CNC mill conversion ?s

[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.