[Rockwall]

Hi everyone! I’m kicking around the idea of getting a Tormach for hobby use. It looks like it will cost $10K to $11K to get up and running. I don’t have that kind of money laying around so I’m thinking about taking out a loan and then doing some production to pay it off. Has anyone here done that? How long did it take and what kind of things did you produce?

[CNCRim]

fastest and good pace about 1 1/2 year.

[Freddy Bastard]

My machine paid for itself with the first job. That was the major reason to buy it. We had very special part to do from macor ceramic and every shop in the area charged the big price to do it. So I bought the machine (fully equiped) and did the part with perfect results. I think it all depend on the kind of job you want to do and if you already got some contrats it'll paid very fast.

[DareBee]

1st get get your product to manufacture and THEN get a machine that suits.
Ideal scenario is paid in 1.5a, definitely no longer than 5a, in 5 years you should have made more than enough money to pay cash for the 2nd one.

[Geof]

1st get get your product to manufacture and THEN get a machine that suits...

Worked for me.

I had my first two orders in hand for some custom display equipment at an Aquarium and some lab equipment for a university. Borrowed $6500 (This was in 1980 so it was not CNC), bought a mill and a lathe, finished the jobs and was paid within 30 days, then paid off the loan in full within six weeks of getting it. First and last loan I ever took out for business purposes.