[CGKid]

I'm a full time student and part time employee. I was trying to think of a hobby I could get into that I could enjoy and make some extra money.

One thing I've always been interested in was CNC work. My father was a self-employed CNC machinist who would make a wax mold of watches, cast them in gold, and sell them on eBay.

I thought to myself, "the start up cost is going to be high!" I searched eBay for a mini CNC machine and they are more reasonable then I thought. My budget $800 on the machine and $300 on CAM software.

To turn it into a business, once I get to where I know what I'm doing, my plan is to market various products (keychains, engraved thumb drives, simple jewelry) to musicians for their fans. I already have a presence in the music scene and know many artist (including myself) that would pay for this service if the cost was reasonable. Also provide services to the general public on eBay.

Is this reasonable or should I turn around? Also, how much time investment does it take the average person to learn CAM software? Should I take a class in college or just learn through the internet (youtube tutorials and such)?

Thank you!

[minicncuser]

It only take a sec to crash a machine the cheaper one on ebay have no protection against a simple mistake. There are some places you can have your ideas made for you so you can begin to see how they would go in sales. I been working in cadcam for about 10 years and still learning things every day. Sometimes the hard way. There are many online places to look to learn stuf. But $300 for cadcam wont get you much. You need a program like Mach3 to run the CNC too Plus a Computer just for the cnc and a better one to do your programing.

[LeeWay]

That is not a realistic budget at all.
It might be for 3D printing though. That will get your feet wet with cnc at a low cost. For any kind of machining though, the budget just is not there.

[awerby]

The first thing to invest your time and money into would be the CAD software. Once you can quickly and easily design these items, then you can use service bureaus to produce prototypes - either with CNC or 3D printing. Show them to your friends and acquaintances and see if you can generate any orders at a price that would make it possible to make money by producing them. CAM software isn't as difficult to master as CAD, should you decide to go that route. But with your budget, you're going to have to save up a while before buying a CNC machine. The ones you're looking at are junk.

[CGKid]

The first thing to invest your time and money into would be the CAD software. Once you can quickly and easily design these items, then you can use service bureaus to produce prototypes - either with CNC or 3D printing. Show them to your friends and acquaintances and see if you can generate any orders at a price that would make it possible to make money by producing them. CAM software isn't as difficult to master as CAD, should you decide to go that route. But with your budget, you're going to have to save up a while before buying a CNC machine. The ones you're looking at are junk.

That sounds like a good plan. What's a good CAM software for a beginner? And what's a reputable service bureau to use?
Also, what's the entry cost for a decent CNC machine if all goes well?

Thank you!

[LeeWay]

I would suggest looking into Fusion 360.
You can use it for free. It is CAD and CAM and is a very nice software, but it is cloud based. Don't let that slow you down. I would start doing the tutorials and watching the videos. You should be up to speed for simple projects fairly quickly.

You can get a really small milling machine, but it isn't cheap. If you are wanting to do any sort of semi-production, I would look past Sherline and Taig, unless they are really small and simple products and you do not intend to expand. They both have like a cult following and I mean that in a good way. That means there is a lot of help available when needed. Many guys on here started out with those machines. Tormach now has a nice small entry level mill, but again it isn't cheap. It is very close in price to their next size up and that in my opinion would be a better deal.
Novakon is also worth looking into. I have the Pulsar from them and love it.
Check out the Little Machine Shop as well.
They have some small cnc mills.
Now if you are talking router style cnc machines, then there is tons of crap on the market.
If you see one that is cheap, then that is what you get. For any type of dependable accurate machine, you will have to pay.
Lots of nice second hand machines around too. Just do the research. I don't think an old second hand mill would be a good fit for a beginner or a start up. Parts costs alone could put you out of business if something broke down.

[awerby]

It sounds like the sort of projects CGKid is talking about would work fine on a Taig or Sherline, either of which would be miles better than whatever piece of junk he was contemplating. If his business takes off and he needs more expensive machinery to keep up with demand, then sure, he can upgrade at that point.

Free software is great to get started with, but if you really get into this, the investment of time in learning how to use a piece of software dwarfs the cost of most programs, that tend to be a lot more capable than what you can get for free.

[LeeWay]

Have you looked at Fusion 360, Andrew? If not, give it a look. It is free to use for hobbyists and startups that make less than 100K a year. I only pay a $300.00 per year subscription.

[Chris Duncan]

A small used cnc mill on Craigslist might be around 2K to 4K. CL is good if you are near a big town because you can go look at something before you purchase, it tends to have better prices than Ebay also because they aren't taking a cut.

When budgeting a shop the mill is probably around 1/3 of the total cost, (or 1/4 if you want a lathe). Another 1/3 for equipment and another 1/3 for mill tooling.

Fusion 360 is a good bang for the buck. But I would demo different things because you don't want to have to start over on the learning curve.

Realize you are trying to do several different things here and they are all going to take time to learn

CAD
CAM
Machining
Design
Marketing

I would research what you are trying to market and make sure that market isn't saturated with Chinese goods, it's hard to compete with that.