Quote Originally Posted by Monty_UK View Post
TBH I dont have the space for that size of Mill - I've been using 3D cad for many years and CAM so no issue there

I will only be making small scale parts which are ideally suited for the VM32 size machine - I do fully get the potential pitfalls but for my use case and Bridgeport would be overkill

I trained on such a machine as an apprecitice - they are truly solid machines and I wish I had both the space and money for one

One of the reasons for doing the conversion was to give me a base machine early and then spend time building up parts etc for the CNC as I go but still have the use of the machine

Ideally I want to get the best Chinese mill i can get - any opinions on this would be appreciated
Fully understand and in that case, I would look for a used Denford, etc like I mention at the bottom of my previous post rather than look to Chinese mills which are like a box of chocolates with no lid.?
Edit: Also just because someone else found a decent Chinese mill does it follow all the others will be the same, even from the same manufacturer because I know if you search hard enough you'll just as many unhappy buyers as you will happy, if not more.!

Now regarding the small-scale parts what material will you be mostly cutting.? If it's aluminum your next battle will be spindle speeds as most mills don't come with fast enough spindles to suit cutting soft materials. This will be something you will need to factor into the cost/difficulty equation when converting.?