Old Master Needs Input

[gleas]

Hello All!

First, some personal background before the question. This personal stuff might seem odd but I think it may help to shorten the thread overall.

My name is Greg and I just sold my “Mom and Pop” machining business of over 27 years. I’m almost 60 years old and in a wheelchair due to poor health. Have been in the machining industry for over 40 years, made a lot of money, wasted a lot of money, gone through 3 or 4 recessions and watched my business and the U.S. manufacturing industry slowly decline over the past decades. Now that it’s over, and the smoke has cleared a little, My wife and I are left with a lot of great memories and very little money from the sale. While my body is a mess, my mind refuses to quit. We need to supplement our income or end up on the street. I have a few small aluminum and plastic product ideas that have accumulated on the back burner while in the business. We live in a mobile home park and have a small 8x12 shed out back, plus a small spare bedroom in the house.

Have been researching bench top lathes and mills and it seems there are many options and trade offs to consider. I’m looking for a benchtop cnc mill $5,000.00 that will accommodate some short production runs 5-30 parts on aluminum with good repeatability and able to hold at least +- .005. Will need to be able to drill, mill holes 1” dia. by 2” deep max without major hemorrhaging.

The lathe doesn’t need to be CNC but would like it to be kit retrofitable at a later date maybe. My budget is about $1,000.00 - $1,500 for the Lathe.

I don’t like what I am seeing in the spindle speed department on any of the machines, lathe or mill, Sieg, Syil etc. so I am looking for possible work around ideas anyone might have.

I have been reading threads all over this great forum for many years and would like to thank all of you in advance for your input. Maybe now, I can be more of a contributor and less a reader.

Thanks

[hoss2006]

Welcome Gleas,
Check out SmithyCNC for one source.
The small 516 bed mill goes to 5000 rpm, the bigger mill 622 a little less at 3500 rpm.
The 622 could handle the 1 inch drilling.
Pretty much the same as the X4 from Syil America.

[sansbury]

If the 1"x2" drilling is negotiable it might be worth looking at the Taig mill. Won't drill 1" holes but could bore them with CNC. It would leave a lot of your money in the bank--$2000-$3000 all fitted out, but definitely only suited for fairly small stuff. Spindle goes to 10k.

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by hoss2006 Welcome Gleas, Check out SmithyCNC for one source. The small 516 bed mill goes to 5000 rpm, the bigger mill 622 a little less at 3500 rpm. The 622 could handle the 1 inch drilling. Pretty much the same as the X4 from Syil America.

add novakon.net to the list. they sell similar machines to the smithy lines, but with slightly updated specs and slightly better pricing. 7000rpm for example on the nm070 (smithy 516 / sieg kx1).

at $5000 you could get the little mill and a bit of tooling. it will do 1x2 holes in aluminium using a 1/2" end mill and spiral pattern - wont do it efficiently with a 1" drill bit i dont think. youll need a coolant setup for this ideally too. my calculations say it would take roughly 3-6 minutes to mill such a hole based on the bit type, coolant, aluminium grade etc.

i have a sieg kx1 and its a pretty nice mill. surprisingly rigid and fast in aluminium and small enough to put anywhere. so if the limited travel (5"x10" ish) works for you, it might be a great choice.

[gleas]

The NM-135 (Revision 2.0) looks good to me for the money. I wonder about service/parts etc.

Anyone had experience with these folks?

Thanks, -Greg

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by gleas The NM-135 (Revision 2.0) looks good to me for the money. I wonder about service/parts etc. Anyone had experience with these folks? Thanks, -Greg

i bought my machine from them. they are so far very good with support and helping me get it all working.

its only been a month though. we'll have to see how it works out over the next years. at the moment i need new way covers (mine was an early model without bellows), so we'll see how long it takes to get them. they have to order some after we confirm the new ones will actually fit my machine.