Need Help!- I need to pick out CNC Mill and Lathe by tomorrow (6/11)!!

[Chester3000]

My professor at my school (Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland) just informed me this morning that they received a large sum of money this week and they need to spend it by tomorrow (6/11)!

He has put me in charge of picking out a new CNC Mill and Lathe.

He wants me to pick out a user friendly CNC Mill in the $7000-$10,000 range.
He also wants me to pick out a small Lathe or a small CNC Lathe in the $3000-$3500 range.

So, any suggestions?

I need to give him the make and model and ordering info by about 2pm tomorrow (6/11)...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

It would be great to get some professional input on this purchase!

Thanks!!

[awerby]

with these machines. But for a "user-friendly" mill, it's hard to beat Roland's MDX-40, the designers of which have endeavored to make it operate as much like a desktop printer as possible. It's enclosed for safety, has automatic Z zeroing, includes all the software you need to create parts from 3d CAD files, and optionally comes with a rotary 4th axis and tailstock assembly. And even with that option included it comes in pretty close to your budget numbers, especially with the discounts I offer.

There aren't many CNC-equipped lathes in your price range, but you could get a Sherline 4000A CNC system, which is small but well-constructed, and includes a range of accessories. The control software is called EMC, which requires a computer to be loaded with the real-time Linux OS, but that's free. Give a call if you really want to order these machines in a hurry...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

Originally Posted by Chester3000 My professor at my school (Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland) just informed me this morning that they received a large sum of money this week and they need to spend it by tomorrow (6/11)! He has put me in charge of picking out a new CNC Mill and Lathe. He wants me to pick out a user friendly CNC Mill in the $7000-$10,000 range. He also wants me to pick out a small Lathe or a small CNC Lathe in the $3000-$3500 range. So, any suggestions? I need to give him the make and model and ordering info by about 2pm tomorrow (6/11)... Any help would be greatly appreciated!! It would be great to get some professional input on this purchase! Thanks!!

[Chester3000]

It will be a general use machine.
Mostly we'll be machining aluminum, steel, copper, plastics, foam, and....?
We are an engineering program, so I'm sure it will be used for all kinds of prototypes and projects


Also, after some quick research we figured out that $10k may be a little low for the size of machine we had envisioned...so I convinced them to up the budget to $18k!!!!

So, whats a good cnc mill for $18k?

As for the lathe, we got the budget up to $5k!!

Any suggestions are a great help!!

THANKS!

[dertsap]

Originally Posted by Chester3000 So, whats a good cnc mill for $18k? !

http://www.haascnc.com/details.asp?I...M#VMCTreeModel

this will get you more into real cnc's , they may give an educational discount

[rowbare]

For the mill, you might consider:

Tormach PCNC 1100 or 770 : http://www.tormach.com/ I would choose one of the packages and add a power drawbar.
or
Novakon NM-200 Series 2: http://www.novakon.net/nm-200proseries2.html
or
Mikini Mechatronics: http://www.mikinimech.com/index.html

If I had the money, I would like a CNC lathe like this:
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-1330CNC.html

One of the advertisers here sells a lathe conversion: http://www.microkinetics.com/lathe1236/

bob

[Jay1Firm]

Try looking into some used Haas machines. They make a fairly good machine for the money.

[mcphill]

Originally Posted by rowbare For the mill, you might consider: Tormach PCNC 1100 or 770 : http://www.tormach.com/ I would choose one of the packages and add a power drawbar. or Novakon NM-200 Series 2: http://www.novakon.net/nm-200proseries2.html or Mikini Mechatronics: http://www.mikinimech.com/index.html If I had the money, I would like a CNC lathe like this: http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-1330CNC.html One of the advertisers here sells a lathe conversion: http://www.microkinetics.com/lathe1236/ bob

Totally agree with those CNC Mill suggestions. I would go for a 4th axis with whatever you decide. I am leaning toward the Mikini, but everyone has their own opinion on what is "best". I think without a doubt the Mikini would be the "cleanest" as it is the only machine that is fully enclosed in that price range.

I have no idea on lathes, so am eager to see other user's opinions!

Let us know what you buy, and post up again in a few months with how things are working out!

[Chester3000]

Ok, I'm getting closer to a decision!

In no particular order:

-The local Haas dealer is looking into some options for me
Most liklely the TM-1
- http://www.tormach.com/Product_PCNC_main.html
- http://www.novakon.net/nm-200proseries2.html
- http://www.syilamerica.com/machine_x7plus.php
- http://www.microkinetics.com/express/index.htm
- http://www.ihcnc.com/pages/cncoptions.php
- http://www.mikinimech.com/1610L.html

Only 3 hours left to decide....

[Jay1Firm]

Its kinda hard to say what machine you should get without know what your application needs will be for the machine. A few of these machines are generally for drill applications and very, very light milling.

[Chester3000]

Originally Posted by Jay1Firm Its kinda hard to say what machine you should get without know what your application needs will be for the machine. A few of these machines are generally for drill applications and very, very light milling.

Again, it will be a general use machine.
Mostly we'll be machining aluminum, steel, copper, plastics, foam, and....?
We are an engineering program, so I'm sure it will be used for all kinds of prototypes and projects

Which of the machines are "generally for drill applications and very, very light milling" ?
We definitely want to be able to do some milling! We don't necessarily need to do heavy machining but just some general use.
I really want to steer away from a machine that can only do very, very light milling.
So please give me more info!

[Jay1Firm]

Well Chester, I wont knock them, cause I haven't really run any of those machines except a similar machine to the IH http://www.ihcnc.com/pages/cncoptions.php
. You can generally tell the machines that are more built for milling are machines with good framing. The more rigid the machine looks around the Z axis the better it should mill without too much chatter issues..Good luck with you choice and let me know what you decided and how it works for you.

I usally post some tips if your interested.

http://cnc-machining-engineering.blogspot.com/