Looking for good affordable CNC mill

[asifjahmed]

Hi all -

This is my first post here.

I am looking at possibly buying a CNC mill within a budget or 6-7k(ish). I have done a ton of research, and it seems like everyone recommends Tormach. However, none of the Tormach offerings have a travel length sufficient for my needs (20"). Bummer.

Anyhow, I am now looking at an IH Turnkey CNC mill. They have plenty of table travel. However, their website isn't very good, and I can't find pricing (assuming its in my ballpark). The tormach looks like a nicer product from the pics, but I know that doesn't mean much.

Any advice is much appreciated! I am open to pretty much any suggestions here. Just need to be able to make parts that are 20" in length. Also, I am looking at doing a lot of stainless steel work so need a robust machine.

Thanks!

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[LUCKY13]

I think the IH turnkey CNC is north of 10k. There is a guy in the IH section that has one for sale for $4900.00 with tooling, software and some other stuff that goes with it.


IDK where you are located but if its within your reach you had better act quick. These machines do not stay around because they are so good and hard to get.



Just to get yiu thinking, starting from scratch you will spend a couple grand to get productive just because of tooling, workholding, measuring equipment and other needs. Not counting shipping, at the price of the setup listed above you will save possibly 10k depending on what he has in total ( software mainly).


SO if you buy new and only have 7k you really need to consider buying a manual machine & doing a conversion. Or you want have enough to get the machine productive. So that used machine is a steel, plus there is not many machines that will get you over 20" of travel so your choices are few.


I will post back with some other info on other machines and possible routes but I would check into that IH CNC machine right now ( its listed in the IH section below this section).


Jess

[arizonavideo]

Their was a almost new IH CNC listed in the IH forum a few days ago for around 6K.

Not a bad deal.

[Delw]

my suggestions save up your money and buy a real mill. look for one used.
you said you need to cut stainless those mills wont cut stainless like a full size one does not even close.

I picked up a 96 supermax max1 rebel for 5k and it holds tol all day long.
I threw it in the back of the shop figuring it would need some work. use it every day for 9310 heat treated gear steel and 304 ss holds .001 all day long never had an issue with it yet.

a used fadal might be a better buy cause you can get parts anywere, where as most others are proprietry.

I know of a haas coming up for sale soon older one I think a 95 and there asking around 10k-14, it hasnt been run in 3 years. I went and checked it out for the guy whos selling it and its in pretty good shape. the x ball screw is a tad loud ( compared to the y and z) but holds size and gives a very nice finish. cuts circles nice as well.

The machines are out there, there stronger than the hobby mills and will last longer they have tool changes too.

Delw

[pete from TN]

my suggestions save up your money and buy a real mill. look for one used.
you said you need to cut stainless those mills wont cut stainless like a full size one does not even close.

I picked up a 96 supermax max1 rebel for 5k and it holds tol all day long.
I threw it in the back of the shop figuring it would need some work. use it every day for 9310 heat treated gear steel and 304 ss holds .001 all day long never had an issue with it yet.

a used fadal might be a better buy cause you can get parts anywere, where as most others are proprietry.

I know of a haas coming up for sale soon older one I think a 95 and there asking around 10k-14, it hasnt been run in 3 years. I went and checked it out for the guy whos selling it and its in pretty good shape. the x ball screw is a tad loud ( compared to the y and z) but holds size and gives a very nice finish. cuts circles nice as well.

The machines are out there, there stronger than the hobby mills and will last longer they have tool changes too.

Delw

AGREED!!...peace

Pete

[asifjahmed]

Thanks for the responses, guys!

So a used "real" mill (superax, bridgeport, etc.) will be better than buying a new IH CNC turnkey mill for cutting stainless?

There are several that I found on craigslist. What do you think of this:

Journeyman 325 Tree CNC Mill

Seems super cheap.. probably too good to be true, right?

I can wait and save up ~10k before making a purchase if it will net me a much better mill. Thats the type of info I was looking for. I need to be able to make production-quality stainless steel parts.

[Delw]

Thanks for the responses, guys!

So a used "real" mill (superax, bridgeport, etc.) will be better than buying a new IH CNC turnkey mill for cutting stainless?

There are several that I found on craigslist. What do you think of this:

Journeyman 325 Tree CNC Mill

Seems super cheap.. probably too good to be true, right?

I can wait and save up ~10k before making a purchase if it will net me a much better mill. Thats the type of info I was looking for. I need to be able to make production-quality stainless steel parts.

A real cnc mill meaning one thats weighs 6000+ lbs not a retrofit hand mill. but a real one
2 words you said Stainless and PODUCTION Quality, your not going to cut that with a garage shop spindled machine.
Fadals and Haas are a dime a dozen Fadals are easy to work on and simple to learn and cheap, not to mention you can buy parts from lots of service guys and parts houses.
Haas and the rest are propriatary.
Craigs list works seen fadals and haas on them alot and cheap.

the mill you posted, Its a decent hand mill with a cnc control but for stainless and production work forget it esp if you need more than 1 tool. the bridgeport junk for stainless

[nofx]

if the chinese guy named bella offering you products. i would decline, he says he has special deals but really it will just make you cry inside after the fact. your looking to do stainless. you need coolant option on the mill. you could hand bomb the coolant on to the part. really depends on how many parts you want to put out the door in what time period. your aiming to make a couple on a saturday afternoon then a tormach might be the deal.

[morgandc]

IH CNC turnkey is $12,500 as of a couple days ago.