Thinking of jumping into CNC milling. How to start ?

[SparkyLabs]

I see, I thought the manual one would be the same and that they just swapped handles for motors but as i said I am a total noob here. Yes I understand the potential value of all the bits and I thought it is a good machine and a good price but as I have not ventured into this sort of thing yet I thought I'd ask.

Yes I am doing ABS cast boxes. What worries me with a router is the height indeed. The boxes I am currently looking at need machining on the side, they have draft angles so by the time you have one fixed in a vice on the bed and the tool in the machine you sudenly find you need 150mm of working height for a 120mm box. I'm not sure if this too tsll for a router. I'd also like to be flexible for the future. Currently I have a clarke CMD10 but it is painful to use.

[magicniner]

The CAD/CAM learning curve is not one to be underestimated, I bought a desktop CNC mill then spent 18 months before I could reliably produce 4-axis code for it ;-)

- Nick

[SparkyLabs]

Well I would prefer a ready to go solution. if this is what is costs then that is fair enough I just wanted to make sure I was going the right-ish way about it.

[Clive S]

Are you just wanting to drilling holes or wanting to cut out shapes etc. As drilling could be done on a manual mill.
A picture is worth a thousand words of what you are trying to achieve.

[SparkyLabs]

Holes and shapes. But even getting holes right on my manual mill is tedeaous because it has no readouts and the backlash is terrible plus my lack of skill. I am looking to do production quantities on this machine to get it to pay for itself along with good fast prototyping.

[SparkyLabs]

There will also be plenty of cutting down of potting boxes, the bigger they get the taller they get and this can become a problem as what I need are more like trays so the only thing I can do it to cut down existing boxes.

[magicniner]

what I need are more like trays so the only thing I can do it to cut down existing boxes.

That sounds like a job for a bandsaw with a suitable guide to get them within a couple of millimetres and a quick pass with the mill to finish ;-)

[John S]

Might pay to have a look at one of the blue A3 style laser cutters on Ebay for about £1500

I used to mill boxes out for the division master style hand held controllers and one case too about 15 minutes with some rejects where the plastic had welded to the cutter and ruined the box.

I now do these on the laser in about 2 minutes with no rejects

[SparkyLabs]

That sounds like a job for a bandsaw with a suitable guide to get them within a couple of millimetres and a quick pass with the mill to finish ;-)

Well I am based from home so don't have room to set up a complete machine shop. I need a bit of a one size fits all machine, granted some jobs are not the most suited but if they can be carried out with no severe downsides then that is fine.

[JAZZCNC]

Yes I am doing ABS cast boxes. What worries me with a router is the height indeed. The boxes I am currently looking at need machining on the side, they have draft angles so by the time you have one fixed in a vice on the bed and the tool in the machine you sudenly find you need 150mm of working height for a 120mm box. I'm not sure if this too tsll for a router. I'd also like to be flexible for the future.

What you need is Custom built router.! (Wonder by who.)

This will give you more scope than mill and will easily handle plastics and aluminium. You'll get much more productivity because will be able to mount several boxes at time on fixture jig and cut quicker.
The faster spindle speed of router suits cutting aluminium better than slow spindle you'll get on small Mill (4000rpm). Cycle times will be much faster and will allow for other jobs like engraving etc where higher spindle speeds are more desirable.

Custom built router will knock the spots off Small mill for this type of work. The extra cutting area is always welcome and if done correctly will give much more scope in cutting anything upto aluminium.

Honestly think you'll regret buying that Proxon CNC and will soon outgrow it or find it's limits.