I remember when my mini lathe arrived and one of the first projects I did was to "mill" some brass bar in order to make a cross slide stop (that I have used more times than I can recall, especially for parting). Someone commented that I'd get the itch to pick up a mini mill as well. As I was "milling" that brass bar I kept saying to myself this would be SO much easier with a mill, even a tiny one.

So the mini mill seed was planted and once my mini lathe broke in early January, I got more serious about my mini mill aspirations. In all honesty, if VEVOR made a mini mill, I would probably have picked it up from them. So as I was looking around, I discovered just about everything in the sub $4,000 range is essentially just like the mini lathe market, all about the same-ish with paint and labels being the only difference. Even the "name" brands (Smithy, Grizzly, Precision Matthews, etc.) it seemed the only difference was price...the "bigger" the name, the bigger the price.

I also knew that I wanted a DRO factory installed instead of aftermarket like I did with the mini lathe, which wasn't a true DRO, but gave me the ability to measure from the tailstock, cross slide and compound slide. Better than nothing and worth the cost. So as soon as you add a DRO to any mini mill the price jumps.

I finally settled on the HiTorque 6450 from LittleMachineShop (LMS) for a few reasons. Initial cost was one. I liked the design and relatively compact size. Features and functionality (brushless motor...oh boy!). Had a Bluetooth DRO and they offered a single shipping charge, regardless of weight, so I added a number of additions/accessories you will see in future videos. My pallet was 350 lbs!

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