CNC mill conversion ?s

[Cuog]

Personally I was in a similar situation to you(though I'm staying with manual milling for a while) and I decided to go for the Grizzly G0704 Mill instead. The cost isn't much more than the SIEG machines, but it has a lot more capabilities and is much more rigid. http://grizzly.com/products/G0704 Just something to consider. There's also plenty of info on the web for converting these over to CNC. Also look out for a few other companies that also make this machine such as precision matthews.

[DonRotolo]

My personal opinion is to shy away from the CNC portion and buy the better mill. While CNC is indeed a valuable learning experience, a manual mill is just as capable and you get to learn how to run a mill as well.

CNC conversion takes away some of that learning, replacing it with a "Multi-Purpose Magic Replicator" instead - make it in software and let the MPMR pop it out.

The small mill you mentioned is moderately capable, but that's the best that can be said about it. Look at the reviews at Grizzly.com for more info. Replacing the nylon gear with the belt system, and the torsion spring for Z, are both good ideas - there are a few conversions around.

The next size up (or two) will be a far better machine. None of these is turn-key, you'll need/want to take the machine apart, adjust and polish and lubricate everything properly, to produce good work. That will also teach you what is important and what isn't, plus you'll really know the machine.

Tooling can cost as much as the machine, so research that as you make your decisions. A quite beefy vertical mill without DRO or CNC can be had for $2.5k, and later converted to CNC and/or DRO. See this thread, especially starting at Post #27.

[Cuog]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Tooling can cost as much as the machine, so research that as you make your decisions.

This is VERY true. I've spent as much on tooling(and measuring instruments) as I did on my mill, and I still have a wish list a mile long.

Also do you have a lathe? I would(and did) go for manual mill + manual lathe over just a CNC mill.

[autox_vette]

Originally Posted by Cuog

This is VERY true. I've spent as much on tooling(and measuring instruments) as I did on my mill, and I still have a wish list a mile long.

Also do you have a lathe? I would(and did) go for manual mill + manual lathe over just a CNC mill.

We picked up one of the Harbor Freight 7 X 10" lathes earlier in the year that we are starting to set up. There was some debate on how much we would use it (I know there are folks that think they can't survive without a lathe) but we finally decided to move forward with it.

[DonRotolo]

You'll find uses for the lathe. Just need to look for them.

It would be great if you can find someone who really knows lathes to help set up and adjust it, teaching a mentor to keep it running right. If you want it to turn out good work, it must be set up properly, and that takes some effort. It is not ever plug-n-play. (Find a local machinist who can stop by for 2-3 hours to talk about it)

At 1676, we teach 2 or 3 kids each year how to run a lathe. It can be quite dangerous if you're not paying attention, so only serious users are accommodated.

CNC stuff is really cool, but overrated in a non-production environment. The kids certainly lose a lot of potential hands-on knowledge that way.

[baronep]

We bought last season a Grizzly X3 mill and this season we decided to CNC it. We bough the cncfusion standard kit with preloaded bearings and it fit perfectly. We have just adjusted the mill with Mach3 using backlash compensation (.001 in) and we are able to see no error down to the thousandth of an inch over a one inch domain.

[autox_vette]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

My personal opinion is to shy away from the CNC portion and buy the better mill. While CNC is indeed a valuable learning experience, a manual mill is just as capable and you get to learn how to run a mill as well.

CNC conversion takes away some of that learning, replacing it with a "Multi-Purpose Magic Replicator" instead - make it in software and let the MPMR pop it out.

The small mill you mentioned is moderately capable, but that's the best that can be said about it. Look at the reviews at Grizzly.com for more info. Replacing the nylon gear with the belt system, and the torsion spring for Z, are both good ideas - there are a few conversions around.

The next size up (or two) will be a far better machine. None of these is turn-key, you'll need/want to take the machine apart, adjust and polish and lubricate everything properly, to produce good work. That will also teach you what is important and what isn't, plus you'll really know the machine.

Tooling can cost as much as the machine, so research that as you make your decisions. A quite beefy vertical mill without DRO or CNC can be had for $2.5k, and later converted to CNC and/or DRO. See this thread, especially starting at Post #27.

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely read that thread as soon as I get time. I searched before starting this thread, but for some reason it didn't show up for me...

Part of the idea was that we don't have a lot of experience with machining on the team (though we just picked up a new mentor that did some experience), so we were hoping to overcome some of our lack of knowledge with technology. I agree that in the long run, we'll be better off by learning basics, but thought we'd get more short term benefits from CNC. We were being kind of intimidated with our lack of experience and finding some comfort in technology (and seeing all of the cool machine work on many of the robots in St. Louis made us want some of that too)...

After putting together a spread sheet estimating the costs, I'm starting to get it. Starting to question the wisdom of throwing 2-3 times the cost of the mill at it to convert it to CNC and in the end having a low end ($600) mill with a small table with relatively limited usefulness...