[DCraft]

I can't find a thread on this but I need some help. I am buying a home hobby mill and based on what I want I am torn between the PM25 or the PM30. I am going to machine mostly mild steel and aluminum and rarely SS. Both Mills are within my price range, but I am really trying to find real world experience to guide me in which machine might fit the bill. I had a mini mill and it drove me nuts trying to machine steel. I'm not trying to take 0.100" in a pass but I would like to be able to lean on the machine a little bit with a 0.5" end mill.


Thanks for the help,

Darin

[wizard]

If you have the money and space, choose the larger sized machine. Keep in mind though that you will need to spend considerable monies outfitting either mill.

[Fastest1]

Like your girlfriend says, the bigger one. Btw , that was a joke.

[AVRnj]

I went through the same thing pretty recently.

I ended up choosing the PM-30LV.

I am in the middle of converting it right now. I really like the bigger size of it, weight and travel size.

The one thing you may want to look into is others have issues with the Z axis gib because of the size of the head. I don't believe this is as much of an issue on the PM-25's, but I could be wrong on this.

Hoss did a 3D print of both plus several others which gives you some perspective on the size differences as well.