Looking for an Entry Level CNC machine

[pk_volt]

Hello. I am fairly new to CNC'ing, although I have done a little bit of work with mastercam.

Anyways, our budget is around $10,000, and we are currently resided in Vancouver British Columbia.

We were looking around at some entry level cnc machines such as CNCmaster, and Tormac. We were also wondering whether it's better to look for a used machine, or maybe even consider retrofitting, as we have knowledge in Electronic Control Systems. Where are some good places to look for used setups?

What are some main features to look at in a cnc machine, and how does each feature affect the overal performance?

Any help or useful links would be greatly appreciated.

[Boots]

Well, for $10,000.00 in US FUNDS you better not expect much. We have more than that tied up in just the Software (AlphaCam Advanced Mill). 10 Grand is OK to spend if you are a hobbiest just starting out. But if you plan on using it for production of Goods to make some serious $$$ then you had better save up a little more. In fact, a lot more. YOu should be looking at $75,000.00 Machines or even higher. My first one was over $150,000.00 but there isn't much that it can't do. It paid for it's self in 4 years running it 2 shifts. You need high feed rate capabilities and large capacity in order to compete in todays market. You don't want to have to put money in the Box with the parts to send them down the road. You'll go broke. I suggest doing a lot of research and go to some Trade shows and see what's out there. An Auto Tool changer is a must have feature also with at least 6 or 8 Tools. There are many different styles of those.
MasterCam level 1 is $5,000.00 but is a good choice for programming as I used it for 6 years with great results.

[mc-motorsports]

Originally Posted by pk_volt Hello. I am fairly new to CNC'ing, although I have done a little bit of work with mastercam. Anyways, our budget is around $10,000, and we are currently resided in Vancouver British Columbia. We were looking around at some entry level cnc machines such as CNCmaster, and Tormac. We were also wondering whether it's better to look for a used machine, or maybe even consider retrofitting, as we have knowledge in Electronic Control Systems. Where are some good places to look for used setups? What are some main features to look at in a cnc machine, and how does each feature affect the overal performance? Any help or useful links would be greatly appreciated.

Retro your own machine. It will fall within budget, and you will know how to fix it when it breaks, which will make all the time you will spend building it worth it... Just my 2cents

[smallblock]

If you plan to jump into the machine shop business and bid on jobs, then Boots is right- invest in a full fledged production machine. If you are just curious about CNC and want to try it, doing a retrofit on an older machine will consume 6-12 months of your time and your 10,000.00, but you will gain a lot of knowledge about the way things work. If you have an invention and find that the prototypes are too expensive to farm out, look at a medium sized ready to run unit. Something like the Shopmaster - www.shopmasterusa.com - is within your budget and will give you both CNC lathe and mill in one machine and can handle prototyping and even limited production runs until you have the design fully worked out and are ready to go full bore.

[pk_volt]

Well, we were actually thinking of using this machine as a learning process, but at the same time, do consultant prototype machining for people at a lower cost. This is what me and my friend are mainly interested in. We are not really looking at this in a sense that we are relying on this business to earn a living, although we wish to take this path sometime in the future.

But as mentioned, we do want to focus on prototype consulting at the moment.