll be happier with an R8-ER32 chuck and a set of ER-32 collets. /QUOTE]

I wish I had done this sooner. As an added bonus, once you use ER with an adapter to r8 you can preset all of the tool heights which can be a huge time saver...
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