Hi

My first post on the forum although I have been reading for a couple of months or more.

I am looking for a first CNC mill and intend to use it to make the parts for a model steam locomotive. I have been manually milling since the summer and want to go to CNC to make better use of my time and hopefully to make better quality parts.

I am a medium distance commuter and usually have one or two hours during the day when I can work on the laptop, re-draw components, run CAM software etc, my time at home is more limited so I want to get away from the hours of handle winding on the manual mill.

I expect to be cutting some phosphor bronze, a lot of steel and maybe some cast iron. The machine may get used to cut some aulminium as my oldest son is lusting after the ability to make bespoke coolers for his PCs.

I can just about live with a machine with 6" Y travel but want at least 12" on the X axis and plenty of Z travel to be able to get in the odd tall part.

I have been playing with Mach 3 and Vectric 3dcarve and they seem to do a lot of what I am after for reasonable cost.

I have been looking at the Sieg KX3 which seems to fit the bill but would like some feedback from someone who uses one, also, am I missing any obvious options here ?

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...CNC-Hobby-Mill

I really like the look of the Tormach but with the exchange rate and shipping costs, it would be right out of my price range.

I really dont want to DIY as I want to cut parts not build / rebuild a machine. As I live in the UK, I need a machine that is available here.

Any thoughts / views would be most welcome.

Thanks

Paul