CNC Mill or Router?

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by Chak

I keep hearing on CD that for manual mills, a Bridgeport/clone is THE gold standard. So is there something similar for lathes, CNC lathes, CNC mills, and CNC routers?


What's the story here?

As for Lathes, no unfortunately there is no real "standard" as there is no comparable ubiquity to the Bridgeport model knee mill which has survived nearly 75 YEARS UNCHANGED(the first true "Bridgeport" coming off the line in the 30's). There is something to be said about an industrial product surviving the test of time and the march of progress for 3/4 of a century, they make them still today with only minor changes to their design. Look for, Hardinge, Monarch, Clausing, Mori and their clones or competitors for your lathes. CNC is an even harder one to nail down, just pick a machine or brand with a reputation is my broadest advice.

I watch a lot of auction sites for machines and what not. Bowling alley was going out of business and 46+ bowling balls for $36 after fees is a steal. Was thinking we could get a robot billiards league going or something, I have some other plans for some as well. Who knows, maybe it will be useful on a robot mechanism?