CNC Machine

[grimmjaw]

Hi,

I'm looking for a desktop cnc machine for light work such as milling Frontpanel, aluminium bracket, enclosure, mainly use  for prototyping.
the budget is ca. 5k€

Any suggestion is truly appreciated.


Grimmjaw

[PeterFW]

I'm looking for a desktop cnc machine for light work such as milling Frontpanel, aluminium bracket, enclosure, mainly use  for prototyping.
the budget is ca. 5k€

During my last search they came up often and looke pretty decent:
http://www.cnc-step.de/en/

But i do not own one, yet...

[rx8pilot]

When choosing a CNC machine to fit a budget - do not underestimate all the little bits you will need to make it work. Work holding, tool holders, cutting tools, etc.

[PeterFW]

When choosing a CNC machine to fit a budget - do not underestimate all the little bits you will need to make it work. Work holding, tool holders, cutting tools, etc.

Oh... yes!
There are so many damn things you need besides the machine.
Clamps, nuts, bolts, cutters, lubrication, wrenches, a vice, calipers, straight edges, parallels, drills, collets, vaccuum, threa cutters/dies and so much more...
And then you need stuff to mill, aluminium and plastic blocks are not cheap.
And you need a sacrificial table cover, some times.
At around 3.5K you get a decent machine, that leaves 1.5K for the various other stuff.
That could work.

[grimmjaw]

The litte thing ('verbrauch material') is included in the budget. Hopefully  I can get machine
will relatively 'plug and play' with the budget

[Tandy]

Don't be tempted by the cheap machines on eBay as they are not up to the job of Aluminium. They are typically not sturdy enough and the DC 'spindle' is nothing more than a cheap dremil type thing that is just not cut out for it.

[Galenbo]

Things that come to my mind when hearing CNC:

Cutting surface cooling
Machine Cooling
Dust retraction
Noise enclosure
Automatic greasing
Chip disposal
Milling speed (m3/h)
Wanted accuracy, precision, repeatability, squareness.
How to 'zero', how to re-clamp and continue, when needed.

Maybe all/some are unrelated here, but it's important to know that even 5K machines often still are toys.
Engraving will work, but better forget brackets and metal 2.5D stuff.

 

[rob77]

one route could be a cheap small plug&play CNC machine for engraving panels + milling plastic (basically a "toy" desktop CNC mill)  and in addition buy an old school manual milling machine for the metalwork - you can get a "decent" smaller milling machine suitable for metal work  for something like 1-2k Eur.

[Galenbo]

you can get a "decent" smaller milling machine suitable for metal work  for something like 1-2k Eur.

CNC? Brand and model?
For the price you mention, you only have the automatic greasing installallation that you will need for it.

[rob77]

you can get a "decent" smaller milling machine suitable for metal work  for something like 1-2k Eur.

CNC? Brand and model?
For the price you mention, you only have the automatic greasing installallation that you will need for it.

no CNC, a smaller milling machine...

Bernardo is making a lot of them:

http://www.bernardo.at/shop/en/metal/metal-working/drilling-and-milling-machines/drilling-and-milling-machines.html?price=1000-2000

and of course they have sub 1000Eur ones as well.

[kc9qvl]

What size footprint and how large a milling area x,y,and z?

Try to stay away from the cnc routers. Most struggle with aluminum. Get a small but heavy mill.
If you don't want to diy convert a mini or micro mill to cnc then this.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3501&category=1241045623

Small but usable. Going smaller would be the Sherline/Taig mill. Then the proxxon mf70. The proxxon would require conversion to cnc.

[rob77]

proxxon mf70 is a small & cute micro-mill - suitable for jewelry or making small/tiny parts. wouldn't buy it for making metal cases - the Y travel is just 35mm (i'm using the KT70 cross-table which is used on MF70 as well).

[pickle9000]

When choosing a CNC machine to fit a budget - do not underestimate all the little bits you will need to make it work. Work holding, tool holders, cutting tools, etc.

good advise

[Fred27]

proxxon mf70 is a small & cute micro-mill - suitable for jewelry or making small/tiny parts. wouldn't buy it for making metal cases - the Y travel is just 35mm (i'm using the KT70 cross-table which is used on MF70 as well).

It's possible to modify the MF70 to increase the Y travel up to the 82mm limit caused by the throat of the mill. The required parts can be mill on the MF70 itself.
https://0xfred.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/extending-the-mf70s-y-axis/

It's a great mill, but it is tiny. It's surprising how often that is big enough though - or that you can design around the limitation.

[grimmjaw]

@kc9qvl
The mill from littlemachineshop looks promising but they only ship to US and Canada only.
I'm in Singapore actually

I have a friend with the proxxon mf70, and look like a solid enough machine.
But the Z-axis has some backlash that get me worried cutting aluminum or steel

[kc9qvl]

The backlash has no bearing on the machines ability to do aluminum or steel. Just not so good for precision.

[abigbell]

you  should try get one from chinese market,
there are some quite decent machine with real reasonale price, like 1000 us dollar can buy you some machine can chew alumiunm, even soft iron materials.

plus the shipment fee , probably cost 1500 us dollar, oh yaeh, some times earlier  I was trying to get one, so i did some rearch.

but eventually I got one like this with $300, just mess around with pcb \ arcylics\some pine wood.

?dont know how to insert pics? ?

[rob77]

you  should try get one from chinese market,
there are some quite decent machine with real reasonale price, like 1000 us dollar can buy you some machine can chew alumiunm, even soft iron materials.

plus the shipment fee , probably cost 1500 us dollar, oh yaeh, some times earlier  I was trying to get one, so i did some rearch.

but eventually I got one like this with $300, just mess around with pcb \ arcylics\some pine wood.

?dont know how to insert pics? ?

those are the CNC machines i was reffering to in my first reply - for engraving panels and milling pastic. and in addition to one of those buy a small non-CNC mill for serious metalwork.

[abigbell]

you  should try get one from chinese market,
there are some quite decent machine with real reasonale price, like 1000 us dollar can buy you some machine can chew alumiunm, even soft iron materials.

plus the shipment fee , probably cost 1500 us dollar, oh yaeh, some times earlier  I was trying to get one, so i did some rearch.

but eventually I got one like this with $300, just mess around with pcb \ arcylics\some pine wood.

?dont know how to insert pics? ?

those are the CNC machines i was reffering to in my first reply - for engraving panels and milling pastic. and in addition to one of those buy a small non-CNC mill for serious metalwork.

yes?i see?here are quite some choices in a wide range with different price?like this pvc toy i got

why all my punctuation mark are showing

[rob77]

yes that's a nice desktop machine for milling plastic and engraving but it's not suitable for metalwork (if it was, then you would post a metalwork picture and not wood & PCB )

anything what weights less than 40kg simply can't be stiff enough for milling metal with usable accuracy.

[abigbell]

yes,you are right, this is absolutely a "cheese/soap" engraver, I think the best it can deal with is palstic , over the PCB board.

I just dont want spend too much money on this thing, for me , I just toy it around.

I am total amature hobbyist, now the machine has been under my bed for a couple of weeks eating dust.

maybe someday I will custom make some decent steel to uograde its frame to do the real work. hopefully.

actually i just saw some sell this kit thing so cheeeeeeeeeaply, just buy. thing in china are relatively cheap.

300 us dollar for a fully function CNC mill,not a bad deal at all, even for a soap mill.

[grimmjaw]

@abigbell
look like a nice machine!

But I do prefer a machine that can cut aluminium, even though at a higher price

[abigbell]

@abigbell
look like a nice machine!

But I do prefer a machine that can cut aluminium, even though at a higher price

ok, since you live in Singapore, just search www.taobao.com,I am sure you hear about it. I suppose you should read chinese.

from what I know, there several DIY individual sellers in taobao have some good quality machine which are very popular in domestic  market and developing contries such as Argentina, Brazil,even to usa,gemany, of course as cheap compromising option to the industrial high quality one. such as mine, as a kit version, you can assembly yourself. I use my old computer and second hand led power supply. 
15mm thin pvc frame , 300w high speed air cooled spindle drill.
 
some amchine can deal with aluminium should have steady heavy steel frame,
thats heavy, maybe 60 kg to 80kg in total weight. that will cost your some money for shipment .

although the shipment fee should not be too much high, from mainland to Singapore . figure it out yourself.

[Tandy]

This machine is quite good for basic aluminium work http://www.stepmores.com/product-55254a47bd04bfbf1c8b456d.shtml

It is still an aluminium machine but it is a solid cast aluminium machine with a moving bed instead of moving gantry. It has square rails that are on the cast base as opposed to round ones that sag in the centre. It also has a proper 1.5kw water cooled spindle.

Such a machine is not going to be used in a professional environment but it is a good compromise for a hobbyist between a toy bolted together extruded aluminium machine and an industrial heavy duty steal machine.