Light production milling - opinions please

[lcifers]

I'm looking for a machine to mill aluminum. It will be primarily a production machine, but will likely be used for prototyping also. It needs to run on single phase power and have at least 18" of x travel. I need full 3 axis cnc. Any suggestions on a good machine to look at? I need to get something that's reliable and not $15k or $20k. Thanks in advance!

[digitalmdi]

I'm looking for a machine to mill aluminum. It will be primarily a production machine, but will likely be used for prototyping also. It needs to run on single phase power and have at least 18" of x travel. I need full 3 axis cnc. Any suggestions on a good machine to look at? I need to get something that's reliable and not $15k or $20k. Thanks in advance!

If tolerances in the 0.001-002" range are Ok, you should look at the Shopmaster
Shoptask - Shopmaster
For closer tolerances you will need to step up to something like a tormach or Haas mini.

[Geof]

.....I need to get something that's reliable and not $15k or $20k......!

A Haas MiniMill runs on single phase, is reliable and doesn't cost $15k to $20k. However I suppose you mean less than $15k.

Before limiting yourself now, and in the future with a machine that cannot remove material fast enough to be economic you should analyse how much material you are removing from your parts and how large your production runs will be. Also will several tool changes be needed per part.

A low cost machine is not going to have the power to take material off quickly and it will probably not have a tool changer. If you are doing hundreds or thousands of parts it does not take very long to waste thousands of dollars just waiting for the machine to finish a part, and spending the time to do manual tool changes. In addition if you have to hover over the machine while it is running you cannot be doing other things that are maybe more productive.

[cjjonesarmory]

Have you looked at the Tormach systems?

[DareBee]

There is no such thing as a production grade machine for under 20K.
Get a Haas MiniMill

[SquibLoad]

I've been able to use my Tormach quite successfully for light production. Granted, this is 'hobby' level production, of small runs (30-50 parts) for local luthiers, without any great difficulties. Their TTS tooling system and power drawbar is a must, though, and I think one should add the tool changer, too (my next purchase). I've also plumbed in a vacuum table to the mill bed. Unattended milling of multiple parts is now fairly easy, with very, very fast tool changes. The addition on the ATC will allow complete automation for small runs. As a garage guy, I'm not looking for giant production runs, though. If large runs are needed, I'd think the prior poster is correct, and a Haas-like device would be the better option. For us small fry though, the Tormach is brilliant, and a first class company to deal with. Real work can be done with these, not just 'tinkering'. I've been able to go from no milling or CNC knowledge or experience to small production with real-live actual paying customers within a few months, and that's with learning to hand-code my G-Code programs, too. I couldn't even spell 'CNC' six months ago, and had my machine delivered on the 4th of July weekend. It's now making money. It can be done, and fairly easily, too. Just takes a little dedication and study.

[lcifers]

Thanks for the info guys,

The job is relatively light, milling countersinks and putting some radii on aluminum extrusions, the longest pieces being 16". Volumes are likely to be around 5000 pcs annually. Not real high, but not real low either I need to end up with clean cuts so we don't have heavy burrs so they can be etched off before anodizing without manual deburring.

I have a shop that's doing a pretty good job now but I'm not sure they can handle the volumes as we increase since they have a lot of other work also. Not to mention we can probably pay for a machine in a year or so (if we don't spend too much) by paying our shop rate instead of theirs. It's production work so once it's set up you don't need a real machinist to run it...

I'll look around at some used equipment, and I have looked at the Tormach. Wasn't sure if it was heavy duty or durable enough. Thanks again for the info!

[Delw]

find a haas mini mill in single phase or get a rotary phase converted and get a 3 phase machine .

A Tormach wont cut it and your wasting your time and money. as you said
"I have a shop that's doing a pretty good job now but I'm not sure they can handle the volumes as we increase since they have a lot of other work also."
personally I would find a small travel table haas vf1 or a fadal Used and stick it in my garage before a hobby mill. and yes they can be put in a standard garage with a normal 8 foot ceiling with a small cut out.

[cjjonesarmory]

Although my experience with Novakon has been mediocre, I have to say that once the bugs were worked out of the NM-200 I purchased, it has worked extremely well.

I purchased my machine back in 2009. Perhaps their quality control has improved since then, I don't know.

I would consider it (NM-200) to be borderline serious hobbyist and light production. The advantage of the Tormach systems over the Novakon systems is the immense configurability of the Tormach systems.

Smithy also offers a version of the same mill (as the NM-200). I think Smithy calls theirs the 1240 or something like that.