[pepper]

Dear Forum Members - Maybe somebody can give me some assistance on where I may purchase a small CNC mill. There are a number of small desktop CNC mills available. MaxNC, Sherline, Taig, come to mind. What would be other Mill manufactures to check out? Does not have to come with a spindle. Platform would be fine. This will be my first CNC adventure. Mill can be new or used. If there are any dealers on the list please do not hesitate to email. Thank you all very much! Pete

[BarnBurner]

I've never run the MaxNC, but have heard the program included is not very good; you might have to switch to an alternate 3rd Party. I contacted them 3 different times and talked to some people there that could not even answer my questions.

The thing about Sherline is that they do not make their own CNC machines; they are manufactured by many different 3rd parties. Support might be a problem.

I own a Taig, and it has paid for itself at least twice. I had a problem with scaling changing the A as well as the XYZ; I contacted Kurt and he changed the program. Maybe not for me, but their support is excellent.

I'll admit I am biased as I have not run the other 2, but I also looked into them before deciding on the Taig. Perhaps some other users can help you with the other two.

[desertseeker]

i have a emco pc mill 50 w/computer,also pc turn 55,also software and other stuff.dan

[Harryman]

I owned a MaxNC and they're nothing but junk, stay very far away.

There's lots of X2's out there, but if you check out the voluminous posts here about them, definitely not worth much right out of the box. If messing around, rebuilding and modding your mill is your idea of a good time, go for it. If you'd rather spend your time making parts, there's better solutions.

Taig's are the best bet for performance/value in that price range, plenty of users and plenty of help for the novice.

I've got a Minitech, they're worth a look, cost a bunch more than a Taig but worth it for a turnkey precision mill IMHO. http://www.minitech.com/