[AMG Guitars]

I've been researching these small mills for quite some time now and I want to put a package together that will easily slice through small stainless steel parts about 2x4x1" and do it continuously and reliably.

The machine must be as rigid as possible and yet still be able to be picked up and moved if need be.

I've been considering Centroid controllers. But it seems the acorn isn't quite the same as the All in one DC and frankly, I don't know if after you get 3 amps you may be better off getting the All in one at the get go? I really like true closed loop servos. Not only do they report better but for my specific steel cutting application would seem more appropriate because they produce more torque. But there again, just not sure about the in/oz requirements to plow an 1/8" endmill through stainless all day?

Anyway this thing has to have some sort of foundation that's strong enough to cut stainless on a regular basis and I'm just not sure what mill to choose.

Is there a way to purchase just the bear bones slide ways so I can save the cost of tossing all the stuff I won't be needing from the very start?

I'm figuring right from the get go I'll be needing, ball screws, a spindle, a motor, servos, encoders, amplifiers, and a pc with Windows 10.

Thing is, why pay for a whole mini mill if you're going to throw all that stock equipment away?

What has the most rigid slide ways and would weigh about 200 lbs fully outfitted for cnc?

Is it possible to get a fair deal on just the ways, and z frame of course?

...and do any come ground and lapped, tapped, and prepped for cnc retrofit?

I'm looking for an appropriate machine for my particular application.

So thanks in advance for all the help. I'm enjoying immensely the process of narrowing down all the multitude of choices available. Narrowing it down to a machine that does one thing very well. Cut steel of a 2x4x1" stock dimension.

Alex

[Jim Dawson]

Here is the lightest weight machine that I could find that would meet your specs, but it's still 100 lbs more than you want.

WABECO V5 Benchtop CNC Mill 100-7500 RPM, 2Kw spindle - MDA Precision

[footpetaljones]

Tormach has shown demos of their 440 cutting stainless. It's just a matter of speeds/feeds and how quickly you're expecting to get the job done.

The Allin1DC has 3 integrated servo drivers on the board. The Acorn requires separate drivers and a power supply for those drivers, but the Acorn board doesn't limit the amperage for the drivers in any way. DMM servos + an Acorn board would be ~$1000 cheaper than the Allin1DC.

[LongRat]

I think you are asking a lot for a 200lb machine. The flex in a machine that light will more than offset the tiny accuracy benefit of closed loop servos over anything else. You don't need any torque to speak of either, even the weakest stepper system on plain leadscrews will snap a 1/8 endmill easily.
If you want to buy an incomplete machine, effectively for 'just the iron' that's basically what many people do when they get a Chinese mill. Certainly true in my case. I bought a manual mill and took off everything bar the iron structure and added a new spindle motor, VFD, CNC control, steppers, ballscrews etc etc. It still works out as a decent deal even if it is pretty wasteful.

[CL_MotoTech]

I regularaly cut stainless on my G0704, I wouoldn’t want to do big stainless projects though, it’s just too slow. Though it sounds like you are working on very small parts so I suspect a G0704 would run a 1/8” end mill much like a very large machine would. Generally I use a 5mm end mill and cut several holes and pockets. My father and I carried my G0704 when I moved homes. Though I had to unhook all the steppers, disassemble the enclosure, and remove the mill from the base. The conversion of the machine to CNC is semi involved, probably wouldn’t want to do it if I was going for a production quality machine right off the bat. I don’t recommend moving the mill often either, I spent at least an hour just leveling my machine, then add in the various other parameters that should be considered for accurate and repeatable machine operation.

[Heavymetalcnc]

I did some research on trying to buy a table top machine without the lead screws, handles, and everything else you will not be using.
I got completely shut down. The short answer is, they would probably send you what you want. You just won't get any discount at all.