Avadon Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 I want to get a very high end drill press in the range of $2500 but the other part of me wonders if some kind of CNC wouldn't be better. I mostly want to drill and mill aluminum parts for robotics. I saw grizzly has really nice end mills and drill presses but they don't seem to have computers attached to them? Can you make any mill into a CNC? I'm not even sure where to start with CNC as i'm totally newb to it. Can you even get into a decent CNC under 10K? Seems like all the CNC stuff I've seen that was less expensive cut wood or plastics but wasn't powerful enough to cut non-ferrous material. Penny for your thoughts. Thanks, Av Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Wow Avadon why not just jump in the deep end head first? One may convert any machine into a CNC - if I had copious liquidity and a brain transplant, >I< could do it. Sounds like you might want to look into a Prototrac, which is a CNC retrofit manual mill. My former employer just got auctioned off, and the Prototrac went for $1500, I believe. Most likely you will need 230 volts ac and a phase converter. I am not familiar with the software, so I don't know if it's capable of interpolation or just 3 axis linear movements. Machine shops continue to collapse and be put on the block - my feeling is that your chances are good. 3D printing is something you might consider as an adjunct to your (newly?) acquired Insanity. That'll be two bits, thank you, Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 Is it just that CNC-ing Aluminum requires machines that are more in the 50-100K range? Is it better to just get a high quality end mill and do everything manually if you have under 10K to spend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 This is a pretty good overviewhttp://www.dakeng.com/CNCconvert.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Av, It should not cost you more than $2000 (two thousand) to find a used CNC retrofit type machine in today's market. How much do you know about machining in general? What scale will you be working (five inch tall or ten foot tall robots)? The complexity of your part geometries is what defines the type of sophistication required by your machine tool. PM me if you want my number so we can talk whilst I am working my other job. Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 4 hours ago, Anachronist58 said: Av, It should not cost you more than $2000 (two thousand) to find a used CNC retrofit type machine in today's market. How much do you know about machining in general? What scale will you be working (five inch tall or ten foot tall robots)? The complexity of your part geometries is what defines the type of sophistication required by your machine tool. PM me if you want my number so we can talk whilst I am working my other job. Robert Taylor Okay thanks PM coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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