CNC Mill Help

[Rickertsen2]

Ideally a real AKA: Bridgeport style is our goal. Unfortunately we don't have $5000 to spare for somethign like this new. Depending on how fundraising this year goes this year though it might be possible for us to get a used mill. Until then i guess we will be outsourcing.

Ok heres a question. Out budget is rather limited. What are the disadvantages of a "Mill/Drill"? They are considerably cheaper. It looks as if we can get a new "Mill/drill" with powerfeed and DRO as well as an assortment of accessories for the price of a baseline mill with almost nothing. Even if we do get a real mill we will still leave complex/precision parts to our sponsors because none of us would be skilled enough to make these parts even with the right tools. Would a "Mill/drill" be adequite for basic parts (IE: various mounting adapters, simple mechanisms etc.) ?

[Cory]

A general rule that I remember hearing is that you should plan to spend as much on tooling as you do on the machine tool. It aint gonna do you much good if you have a nice and shiny mill, but nothing to go with it.

I've seen ads for used bridgeports from machine shops in my area for like $2000-2500, which seems pretty good, but I'm no expert, so who knows what you might be getting when you buy used.

$0.02 Cory