looking to buy a mill

[BeeleJuice]

i was thinking to buy one of those mini mills. i wanna spend a couple thousand dollars on one with some tooling. i have been working with mills and lathes for 5 years and i now would like to make a hobby out of it also and eventualy rig it for cnc. kinda as a fun thing. but i really wanna do some small jobs for money. not really looking for a supplametal income just money to buy tooling and raw materials. i have 5 years experience with working in a job shop. cutting, punching, milling, drilling, latheing, welding, forklift, and all different types of setups and tear downs.

just about no cnc experience, just what i have read here. just operating a NC horizontal band saw.

but i was wondering if your just the home body do-it-yourselfer, do any of you guys "get" jobs from people? ebay maybe? i would really like to get paid a few dollars for the stuff i want to do. nothing big. control pannels or ever. is there tip anyone can give to finding these types of jobs and giving a quote? any tips would be good. sorry if this belongs in another forum. thanks

[bryanrabb]

not to hijack your thread, but i am in the same boat and i am looking at a round column mill. what are the downsides to round column? Can you cnc them?

[Bubba]

BeeleJuice,
One of the best sources of leads for doing this type of work is right here on the forem! Check out the RFQ (request for quotes) and often I see people asking for someone to make various pieces parts for their projects!
Other than that, networking in your neighborhood for items that may be outsourced by local shops. You just have to dig in there and find them.

bryanrabb,
Yes, you can cnc a round column mill/drill (been there done that). You will hear the people saying it is no good due to the loss of regristration when you move the head to do a tool change etc. Well, in the past several years of using my round column, I have yet to have to move the head to do a tool change. This is all due to PREPLANNING so I don't have to move the head. I put the piece up on a raised platform and find a "clear" space to do my tool changes. I also have been able to do some things BECAUSE I could revolve the head around the column to be able to get at points on and off the table. Try that on a square column machine! If you have such a machine, sure go ahead and do it. Mine is a belt drive with a VFD and I have a much better (and quieter) speed range than the typical gear head machines. There are trade offs both + and - for each type.

Bottom line, would I change; thats a tough question! I like many of the properties that I have and would like some from the square column types. But I have what I have and it does the job (period).

[bryanrabb]

bubba, thanks for the response. What knid of mill do you have?