CNC milling and machining

A

andyjar

Active member
I'm asking this here because my goal is to make camera support parts, etc on a CNC mill. Eventually. Couple years maybe. But right now I want to start off with just a manual mill to learn. Any suggestions? Any tips?
 
andyjar said:
I'm asking this here because my goal is to make camera support parts, etc on a CNC mill. Eventually. Couple years maybe. But right now I want to start off with just a manual mill to learn. Any suggestions? Any tips?
Click to expand...

My suggestion, as a mechanical engineer with a background in automated manufacturing, is that you start with a CNC mill. Learning manual operation of a mill will be of questionable use to you later. What will translate between the two might be learning tooling, and how to hold a workpiece to the bed of the machine. CNC machines are pretty unforgiving about tooling mistakes.

The thing about CNC machines is the accuracy and precision. Much of what you have to do with them comes from books -- feed and speed for example, isn't done by feel, it's done by tables. And you won't learn this from manual mill experience.

Maintenance for CNC machines is more important too. With a manual machine you can bias your cuts to take out some of the slop from worn bearings. Not so easy with a CNC machine.

I'm just saying, if you're going to end up with CNC, start with CNC and learn it. It's not such an easy transition as you might think.
 
Hm, good advice guys, thanks. Now I'm mainly looking into actual starter CNC mills, and I have no idea which to go with. Any suggestions on this? I got a recommendation for a manual Sherline converted to CNC.
 
As cheap as possible. For me, it's always easier to justify a low initial expense and repair down the road. Also remember the only aluminum working experience I have so far is a drill press and a few Solidworks designs I sometimes make, so I really don't feel like breaking something super expensive...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top