Machine recommendation needed
Hello,
I manufacture effect pedals for harmonica players that are housed in small cast aluminum enclosures. I currently drill holes for the controls, lights and switches using a drill press; but I am considering upgrading to a CNC machine. My products have holes on the top and the sides but if I could get a machine to do just the holes in the top of the enclosure that would be fine.
My products can be seen at LONE WOLF BLUES COMPANY
Where do I start? What type of machine should I look for?
Any advice is apreciated.
Sincerely,
Tickfawriver
While working all night a few things came to mind.
Never forget the focus of your business. In this case I'd have to say that is electronics for the music industry. Trying to bite off too much CNC technology all at once can take focus off your core business. In other words don't underestimate the time it takes to get up to speed and bring up a feasible CNC project.
Investing in CNC to drill a few holes might not pay off all that well, at least not at the volumes I'm imagining here. The reality is drill presses are dime a dozen and this application requires nothing special in the way of drill presses. You could very well line up five drill presses, with fixturing for each hole to be drilled and still be far below the start up costs of one CNC machine. That would include simple hard fixturing with no MDF.
Possibly one of the best reasons to invest in a CNC machine isn't to simply drill holes though a good machine can do that. It is the ability to do new things that really makes a CNC mill worth considering. I mentioned previously things that could be added to current products such as custom engravings, that is one thing that might be of value. However the big deal here from my perspective is the flexibility a CNC could afford you to design new products. A big time example is Apples milling of laptop chassises out of aluminum. In other words an entirely new approach to the way the industry use to do things. Sure you would use that same mill to produce existing product but I really see the ability to do "R&D" to be a significant justification for a CNC mill. Think of the capability as expanding your freedom to create.
Now that freedom to create doesn't come without a cost to you. Ramping up to the point of being able to truly leverage the suite of tools takes some time. That suite being CAD/CAM software, GCode, the CNC controller and general machining technology. Hoss covered this with his usual thoroughness above. Consider also investigating what companies like Tormach offer training and orientation wise.