Thinking of jumping into CNC milling. How to start ?

[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]

Do you have any links to the laser cutter. What are the limitations of laser if any ? I could of course end up cutting metal too. With plastic I am hoping that a nice sharp cutter not too much speed will prevent melthing. I've not had any problems hand milling with melting, just the positional accuracy that take so long to get right that it would not work for repeats.

[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.

[magicniner]

I have a bandsaw that's just 24" tall with an 18" x 12" footprint that can be used on a Machine Mart bench grinder stand, it has a plethora of uses, all of which save time and some of which save material ;-)