[xaruum]

Hello,

I have been reading the forums off and on for a number of months.

I am in the process of putting together a side company to do prototyping of small parts. I have been approached by a potential investor (woot!), my problem is that they have some requirements of their own in order to move forward.

I was originally planning on working delrin and aluminum to .01" tolerances. For this I was planning on servo equipped Taigs. My investor requires the additional capacity to work Steel 303 and stainless to tolerances of .001" with an x-axis workpiece size up to 18".

This throws the Taigs out the window.

What would be the next step up?

My budgetary limits are $10k per machine including tooling.

Aside from that, We have 3 different designers from around the country using Canvas, Solidworks, and Rhino. I am planning on having all models exported to IGES for import into a CAM/CNC pathing software. Do any of you have experience with this aspect of the operation?

[Alan Wright]

You can get a Wabeco CC-F1210E with tooling for under $10K (http://www.mdaprecision.com). Also Tormach for a heavier
machine (http://www.tormach.com). Not sure what else
falls in that price range now.

Alan

[xaruum]

The Tormach machines look interesting, especially with their tooling system. But can anyone provide real-world experience of how they would compare with something like a used bridgeport or cincinatti or haas? - other than the obvious requirements of a re-enforced slab and 2 or 3 phase power.

And my second question again, can anyone suggest a stand-alone program that would take IGS/IGES from various cad programs and spit out gcode for a specific target machine?

Thanks for any advice!

[BobWarfield]

Many of the CAM programs will take IGES and produce code. You need to evaluate them. Opinions are all over the map. VisualMill and OneCNC are two that I would start looking at.

I don't know what your business is or how the $10K factors into it, but you are stuck in a difficult price point. You can buy a Tormach, and probably should to get started, but if the business really goes and you are making a lot of parts, you are likely to want a low end Hurco or Haas before too long.

You should consider purchasing a Tormach to start and use for prototyping, and outsource the parts to a shop with larger VMC's until you reach enough volume to acquire another machine.

There are no end of used CNC bargains available ranging from used VMC's to CNC knee mills and conversions. My problem with these for your business is that if you aren't careful, you'll eat up a huge amount of your time getting one to work well. That's great if its a hobby, but is not the best for a business very often. Still, it has been done, and successfully. Usually by folks who are already very skilled and past the learning curve.

Best,

BW