Desktop CNC mill

Hi all,

I’m currently looking to buy a desktop CNC mill and wondered if anyone had had any good experiences with particular makes/models?
I’d love to hear from you if you have.
I’m interested in a small to medium bed size (X200mm Y300mm +) but preferably something with a good degree of Z travel (60mm +). I’m going to be using it for wood, plastic and aluminium.

Cheers,

Dan

What’s your budget? Do you need 3 axis or do you need a rotary 4th axis addition? What about automatic tool changer? What CAM software do you plan to use? I have a little bit of experience with some Roland mills and VHF mills for dental/jewelry. I know you can get a Roland MDX540 for pretty cheap these days and it will do the material you listed. The Rolands are build a little cheaper though so they aren’t the most solid machines.

It’s more a matter of budget. There’s tons of info on dedicated CNC forums especially for the startup/home user. Remember you’ll have to consider which CAM software as well.

www.cnczone.com

Yup, CAM can even or even outweigh the price of your desktop mill…

For the UK…

http://www.worldofcnc.com/

http://www.indoor.flyer.co.uk/millingmachine.htm

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/marchantdice?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Or email Jarkman cos he’s built one;

http://www.jarkman.co.uk/

https://plus.google.com/photos/104753983975472200241/albums/5191405803234312145?banner=pwa

A Taig, or Sherline. might work but the x/y travel is smaller than youre looking for.
the taig is 9-12" X 5.5" depending on the model.

Ive got a taig myself and like it quite a bit.

also remember that milling aluminum has a bit of a learning curve to get feeds & speeds dialed in
you’ll probably also need a butt load of extra equipment:

work holding (milling vices and clamps to hold the vice or stock to the table)
tooling (end mills, drill bits , fly cutters)
dial indicators (to line up stock)
edge finders (to zero the bit on the stock)
dust collection especially if working with wood
a dedicated computer
and of course the stock itself.
some precision machines that use lead screws (which is most of them in the 5000 or less price range) will also need to have their backlash nuts adjusted occasionally for wear.

wood is a bit easier to work with, i just clamp down a block of pine and run my code.

you might also want to look into CNC routers

anymore good quality desktop CNC mill (4 axis) ?

I’ve heard good things about Minitech.