[BMaynard]

A short interdiction: I am a novice when it comes to milling machines. I have however built a small CNC milling machine that was primarily designed to cut displays in plastic boxes. This machine is working grate but has its limitations.

I am now looking for a robust machine that will allow me to cut Aluminium. I however do not want to be limited only to Aluminium. I may on the odd occasion need to cut Steel.

I have looked at both the BF20 and RF25 mills. The BF20 has a square column and seems like it may be easer to convert to CNC than the RF25 which has a round column. The RF25 however is a more robust machine.

The specs that I have on the BF20 says that it has a 800W motor and the RF25 has a 500W motor.

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on which machine may be better from a function point of view.

The machine will be used in my workshop and not for production purposes.

Thanks

[phantomcow2]

The square column is always better. That BF20 mill looks great. If you have not seen it, here a link to one that has been CNC converted:
http://www.students.tut.fi/~kontkant/bf20.php.html