Good Deal or Not?

[DroopyPawn]

I have someone offering me a slightly used one of these
http://www.cncmasters.com/CNC%20Jr%20Mill.htm
with all the bells and whistles.

The price is $5000 and it comes with lots of endmills, vises, etc.

What do you think?

[mxtras]

Personally - I don't think that's all that great. I will bet you could just about duplicate that for less than $3500.

If you have an immediate need, then look around. If you have the ability or willingness to learn, buy a basic machine and build your own controller - it's not all that hard and you have a tremendous resource for information right here.

Scott

[philbur]

A round column CNC machine with Z-axis on the quill is not normally a good idea unless you know the class of work you will perform will be OK with the limited Z-axis travel. At USD 5,700 new or USD 5,000 slightly used its a bad idea. Half price might be OK if you can live with the Z-axis travel limitation.

Look at:
Tormach, Smithy CNC and also IH.

Phil

Originally Posted by DroopyPawn I have someone offering me a slightly used one of these http://www.cncmasters.com/CNC%20Jr%20Mill.htm with all the bells and whistles. The price is $5000 and it comes with lots of endmills, vises, etc. What do you think?

[DroopyPawn]

Do you have any SPECIFIC suggestions for a better deal? I'd like a bigger table than on my Taig 2019 which has 12"x6" travel. I need at least twice that for the parts I need to make. I need roughly 36" of x-axis travel.

The Taig also has a 1/4 HP motor. It's just not strong enough.

gs

[JLClinehens]

$5000.00 for that? No way! You can build it for less than $3000.00. The mill head looks like a Harbor feight Mill that sells for 1,800 and just add step motors

[mxtras]

Originally Posted by DroopyPawn I need roughly 36" of x-axis travel. gs

There is a thread on this site from a guy who built a machine with a very long X axis. If time permits, I will scare up a link.

For this kind of travel, you are looking at either a home-built special or a VMC. The home-build could be done for your price range, but the VMC is out of the question.

Scott

[philbur]

It's not clear why you asking about the cncmasters machine, which has only 19" of travel on the x-axis.

Originally Posted by DroopyPawn I need at least twice that for the parts I need to make. I need roughly 36" of x-axis travel.

[cnczoner]

I was also comparing CNC Masters, IH, Tormach, or rolling my own from an X3 etc. I was aware of the round mill issues, but I did not need much Z travel, so the 5" would've been fine.

I was offered a used CNC masters mill for about half the new price, but I held out because I was unsure at the time, then came across someone local to me selling a pre-converted HF geared-head mill/drill, and let's just say I got a great deal on it

Being a running system, I found it easy start using the mill and upgrading where I see necessary, but I've still spent waaaayy less than the used CNC masters unit would've cost me, or had I converted one myself.

However, I've now realized that the 5" Z travel decreases to only 2" or so if I have to change between endmills and drill chucks in the same operation due to the drill chuck being very long. If I raise the head on the column to compensate, I have to re-align the mill since it's a round column. Not a problem, but just time consuming. Now, I'm looking for a low-profile drill chuck, longer end-mill holders, or some other solution to closer equalize the heights of the different tool bits I use for a single part.

I'm still fascinated with what I can do for what I spent, but I know I would not have been happy if I had picked up that used CNC Masters unit for that price. Also, if I decided to roll my own, I would be sitting on a pile of parts still and scratching my head.

BTW, you say you need 36", but that CNC masters mill only does half of that.

Cheers,
-Neil.

[cnczoner]

Originally Posted by JLClinehens $5000.00 for that? No way! You can build it for less than $3000.00. The mill head looks like a Harbor feight Mill that sells for 1,800 and just add step motors

IIRC, that mill is a Rong Fu RF-31, such as this... http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...&PARTPG=INLMK3

[DroopyPawn]

Yeah, I know the CNC Masters is only 18" or so on the x-axis. But even that much would be a BIG upgrade from my 12" Taig. And I'm not sure how tight my Taig will hold over 12" anyway. The CNC Masters machine looks a lot more rigid.

On the suggestions here alone, I'll probably avoid the one offered to me. But the questions still remains, what else should I do? I don't absolutely have to get 36" of x-axis travel but it certainly would make things easier. I suppose I could figure out a jig of some kind and cut my parts in two passes. I could do one end, flip the piece horizontally and do the other end. But that seems prone in inaccuracy.

If I went with a Rong Fu machine, how much of it am I going to remove if I do a CNC conversion? I'm pretty confident that I could machine any parts I need for the conversion. And $2500 to $3000 would make my checkbook much happier than $5k. But I don't want to buy another machine that will sit around for 2 years before it gets used. I have plenty of orders right now that I could be filling. And I could probably pay for the machine within a year if I start cutting now. It seems there's a never ending supply of machine work.

Will I need to buy BALLSCREWS for one of these Rong Fu machines (or clones) or can I just hook up some steppers and connect them to a driver and my software and start cutting?

[DroopyPawn]

Would someone who knows about converting one of these machine (maybe has done it before) mind calling me or PM your phone number to me so I can have a one-on-one discussion about this project?

[cnczoner]

Actually, if you have no problem making the parts to convert one, then that would be the way to go. And in that case, I absolutely recommend going with a square-column mill. One other thing to look at is the conversion kits that some companies offer (including CNC masters, Microkinetics, etc). Not to use their parts, but it would help you see how they converted theirs and you'd see how to convert one.

Cheers,
-Neil.