Smithy or other Benchtop Mills/Lathes/CNC

[Alan Ing]

Definitely consider the Tormach. We were fortunate enough to pick one up in December.

You get a lot for the price. Check out the Manufacturing website videos to see its capabilities.

The 9.5" y-axis travel listed, is quite conservative. I think its closer to 10+ inches or so (I measured it, but forgot).

If your new to CNC like we are, don't expect to be blasting out parts. We got ours just before the season started and did not have enough time to learn to use it effectively. Every part we made on it could have been made with our manual mill. It is really convienient to drill bolt circles with.

Frankly, we really wanted another manual mill, but due to a technicality, it was easier to order this small cnc unit.

If you want to consider the Tormach, get the stand with coolant pump. Too much trouble to build your own. Does a good job containing coolant and chips.

On the down side, you cannot angle the head. Table is not hardened. We dropped a chain on it and put a few minor dings on the table. Steppers aren't as fast as servos, but its fast enough for us.

Consider what CAM program you will be using as it isn't included. We are using Inventor and an educational version of Edgecam.