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Baileigh VMD-15

That site appears to be US$ - if so that's a bit pricey. KBC has King Canada's PDM-30 in stock in Mississauga at $2999 and it's a twin for the above VMD-15.
A column mill has its drawbacks (quite a few actually) but can be a less expensive way to get a relatively solid machine.
 
The king has a bigger table, for that reason alone I would look for the king as I imagine they all come from the same factory in China anyhow
 
CWret said:
it's a twin for the above VMD-15.
Click to expand...
Not really, same design in a smaller footprint the column on a 30 is much more robust than the 15 in the photo.
When I bought my 30 way back when there was a "25" on the floor right beside it and it appeared to be the same as the 15 now offered.

I have no experience with the smaller version but it just looked to me that sturdy rigidity might be an issue between the two machines.
I have not noticed any column issues concerning rigidity with my 30 but I have put enough pressure on the quill with it's mechanical advantage to lift/slide the head up on the column. That wasnt a shortfall of the machine though, I just neglected to lock the head pivot to the column for that drill job.
 
There a few 'camps' when it comes to mills, specifically column type. I would recommend researching this a bit because you may fall into one or aspire to another, but maybe you just don't know it yet. This is probably why opinions vary.

Round Post Satisfied Camp: have accepted that raising/lowering head means potential loss of same/exact quill center reposition. This can be somewhat PITA if you have lots of repetitive features for example a simple series of holes, which requires different tooling lengths (short spot drill > medium pilot drill > longer tap assembly > short countersink). But same deal for endmill holder, boring head... So they either have a measurement confirming technique ,which takes more time. Or have made some kind of secondary machine modifications to stabilize the head position through the up/down travel (fabrication).

Round Post Unsatisfied Camp: find the constant adjustment checking or workarounds are not to their liking or work accuracy. They now wish they had a dovetail.

Dovetail Camp: rarely complain about this aspect, the head is locked within the accuracy of column & gib. They just complain about wanting a bigger dovetail mill. LOL

I recognize that within certain machines sizes or price levels, not all options are possible.
 
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