Newbie- Suggestions on Setup?

[lonewolfe2015]

Situation: I'll be machining (mostly drilling) different types of steels that are small size parts. I won't need a large CNC for this, and it will not be production quantity but prototype and quality control.

A wide range of bits will be used, some lower quality intentionally than others, so the drill needs to be durable enough to handle repeated drilling until bit failure.

It will need to support the x, y and z axis but I do not need tilting or any other directional support.

I would prefer a US built device as well. Partially for the hope of stronger customer service.

Can anyone offer their advice on what manufacturer to look into for such a device? I have a couple devices I've pre-scouted, the Syil X Series which is not US made, and the CNC Jr. 3 Axis Mill from CNC Masters, but without contacting their manufacturers specifically to see if the devices could live up to the materials I'd be machining.

Furthermore, if someone could enlighten me on the software component of these devices I would be appreciative. I'm very 'green' in the sense that I am not a drilling expert but more of a technical guy, I will be setting up the software for these machines myself. I am skilled in 3D design as well for this project, but not a very strong programmer.

Lastly, I do have a low end budget and need to try and keep this total cost as cheap as possible for this, so any support this forum can be to my project would be appreciated.

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Sorry if this is in the wrong place, kudos to the great knowledge base here, but with my timetable for the project and how vast this place is, it gets difficult to find the right place to post this and to read everything relevant on my own with the limited background I have here.

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Large/small are descriptive, but what is large or small dimensionally?

Steels? 1018? 4360 hardened to 58-62 Rc?

Mostly drilling 1/16" dia.? 4" dia.?

A little more info please.LOL

Dick Z

[lonewolfe2015]

Doing some 3/16" drilling manually at this time, shouldn't be too much larger than 1/4-1/2" bit sizes at the max for other projects.

The Rockwell have hovered between 55-65, ideally a higher range of 70-75 should be capable of being drilled without complications due to some past alloys I was working on.

By "Small" (my fault for ommitting this) I was referring to parts that are rarely going to be surpassing a 4" diameter, circular or rectangular.

Appreciate the response, was also looking further into Tormach today as a third alternative, as they appear (after some digging here) to be highly recommended.