[RobertFontaine]

Looking for a first desktop class machine. Unlikely to be using it for anything much bigger than 12" x 6" x 3" (randomly picked) kind of thing. I am wanting to prototype and mill some 60% keyboard cases and other simple enclosures out of aluminum stock.
I have been looking at the Chinese 6040's with a stated 300w motor.
Can I do better on price/quality? Are there any decent kits out there that I could order as easily? I am in Canada so whatever free shipping deals come from US sellers generally don't help me much at all.

have not problem with slow feeds and speeds. Not in a rush and not interested in doing more than one at a time. Mostly just want clean cuts and decent results for the minimum outlay. For my purposes I find myself wondering if I could just use jigs and a wood router with a plunge for much of what I want. I am much more interested in the result than the tool truthfully.

Under $1k is a constraint so $5k milling machines with bells and whistles are out of the question. I'm even sitting here thinking that a wood router and some creative jigs might do most of what I need outside of precision cuts.
Am I crazy or am is this close to true?


Thanks, T

[RCaffin]

Forgive me for being very old-and-cynical. There are no such things as a good cheap Chinese machines.
Actually, I doubt there are even any good cheap machines. (Which is the same thing as all the cheap machines come from China, regardless of the label.)
If all you can afford is $1k, you might be better off starting with a 3D printer.

Cheers
Roger

[Mmpie]

What Roger said. In the time it takes you to take the damn thing apart 10 times to find and fix the numerous problems it will inevitably have, then get the machine square, you could have made your jigs and 100 units, before you've even thought about making a cut with your CNC.

Don't ask me how I know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zeeflyboy]

Don't ask me how I know.

How do you know? (nuts)

[RobertFontaine]

Thanks.. I can hear the wisdom in this advice despite my fascination with the cnc component.

Very close to doing something like an openbuilds cbeam but a manual with jigs/templates makes a lot of sense from a productivity perspective. Will do a bit more research before pulling the trigger.

What Roger said. In the time it takes you to take the damn thing apart 10 times to find and fix the numerous problems it will inevitably have, then get the machine square, you could have made your jigs and 100 units, before you've even thought about making a cut with your CNC.

Don't ask me how I know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zeeflyboy]

Openbuilds Cbeam isn't going to be any better than the typical cheap chinese stuff... given that aluminium is on your to do list I wouldn't bother.

Given your budget constraints and your desired work, I think you'd probably be much better off trying to grab a second hand bargain off of here or more local forums/classifieds.

[Mmpie]

I definitely wouldn't use openbuilds for a CNC. I used it on my 3D printer and it was what gave me the idea of getting a CNC. First real thought was what happens when chips get in the grooves? The stuff isn't sturdy either.

$1000 CAD isn't going to get you anywhere. There's not only the machine to buy, you will need cutting tools, collets, clamps, for aluminium you will need a compressor and an air blast, a Mach 3 licence, measuring tools...

My Chinese machine cost £1700 in real money to buy, I'm now probably at around £3500 after buying everything to go with it including a sound proof and ventilated enclosure because the things make a racket and cause one hell of a mess.

Not trying to put you off but buying cheap still isn't cheap and it will be a significant time investment to get things where you want. If you're already proficient with CAD/CAM that's a head start but if not they are a very steep learning curve.

If you can make do with a router and some jigs I would seriously consider that, if you want to get into CNC and aluminium is your goal I would save and probably wait for a good second hand deal as zee has suggested above.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dharmic]

Cheap ebay/aliexpress/etc machines do one thing very well - they let you get into the CNC headspace at a budget cost and do a bit of tinkering. If that's what you are trying to do, go to it. Just don't expect anything much in terms of productivity, quality of finish or indeed being able to make anything on it you'd be proud of. I know a couple guys who have these el cheapo tiny machines and, though it's always a struggle, they do churn out some interesting stuff.

The more expensive machine (around $4k) that Mmpie, Zeeflyboy and I (and others) have is, whilst a significant step up from the really cheap ones, still pretty cheap and nasty. It'll make things but, again, it suffers from a lot of cost cutting and the output from these machines reflects that.

A decent CNC mill for metal or router for wood and plastic is going to set you back over $10k and, as your requirements get more demanding, more and more until you're in the half million dollar range.

So work out your requirements and expectations and find that sweet spot where it almost makes what you want in almost the materials you want almost as big as you need with almost the precision and finish you desire for only slightly more than what you can afford

[RCaffin]

Yeah, bottom line I think is that you don't get a reliable good car for $1k, and you don't get a reliable good CNC for that much $ either.
Chuckle - if you could, there would be an awful lot of very happy guys here! (Dunno about the $0.5M, but $10k is very reasonable for metal working.)

Cheers
Roger