In today’s article, Sentinel’s Best Mini Mill comparison we will look at one of the most popular pieces of equipment in the home machine shop with limited space is the mini milling machine. We review the best mini milling machines available on Amazon shipped to anywhere in the country. We don’t always have a local tool store that stocks machinist tools, luckily the internet has us covered.
Today we will go over the 5 mini mills that are available on Amazon in the under 1 hp category that are actually worth owning. There are others available, however we do not feel they are worth a look, either too cheaply made, too small for any actual purpose or just plain useless. We will cover the 1-2 hp Milling Machines in a later article.
Specification Overview Table
| Machine | HP | Spindle | Speed | X Axis | Y Axis | Z Axis | Z fine feed | Table size | T-Slot | Tilt Column | End mill max | Face Mill max | Drill max | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMS HiTorque Micro Mill | .34 hp | #2 MT | 100-5000 rpm | 11.8" | 5.9" | 8.7" | Yes | 15.7"x5.7" | .310" | No | .400" | .600" | .400" | 120v 5a |
| LMS HiTorque Mini Mill | .67 hp | R8 | 100-2500 rpm | 11.8" | 5.1" | 10.6" | Yes | 18.1"x4.7" | .470" | No | .600" | 1.200" | .500" | 120v 8a |
| SEIG X2D | .67hp | R8 | 100-2500 rpm | 11.8" | 5.1" | 10.6" | Yes | 18.1"x4.7" | .470" | No | .600" | 1.200" | .500" | 120v 8a |
| WEN 33013 | .67 hp | R8 | 100-2500 rpm | 11.875" | 5.125" | 7.0" | Yes | 18.1"x4.7" | .470" | Yes | .625" | 1.125" | .500" | 120v 4.5a |
| Gongju 385-130-421 | 1 hp | #3 MT | 50-2500 rpm | 11.8" | 5.1" | 8.7" | Yes | 18.1"x4.3" | .470" | Yes | .500" | 1.200" | .500" | 220v |
Micro Mill
Let’s get going, the first one we will cover is from Little MachineShop, their LMS HiTorque Micro Mill. This Mill has a .34hp motor and a speed range of 100-5000rpm, this speed range is perfect for a small mill of this size and more than capable for most small projects in Aluminum, Brass, Plastics and Wood. It has a digital tach for spindle speed, a variable potentiometer for speed and of course the all important emergency stop button for when things go bad. The spindle has a fine feed feature, the knob on the left of the spindle and also a coarse feed lever on the right. Tightening the gib lock on the left of the column when your depth is set helps with rigidity when cutting.
The LMS HiTorque Micro Mill has a non tilting solid column that also helps with rigidity of the machine, to us this is not a negative at all. Small machines are inherently not rigid, a tilting column makes this situation worse. The LMS Micro Mill has a maximum face mill size of .600”, maximum end mill size and drill size of .400”.
As mentioned, this is their Micro Mill, even smaller than a traditional Mini Mill, this is an outstanding tool for modellers and small project tinkerers. The Spindle is a #2 Morse Taper rather than the standard R8, which is the only negative of this mill. However, with the current availability of everything under the sun on the internet #2MT collets are available online and are listed below, problem solved.
The Micro Mill has the smallest T-Slot in the group listed in this article at .310” wide. A starter kit of Clamps and T-Slots nuts, parallels, centre finder and 123 blocks for this cool little mill is available here.
A tooling kit is also available here that has the all the above as well as 7 collets, a vise, end mills and center drills, a great deal.
Mini Mills
First up in the Mini Mill is our favorite, from Little MachineShop, the LMS Hi Torque Mini Mill. This Mill has a .67hp DC Brushless motor with belt drive, eliminating the brittle plastic gears the other mills of this style have, huge improvement making this the best Mini Mill. The speed range is 100-2500rpm, this speed range in the top end is too slow for what we would like to see but unfortunately is the standard for Mini Mills, everything else about this mill makes up for it.
The LMS Hi Torque Mini Mill has a variable potentiometer for speed and push button on off switch. The spindle has a fine feed feature, the knob on the right of the spindle and also a coarse feed lever on the right. Tightening the gib lock on the right of the column when your depth is set helps with rigidity when cutting. It is perfect for a small mill of this size and more than capable for most small projects in Aluminum, Brass, Plastics, Wood and Steel if you are realistic about your expectations.
The DC Brushless motor is a huge positive in this Mill, it eliminates the need for the dual speed gearbox and the plastic gears that are inside most Mini Mill drives. This feature alone, makes this mill number 1 in our books. The LMS Mini Mill 3990 has a balance air spring for the spindle to help take load off of the feed and make precise adjustment easier, this is a great feature.
The LMS Hi Torque Mini Mill has a non tilting solid column that helps with rigidity of the machine, to us this is not a negative, it’s a positive. Small machines are inherently not rigid, a tilting column makes this situation worse. The LMS Mini Mill has an R8 spindle which is a huge positive, maximum face mill size of 1.200”, maximum end mill size of .600” and maximum drill size of .500”
The LMS HiTorque Mini Mill has a .470” T-Slot. A Tooling kit of Clamps and T-Slots nuts, parallels, center finder and 123 blocks, 7 R8 collets, a vise, end mills and center drills for this cool little mill is available here, a great deal.
Next up is the SIEG X2D Mini Mill our 2nd favorite Mini Mill. This Mill has a .67hp motor and a speed range of 100-2500rpm, this mill has a dual speed gearbox, 0-1100 and 0-2500rpm and has plastic gears in the drive mechanism. There are companies that make aluminum gears as a retrofit that are quite popular to rectify the plastic gear issue. The SIEG X2D mill has a balance air spring for the spindle, same as the LMS Mini Mill, this is a nice feature. It is perfect for a small mill of this size and more than capable for most small projects in Aluminum, Brass, Plastics, Wood and Steel if you are realistic about your expectations.
The SIEG X2D Mini Mill has a non tilting solid column that helps with rigidity of the machine, to us this is not a negative, it’s a positive. Small machines as mentioned above and are inherently not rigid, a tilting column makes this situation worse. The SIEG X2D Mini Mill has an R8 spindle which is a huge positive, and has a maximum face mill size of 1.200”, maximum end mill size of .600” and maximum drill size of .500”
The SIEG X2D Mini Mill has a .470” T-Slot. A Tooling kit of Clamps and T-Slots nuts, parallels, center finder and 123 blocks, 7 R8 collets, a vise, end mills and center drills for this cool little mill is available here, a great deal.
Next up is the WEN 33013 Mini Mill. This Mill has a .69hp motor and a speed range of 100-2500rpm. This mill has a dual speed gearbox, 0-1100 and 0-2500rpm and has plastic gears in the drive mechanism. There are companies that make aluminum gears as a retrofit that are quite popular to rectify the plastic gear issue. A mill of this size is more than capable for most small projects in Aluminum, Brass, Plastics and Wood. It is perfect for a small mill of this size and more than capable for most small projects in Aluminum, Brass, Plastics, Wood and Steel if you are realistic about your expectations.
The WEN 33013 Mini Mill has a tilting column that goes 45 degree either way. If you want a tilt column buy this one over the LMS, you do however lose 2″ of z Axis travel due to the tilting column. If you look at the column in the very middle is a geared plate that the spindle gear rides on, see how it is shorter than the SIEG and LMS3990 above. This Mini Mill has an R8 spindle which a definite positive. The WEN 33013 Mini Mill has a maximum face mill size of 1.125”, maximum end mill size of .625” and maximum drill size of .500”
The T-Slot in the WEN 33013 Micro Mill is .470”, A Tooling kit of Clamps and T-Slots nuts, parallels, center finder and 123 blocks, 7 R8 collets, a vise, end mills and center drills for this cool little mill is available here, a great deal.
The last Mill on the list is the Gongju 385-130-421 Mini Mill. This Mill has a 1hp DC Brushless motor that runs on 220v but is also available in 110v, this is the highest horsepower in it’s class. The mill has a speed range of 50-2500rpm, as mentioned before this speed range in the top end is too slow for what we would like to see but is standard for Mini Mills. It has a digital tach for spindle speed, a variable potentiometer for speed and of course the all important emergency stop button for when things go bad.
If you want a tilt column and bigger power, buy this one over the WEN, you do however as mentioned above lose 2″ of z Axis travel due to the tilting column. If you look at the column in the very middle is a geared plate that the spindle gear rides on, see how it is shorter than the SIEG and LMS3990 above.
The Gongju 385-130-421 Mini Mill has a tilting column that goes 45 degree either way. If you want a tilt column in a mini mill buy this one over the LMS or the SIEG. This Mini Mill has a #3 Morse Taper spindle which is not preferable to us, R8 tooling is so much more convenient to use. It is perfect for a small mill of this size and more than capable for most small projects in Aluminum, Brass, Plastics, Wood and Steel if you are realistic about your expectations.
Summary
In closing, if getting a Micro Mill, get the LMS Micro Mill as it was the only one worth reviewing as the rest were not acceptable in our opinion. For Mini Mills, the Little Machineshop product wins best Mini Mill again with the LMS Mini Mill. No, we don’t work for them or have any affiliation with them, their product is just plain better.
If you are a tinkered and want to modify the machine you can easily get the SIEG to the level of the LMS with a little work and even surpass it. Another note worth mentioning is the people converting these mills to CNC, this is such a cool idea in our opinion. We will cover CNC conversions in a later article as they are just too cool to not look at further.
Happy Machining!