Hello, I'm planning to start a small basement machine shop business for making parts in various fields, then see which gains traction.
The idea is to start small and hopefully go big later on.
I know buying used equipment is the way to go, however it only makes sense to buy big equipment for low price, right now I'm living in a rental apartment which have a big basement and moving large heavy equipment will be expensive and difficult. Also any repairs on it will be expensive + cost of time.
So I guess I should play safe, buy everything brand new which are not too big and reputable. Only way to do this is to buy imported machines.
My max budget is $10K. I need a CNC, a lathe and a surface grinder. I believe the most important machines are the CNC and surface grinder.
PM-25mv and the PM-727 mills are hands down on my top list, perfect for my needs and within budget. More importantly it is a milling machine best for easily converting to a CNC. PM stuff are respected, proven, tested and reputable. I have seen countless of YouTube videos of them being converted to a CNC and many are happy with it as an entry level CNC/mill. I spent about 3 weeks on researching to converting it into a CNC and pricing for it, I can make the PM-25mv into a working professional CNC for $3,800 after tax and shipping for everything including the mill.
However I like to explore and see if there are any other better "deals" out there from reputable/vouched different brands.
One of which is the Grizzly 0704 going for $1,900, about $500 less than the PM-25mv now.
The G0704 is also on my top list, I have seen a YouTuber named "Clough42" who converted it into a CNC and makes some remarkable advanced parts with it, one of which a high precision tool post grinder for his lathe. The price for a CNC is now $3,300 and now have some extra cash to buy important metrology stuffs like a Brown & Sharpe / Mitutoyo test indicator. The only thing I do not like about the G0704 is that it requires some cutting at the bottom to attach the ballscrew for the X-axis.
A YouTuber named "Practical Renaissance" showed how he converted his 0704 into a CNC and did some cutting with an angle grinder, not sure for saving $500 is worth it, seems to be so.
I'm shopping around and saw this mill "Bolton Tools ZX32GP", wonder if anyone used this machine or have any experience with it.
A website called "toolots" is selling it for $2,159.98 with shipping. The nice thing about this mill is that it is 500LBs while the PM-25mv is 275LBs.
The PM-727 is close to 500LBs but costs almost $3K after tax and shipping, so for $800 extra is the PM-727 worth it?
I hope the ways are precision ground/scraped, low spindle run out.
Thanks for any info and advice.
The idea is to start small and hopefully go big later on.
I know buying used equipment is the way to go, however it only makes sense to buy big equipment for low price, right now I'm living in a rental apartment which have a big basement and moving large heavy equipment will be expensive and difficult. Also any repairs on it will be expensive + cost of time.
So I guess I should play safe, buy everything brand new which are not too big and reputable. Only way to do this is to buy imported machines.
My max budget is $10K. I need a CNC, a lathe and a surface grinder. I believe the most important machines are the CNC and surface grinder.
PM-25mv and the PM-727 mills are hands down on my top list, perfect for my needs and within budget. More importantly it is a milling machine best for easily converting to a CNC. PM stuff are respected, proven, tested and reputable. I have seen countless of YouTube videos of them being converted to a CNC and many are happy with it as an entry level CNC/mill. I spent about 3 weeks on researching to converting it into a CNC and pricing for it, I can make the PM-25mv into a working professional CNC for $3,800 after tax and shipping for everything including the mill.
However I like to explore and see if there are any other better "deals" out there from reputable/vouched different brands.
One of which is the Grizzly 0704 going for $1,900, about $500 less than the PM-25mv now.
The G0704 is also on my top list, I have seen a YouTuber named "Clough42" who converted it into a CNC and makes some remarkable advanced parts with it, one of which a high precision tool post grinder for his lathe. The price for a CNC is now $3,300 and now have some extra cash to buy important metrology stuffs like a Brown & Sharpe / Mitutoyo test indicator. The only thing I do not like about the G0704 is that it requires some cutting at the bottom to attach the ballscrew for the X-axis.
A YouTuber named "Practical Renaissance" showed how he converted his 0704 into a CNC and did some cutting with an angle grinder, not sure for saving $500 is worth it, seems to be so.
I'm shopping around and saw this mill "Bolton Tools ZX32GP", wonder if anyone used this machine or have any experience with it.
A website called "toolots" is selling it for $2,159.98 with shipping. The nice thing about this mill is that it is 500LBs while the PM-25mv is 275LBs.
The PM-727 is close to 500LBs but costs almost $3K after tax and shipping, so for $800 extra is the PM-727 worth it?
I hope the ways are precision ground/scraped, low spindle run out.
Thanks for any info and advice.