Hi all,

After a lot of reading on this website I still can't decide what kind of CNC mill I should buy.
I'm studying Electronics and I need to do a lot of PCB designing for school projects.
At this point is is mostly using experimental boards because it would take to long to order the PCB's from China,
so I can only use through hole components.
Now I want to "step up my game" and go for SMD components, because I'm used to it due to my working experience.
I have saved some money while working and I want to buy a CNC mill now.
I mainly want to use the standard casings: SOIC, SOT, DO, SOD, 0805, 1206 and maybe 0603 and QFN if it would be possible.
Now my budget is around €2500-3000 for the machine but €4000 in total(machine, carve bits, customs, shipping, software).
The software I use for designing my PCB is mainly Altium. So I'm also looking for software to convert Gerber files to G-code.
None of my designs have been bigger than the normal Eurocard size 160x100 mm (6.3x3.9 inch), so that is the workspace i aim for.
Something like Carvey or othermill would be enough i think.

I hope you guys can help me out and give me some advise.