I was in the same boat as you are. I was a computer programmer and very hands-on. My budget was roughly a tenth of what yours was since I am still a college student but with the same needs in lower volumes. I purchased a manual mill, converted it after a time, taught myself Mastercam with help from these boards from time to time, and have been making parts for two years.
I have finally graduated to taking subcontracts from other machine shops for small quantity parts as well as producing parts from my own designs.
The most sensible approach in my opinion was keep farming out, but buy the machinery, and slowly ween yourself off the farming. Have you considered something used in good shape or somthing smaller. Building up to a nice machine and starting on something small and inexpensive until your production demands it might be something to consider. I have a piece of crap, but it makes some nice quality parts in a variety of metals albeit slower and with more attention needed than a nice VMC. And for right now, with my volume of work, its adequate. So maybe consider something used or something smaller and something that won't have such a large initial investment. Tormach maybe?  |