High Precision Mini Metal 5 Axis 3D CNC Milling Router Machine from ChinaCNCzone.com

Hi,

I am running a small company and we need an universal mill for cutting some parts for prototypes of robots and other stuff we are constructing. We are heavily using FDM and SLA printing we do in house for our current work but it is time to fabricate some metal pats as well. As 3D printed metal is way out of reach for us milling seems to be the best option..

We are developing our stuff in Solidworks and most parts do have quite complicated geometry so I think the possibility to mill in 5 Axis would be very beneficial. Even when the working space is relatively small for 5 Axis milling we could do a lot of jobs in house and can gain experience for bigger jobs we may outsource. Unfortunately the big boys solutions for 5 Axis milling is still quite expensive and out of our current financial possibilities.

I searched for a solution and found on ChinaCNCzone.com this High Precision Mini Metal 5 Axis 3D Cnc Milling Router Machine but there is a even more bigger model I could find in this video . It has a 200mm x 200mm x 200mm working area for 5 Axis milling and 600mm x 400mm x 400mm for conversational 3 Axis milling. It's not huge but for most of our jobs sufficient. This machine even provides RTCP and is advertised to mill softer steel. I wouldn't count on steel but hope that softer metal like aluminum should be OK for this machine...

I checked out some reviews and videos but couldn't find anything for this model. However, many are using the cheaper models from this brand and most people seems to be quite satisfied. with the price and performance ratio. From the steel construction alone I assume that this machine should be much more robust than the entry level consumer level ones but of course I can't know for sure.. I wouldn't expect a flawless machine out of the box and you will need some time and patience to tinker with it to get the best performance out of it but I would be willing to go this route if I can save on costs but would get a good quality on my jobs at the end...

Has anybody experience with this type of machine? Any opinions what to look for in more detail and where to take caution? As mentioned in the beginning, I don't plan to let it run for 247 but I want to have a machine I can use whenever I want and get thinks done in a few hours than in a few days for searching a external solution. We are doing many iterations in our developments and therefore I need a fast manufacture process.

Thanks for your patience and your opinions! Looking forward to hearing your answers!

I've been looking this machine up and am also very interested in reviews and feedback!

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I've been looking this machine up and am also very interested in reviews and feedback!

Garbage, have you considered a Tormach machine? You can get a 440 starting at $5k or so. If you're actually using this for a business I would consider getting something that will have better the support and user base (the Tormach differently will) over another chinese machine with a million question marks.

Do you really think you NEED 5 axis? Very few parts actually need this. You can go pretty far with 3 or 4 axis especially if you think about what you are designing in CAD and how it can be manufactured rather than just modelling anything you dream up in CAD.