Hi all and thanks in advance for your help,

To introduce myself quickly, I’m new to milling (CNC or not), but I’m an engineer and would like to work home on a project (that is totally unrelated to my work).
I would need to mill some complex parts with a CNC machine (since it is prototyping and I will sure need many tries, manual milling would take way too much time) that would.

Describing quickly my needs:
- Most in brass, some in hard steel (0.5 t0 1 mm sheets to cut springs).
- Flat parts, would be approx 40 x 40 x 10 (thick) mm.
- Accuracy needed is approx 0.1mm, better accuracy would be very welcome as it would avoid refinishing parts to avoid friction. Accuracy is much more important on brass than steel.
- Milling time is not a factor.
- Machine fatigue is not a factor as it’s prototyping, part size is extremely small.
- 4th axis would be useful but is not required. Typically having a 4th axis as an option that could be added afterward would be perfect.
- I’m in UK, so is the machine is in US (I guess most are), a light one would be much better to avoid deterrent shipping cost.
- Price is of course a factor lol.
- As I'm a newbie, an easy to use machine, with not too much software cost is better !

whats your budget?

Thanks for your answer.
I would say "what it takes" as I can afford to put serious money, but would prefer to avoid if possible.
Typically 5000 USD would be fine, less better, but it would be stretched 2 or 3 fold in case I really need.

well if you want to stay in the 5k i would say the syil x4 or that new kx3 that whe are starting to ear about but this will give you only a machine without tooling now since you say you would be able to spend more if you add in a 3k more you will get the cutting fluid and 4th axis and some tooling, so basically you could go with a tormach tooling system a good set of coated hss cutter or else if really you want to spend more and dont care about the price then you can go with a tormach, industrial hobbies, or smithy witch are going to give you way more stiffness and precision then a x4 or kx3 but it does come with a price tag that is double that of the x4 and kx3 if you so go with the small mill i highly, and this is a pov, that you get a nice set of carbide cutter to do the finishing of the part, some will argue the need for it but like i say it a personal point of view.

- Most in brass, some in hard steel (0.5 t0 1 mm sheets to cut springs). all the mention mill will be able to work those material
- Flat parts, would be approx 40 x 40 x 10 (thick) mm. all the mention mill will be able to work those material
- Accuracy needed is approx 0.1mm, better accuracy would be very welcome as it would avoid refinishing parts to avoid friction. Accuracy is much more important on brass than steel. all the mention mill will be able to give you those accuracy but the larger mill will be able to give you the result you want in faster time.
- Milling time is not a factor. go for a smaller machine and get better tooling
- Machine fatigue is not a factor as it’s prototyping, part size is extremely small. again a small machine could do the job here and give you more money for better tooling
- 4th axis would be useful but is not required. Typically having a 4th axis as an option that could be added afterward would be perfect. thats your call but here you would get a stonger and better fourth axis if you go with a bigger machine as the rotary table would be bigger and of better quality, forget about putting a 8inch rotary table on a small mill
- I’m in UK, so is the machine is in US (I guess most are), a light one would be much better to avoid deterrent shipping cost. yes
- Price is of course a factor lol. if its is, again you will get a better work hose out of a bigger one but with proper setting up and tolling the small mill can give you really good result.
- As I'm a newbie, an easy to use machine, with not too much software cost is better ! the software to operate any of those machine is not the problem here as mach3 wich operates all of those machine is only ~150$ the price of software come down to your choice of cad/cam
Reply With Quote you want price quote or to reply with quote of what you said

Thanks a lot. Have been spending hours looking and did not find this one (which looks better than all I have already found)

I have just found this website, I don’t know if prices are ok (take into account 20% VAT), but at least, it’s just 200 miles away from where I live.
I have seen the KX1 also, since it’s only small parts (the size of a coin), I guess it would do the job, no ?

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Additional-Departments/Special-Offers/Sieg-KX1-Hobby-CNC-Mill

Since I do not need to mill more than 1 cm of thickness is there any engravers that would be able to accurately cut brass and steel?

Would the software give with the machine support a 4th axis?

Thanks a lot. Have been spending hours looking and did not find this one (which looks better than all I have already found)

I have just found this website, I don’t know if prices are ok (take into account 20% VAT), but at least, it’s just 200 miles away from where I live.
I have seen the KX1 also, since it’s only small parts (the size of a coin), I guess it would do the job, no ?

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Additional-Departments/Special-Offers/Sieg-KX1-Hobby-CNC-Mill

Since I do not need to mill more than 1 cm of thickness is there any engravers that would be able to accurately cut brass and steel?

Would the software give with the machine support a 4th axis?

yes mach3 supports up to six axis
the kx1 is a relly small machine and will definitly show more sign of flex wich can in turn affect the precision of your part, again better quality tooling will help but up to a point due to the fact that those machine a really small

this would be a better choice
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machines-Accessories/CNC-Milling-Machines/Sieg-KX3-CNC-Hobby-Mill

Thanks,

By milling more slowly and doing more "rotations" would that go through with decent accuracy?
Since I don't really care about machining time (but my wife will care about the size of the engine in the living room :) ).

How much do these machines retail in America?

Est-ce que tu es Quebecois ou Canadien francophone ?

If your search takes you towards a Tormach, here is a link to a recent thread started by a UK user where they discuss shipping etc: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64277

oui je suis quebecois

i do not have price of the kx3 in front of me but i just bought, and i am waiting for it to arrive, a x4+ with coolant, 4th axis and a tormach tts and with the shipping and taxes it came down to 7900$ i did not need to buy tooling much since i allready have a BF20 clone and i got alot of end mill allready but i would say that if i had none i would have to spend at least 1k to 1.5k more

Thanks,

Tormach looks great too, but with taxes and shipping, it would cost twice the kx3 (as USD is now rather strong!).


(je suis un Francais expatrie qui bosse pour une banque cadanienne :) )

yes i am quite happy that i bought mine while my cad was closer to the usd your other option to the kx3 would be like me the x4+ wich you can get from

http://www.syil.co.uk/

pour quelle banque travaille tu?

Je te mél :) .

By the way how capable are little machines like an X2.

I had also found the link of this machine :

http://www.centroidcnc.com/oems/mho/mho_index.htm

Anybody has tested it or know the price?

Thanks

dont know much about them and i cant seem to access the site currently

edit centroid are only controller the machine are made by other company

Ok, the site is working on my side...

If you have any idea of a machine that might suit...

Yous hould look at Brother CNC . They have nice CNC mills , very reliable and easy to use.
http://www.brother-usa.com/MachineTool/

Yous hould look at Brother CNC . They have nice CNC mills , very reliable and easy to use.
http://www.brother-usa.com/MachineTool/

yes those a great machine but remember he want it in is living room and those are price wise off the chart compared to a 5k x4/x4+ or kx3

if i was you from what i gather i would go with a kx3 or syil x4/x4+ and i would get some nice
-holder (the tormach tts offers good setup capacity and repeatability)
-cutter (as i said i love carbide and due to there stiffness and wonderful cutting edge they in a way help with the lack of rigidity of the smaller mill) -vise (if your part are and will always be small get a nice toolmaker vise they are expensive for the size but the do offer great precision for doing small part)

Hi all and thanks in advance for your help,

To introduce myself quickly, I’m new to milling (CNC or not), but I’m an engineer and would like to work home on a project (that is totally unrelated to my work).
I would need to mill some complex parts with a CNC machine (since it is prototyping and I will sure need many tries, manual milling would take way too much time) that would.

Describing quickly my needs:
- Most in brass, some in hard steel (0.5 t0 1 mm sheets to cut springs).
- Flat parts, would be approx 40 x 40 x 10 (thick) mm.
- Accuracy needed is approx 0.1mm, better accuracy would be very welcome as it would avoid refinishing parts to avoid friction. Accuracy is much more important on brass than steel.
- Milling time is not a factor.
- Machine fatigue is not a factor as it’s prototyping, part size is extremely small.
- 4th axis would be useful but is not required. Typically having a 4th axis as an option that could be added afterward would be perfect.
- I’m in UK, so is the machine is in US (I guess most are), a light one would be much better to avoid deterrent shipping cost.
- Price is of course a factor lol.
- As I'm a newbie, an easy to use machine, with not too much software cost is better !

Bonjour,
I was trying to say something witty with my 26 year old french lessons but I don't remember how to spell it anymore and to my shame I can barely speak it anymore.

If you are machining 10 mm thick parts and have to make multiple passes and the machine drones on for 5 hrs, won't the "Mrs" machinist get upset if it is in the living room? At some point machining time becomes a factor.

I use Mach 3 and love it. www.machsupport.com

A sherline rotary table should fit the bill nicely for the 4th axis and would fit on the smaller machines.

I have a Taig which is light enough to ship without costing a fortune and might work well if the steel you are cutting is .040" which I think is 1mm. It won't fly thru the steel but you could work your way thru. On many parts you can machine to within .4mm or less and take a finish cut. Many of the cad cam programs allow this.

The other option would be the deskcnc setup that will run on any computer capable of running 95 and up comfortablly. It includes the cnc running software and it also functions a G-code generator. I use the sotware in conjuction with my machines that run mach 3 to generate my g-code. It uses a serial interface and a motion control board instead of the pport.
www.deskcnc.com

Mike

Thanks all !

I have spotted this one, it is brand-less but the seller says it's a very common model.
Do you know it ?

(fits pretty well in the budget though it's more of an engraver than a mill, but it I forget about 4th axis, it might be ok...)

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220289906566

TOTALLYRC, is you TAIG the classic benchtop one with CNC conversion ?
DO you have some photos of the kind of result you can get on steel?
Do me 0.4 mm is way below expected accuracy on steel since I have to cut accurately some weird springs in sheets and the thickness of finished part would be 0.2 to 0.5 mm !

Thanks all !

I have spotted this one, it is brand-less but the seller says it's a very common model.
Do you know it ?

(fits pretty well in the budget though it's more of an engraver than a mill, but it I forget about 4th axis, it might be ok...)

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220289906566

TOTALLYRC, is you TAIG the classic benchtop one with CNC conversion ?
DO you have some photos of the kind of result you can get on steel?
Do me 0.4 mm is way below expected accuracy on steel since I have to cut accurately some weird springs in sheets and the thickness of finished part would be 0.2 to 0.5 mm !


Yes mine is a cnc ready mill with the extra x travel and a xylotex stepper kit and a candcnc breakout board.

I have no information on that unit. It looks to be a nice machine and the high frequency motor and 24K rpm is great for engraving but will it have enogh torque at the rpms needed to cut steel?

You misunder stood my last post and i will try to clarify. If you are trying to hold a tight tolerance you will rough out the part to near net dimensions and then take a light finish cut to final size.

On any machine when trying to hold tight tolerances, the skill of the operator starts to come into play. Even a 1/2" endmill will flex a significant amount and it needs to be accounted for. I will try to cut some steel later today or tommorrow and get you some pics.
Mike

Thanks, that would be extremely nice. I don't see your machine or prices on the website.

The problem with using several go to cut a part is that the shape of the parts is complex. I can't imagine roughing the shape and finishing it as it's quite intricate...

Irf your looking for something to go in your living area........ then a smaller machine seems fitting. The price is higher but its well worth it. Have you checked out the minitech machines?
www.minitech.com. I have an older minimill 2 but the minimill 3 pro has ballscrews, and rail/bearing block ways.

I had a look and they look fine but for the price, I would rather get a Charly 4U if you know the machine (7k€ + taxes) since service would be more readily available.

Thanks, that would be extremely nice. I don't see your machine or prices on the website.

The problem with using several go to cut a part is that the shape of the parts is complex. I can't imagine roughing the shape and finishing it as it's quite intricate...

It is actually quite common to make more than 1 pass despite the complexity of the part. As a for instance if the depth of cut is deeper than the mill can take in 1 pass in certain areas, there is no way to cut the part in one shot. That is why very complex but small parts can take a suprising amount of time to complete. Search Youtube for milling or machining, there are some nice videos that people have posted of their machines cutting stuff.

My TAIG IS THE 2019CR ER. http://www.taigtools.com/mmill.html
That means it has the extended travel in the X and takes ER 16 collets. It also has the mounts for nema 23 motors.
$1156 usd plus shipping.
I would buy the Gecko G540 control and some nice steppers. If you search for Gecko G540 on the Zone, you will find some good recomedations.

Mike