If you are seriously thinking business here then cash flow and the feasbility of running the products on smaller machines has to be taken into consideration. For example if you expect good sales rates for custom dealer buttons then you will want a machine sized well for that. While well out of your price range something like a HAAS office mill OM series might be very productive in that sort of application. That is engraving and machining plastics with small cutters.
What I'm trying to say is that you mentioned a few products that may require differrent hardware (machine tools) to allow you to compete effectively in the market place. For example the above mentioned mills might be good for engraving a gun but would likely perform poorly machining components for a firearm. A good argument can be made that a CNC toolroom mill such as a HAAs TM might be a good start for a business. I'm not sure if you follow what I'm saying but what you intend to do with the machine dictates what the machine will be.
The other issue for business purposes is that the machine itself is only a small part of the startup experience. Or maybe better said only a smallpart of where the money goes. Raw materials, development time, expendable tooling, instruments, software all enter intot he equation.
As to the conversion mills you are looking at there are likely to be good deals out there, I haven't looked so I can't say. The problem you have to address is will the spindle on one of these mills do what you want or will you need to adapt it for the dealer buttons. I ask this because I suspect that the finished apperance of the part is extremely important. I fully understand that you could always clamp a high speed spindle onto the mill for this specfic project but it could be seen as a hidden costs.
So back to the size of the mill. Yeah a bigger mill has advantages especially if you get into alot of varied work, but going to big can work against the finacials of the business. The idea is to make money of course, so is it reasonable to spend $10000 on a machine to spit out dealer buttons if that is all the money you have to invest in the business? I'd say no myself.
I'd consider two things. One would be a low cost machine that you build up from a new chinese machine. This machine would be designed to handle your dealer buttons primarly. The other idea is to find a used CNC mill with a high speed spindle and start up your business that way.
Thanks
Dave  |