CNC newbie questions.

[jasong]

Hi,

I am very interested in either building or buying a benchtop CNC mill. I want it as a hobby to mill paintball gun bodies. I am not really interested in scratch building bodies from stock but rather making cosmetic and performance modifications via a mill.

A few of the things I am wondering about are. How hard is it to learn to use the mill/programs? The main thing I am wanting to do is add contour to squared paintball gun bodies. Alot of the bodies are squareish and have alot of excess material and can be milled down for looks and weight. I have attached a general outline of the body the side profile as a generic rectangle and a view from the end. There are 2 inner tubes that go through out the body. What I would like to accomplish is just milling down to the contour of the tubes as much as possible while still maintaining the structural integrity; they are made of aluminum by the way.

Would this be something I could learn to accomplish with one of the central machine mills from harbor freight? Retro fitted with one of the cnc kits I have seen on this site? I would really like to build something like the cnc conversion on hossmachine.com. I have been soaking up as much information as I can but I can only learn so much without diving in and getting my hands dirty. I just want to find out from the people who know best what direction I should go in.

Thanks,
Jason

[pzzamakr1980]

I have the x3 myself retrofitted with a cncfusion kit and gecko's, and I think it's a great machine, especially for aluminum. But from what I've seen of the x2, it should do just fine as well with lighter cuts.
As far as learning the software goes, it is no problem at all. I have mastercam myself, and with a book purchased off ebay for 40 dollars I learned how to do practically anything I've needed to do. Other programs such as Bobcad and OneCNC have extensive forums and websites devoted to learning about using them. With a little patience, it's easy.
Myself, if I was going to do it again, I would probably purchase a prebuilt machine. That way all the things that can go wrong are warranted and can be fixed free. The machines are also setup and adjustments made to fix the things that are wrong so you don't have to worry about that. The big plus is the electronics, I replaced all 3 of my gecko's because of mis-wiring, removing the motors under power, etc. At the end, I would have spent just as much a prebuilt machine as on a retrofitted. If you are looking for the x2, check out the syil site, they've gotten good reviews and take the hassle out of cnc machines. I will say though, I wouldnt trade the experience for the world, I learned how to troubleshoot and setup all that stuff which is priceless in my opinion. Also, I emphasize "I" in my posts about cost because your results may vary.

[philbur]

Are you sure you need CNC. Are you going to mill 10 the same or will each be different.

Possibly start with a manual mill then take on the CNC part after you have learn something about the mill part. Manual mills got along just fine for 200 years before CNC came along. About the only thing you can do on CNC that you can't do on a manual mill is 3D profiling of organic shapes, but these you can do with a set of files and some emery cloth.

Phil

PS: somebody will probable prove me wrong on the orgnic shapes thing, I hope.

Originally Posted by jasong Hi, I am very interested in either building or buying a benchtop CNC mill. I want it as a hobby to mill paintball gun bodies. I am not really interested in scratch building bodies from stock but rather making cosmetic and performance modifications via a mill. A few of the things I am wondering about are. How hard is it to learn to use the mill/programs? The main thing I am wanting to do is add contour to squared paintball gun bodies. Alot of the bodies are squareish and have alot of excess material and can be milled down for looks and weight. I have attached a general outline of the body the side profile as a generic rectangle and a view from the end. There are 2 inner tubes that go through out the body. What I would like to accomplish is just milling down to the contour of the tubes as much as possible while still maintaining the structural integrity; they are made of aluminum by the way. Would this be something I could learn to accomplish with one of the central machine mills from harbor freight? Retro fitted with one of the cnc kits I have seen on this site? I would really like to build something like the cnc conversion on hossmachine.com. I have been soaking up as much information as I can but I can only learn so much without diving in and getting my hands dirty. I just want to find out from the people who know best what direction I should go in. Thanks, Jason

[jasong]

I am leaning more and more toward a prebuilt cnc simply to keep the head/heart aches to a minimum heh. I have given serious consideration to just getting a manual mill. What really makes me want to go cnc though is the repeatability. Once I get a finish I like I would like to be able to repeat it easily.
Thanks for the replies!
Jason

[Noodles87]

Are you planning on doing half blocking or things of that sort? Or something like Elia does? If you're only looking to do conversions you'll be fine with a manual machine. But if you're talking contoured surfaces and stuff....definitely will need CNC.

[jasong]

Yeah, I want to do half blocking, mini conversions, midgeting, and body rounding.

[Noodles87]

How large a radius are you trying to round? That might play a role in the capacity of the mill you choose. Just a heads up.