Newbie- Ordering a NM-135

[keithmcelhinney]

Hey guys! Long time lurker, first time poster!

I am pretty sure I am going to be ordering a novakon NM-135 (revison 2.1) in the next couple of days. I am new to machining and have a little experience in autocad and EZ-Cam. I am going to make some motorcycle parts and various other little things. I have a machinist friend who I was working with, but as it isn't his job, he is having problems finding the time. He is adamant that these kinds of mills can not do production quality work. I know it will take longer than his knee mill will, but is this thing good enough to run very light production off of? Most everything I will be machining will be 1/2" or thinner aluminum. I will probably use 7075 for some parts. I will, however, have to do a square cut on steel. If I just set the machine to run slowly it will be ok right? Here is one of the parts I will be doing:



I am going to get wax to test all of my toolpaths,etc as I am a complete newbie at this. Any tips on setup/tooling/etc would be greatly appreciated also.

Thanks guys!
-Keith

[Smitty911]

I think they are more than able to run limited production runs, why wouldn't it?

Aluminum no problem, My X-2 does Al with no problem, even when I screw up it takes my learning curve in stride.

Steel once again no problem, I can't take 0.500 depth cuts, but who cares it's CNC let it run for another 1/2 hour.

Good Luck

Smitty

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by keithmcelhinney Hey guys! Long time lurker, first time poster! I am pretty sure I am going to be ordering a novakon NM-135 (revison 2.1) in the next couple of days. I am new to machining and have a little experience in autocad and EZ-Cam. I am going to make some motorcycle parts and various other little things. I have a machinist friend who I was working with, but as it isn't his job, he is having problems finding the time. He is adamant that these kinds of mills can not do production quality work. I know it will take longer than his knee mill will, but is this thing good enough to run very light production off of? Most everything I will be machining will be 1/2" or thinner aluminum. I will probably use 7075 for some parts. I will, however, have to do a square cut on steel. If I just set the machine to run slowly it will be ok right? Here is one of the parts I will be doing: I am going to get wax to test all of my toolpaths,etc as I am a complete newbie at this. Any tips on setup/tooling/etc would be greatly appreciated also. Thanks guys! -Keith

i think youll be pleasantly surprised. youre friend is wrong. these mills can do production work. they are also adequately fast. where they lack is in rigidity. so no big heavy cuts, but instead lighter faster ones.

i have the baby version of this mill and even it has no issues tearing through aluminium.

[keithmcelhinney]

Thanks guys! I am so psyched to get this and start making some parts!

[escott76]

Originally Posted by keithmcelhinney Thanks guys! I am so psyched to get this and start making some parts!

I don't want to rain all over your parade, but there may be some wisdom in the advice your friend is giving you. Understand that "production" means different things to different people, but the bottom line is that if you are in a situation where you need to get a job done in X amount of time in order to sell the product at a price the market will bear and make you a profit and the machine can't remove metal at that rate, you won't make any money.
That's not meant to discourage you from this mill in general, but just to make you aware of a possible meaning. I've seen enough people charge headlong into trying to get into business with no idea of how to actually manufacture the parts they intend on selling, and losing everything because they didn't bother to find out until it was too late. Understand also that there's more to making parts like you have shown than just the machine and spitting out a toolpath. "Buying a machine does not make you a machinist"
Best of luck in your endeavor, you'll find many helpful people here to answer the many questions I'm sure you'll have as well as plenty of information already in existence that you can search through.

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by escott76 I don't want to rain all over your parade, but there may be some wisdom in the advice your friend is giving you. Understand that "production" means different things to different people, but the bottom line is that if you are in a situation where you need to get a job done in X amount of time in order to sell the product at a price the market will bear and make you a profit and the machine can't remove metal at that rate, you won't make any money. That's not meant to discourage you from this mill in general, but just to make you aware of a possible meaning. I've seen enough people charge headlong into trying to get into business with no idea of how to actually manufacture the parts they intend on selling, and losing everything because they didn't bother to find out until it was too late. Understand also that there's more to making parts like you have shown than just the machine and spitting out a toolpath. "Buying a machine does not make you a machinist" Best of luck in your endeavor, you'll find many helpful people here to answer the many questions I'm sure you'll have as well as plenty of information already in existence that you can search through.

yes, i suppose he should define production for us. i had assumed small batches of simple parts, which the mill could handle well. with the comparison of a knee mill in mind, this machine is not a bad option.

but yeah, iat a certain point it starts to make more sense buying a heavy duty vmc to increase profitability, especially if you have lots of tool changes or parts that run for long times unnattended.

[keithmcelhinney]

By production, I mean being able to build probably 5-10 of the parts in the picture for the first month and maybe 15 more by the end of the year. Plus doing some smaller parts as the need arises. I am not looking to make 100 parts right off the bat. This is not going to be my job, but luckily I work from home so I can run things whenever. I am not looking to make a million, but if I can cover my expenses and get some cool parts out of the deal, I am going to be happy.

I have some friends that are machinists that have vowed to help me, but I am sure I will be asking the newbie questions as I am starting. I know there is a huge amount to learn, but I am going to do what I have to do to learn. Just hope I don't crash the machine as I am doing it!

That being said, any suggestions on books/online courses/etc would be great...

-Keith

[hoss2006]

Hey Keith,
A good starting point are the MIT machine shop videos, 10 of them altogether.
A good programming book is Peter Smid's 3rd edition.
These benchtop machines can certainly handle the production quota you're hoping for.
Hoss