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Originally Posted by cmaccoy
If i were you I'd just get a small CNC mill. Like one of those cheap things some schools get for like 4 thousand dollars. The mill I'm thinking of isn't nearly as powerful as regular ones but it'll get the job done. And Bridgeport's can't do all CNC mills can. It would take a CNC mill 10 minutes or less to make a sprocket, with a Bridgeport, I'd say it may take 3 weeks if your good. Good luck to what ever decision you decide upon.
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And on the otherside, as said before, it takes tons of time and knowledge to setup a CNC.
I was working with a machinist at a shop that produces structural members for large buildings, and all they do is crank out like 100 of these mounting plates a day. For that, it's great. They program it once, then stick all the raw materials on pallets, and load it into the machine. He had a real good way of looking at it that I really found telling. He told me that it takes $2,000-$3000 to make the first part, then after that it's $.20 each.
Basically, CNC is for mass production, or extremely complex parts that simply arent possible on a manual mill.
My team was looking to develop a shifting transmission based on team 45's design this year (which unfortunately didnt pull together in time) and we did not have access to a CNC mill, which was "required". Working with the same machinist, we managed to make every single part which "required" CNC by hand, with no loss in performance, and perhaps a small loss in precision.
My point is, as others have said before, you can do almost anything on a manual mill if you're good enough.
Cory