Cheap CNC Mill ?

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Cr2348455

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Hi everyone
Thinking about cnc for years now, but the price always kept me away.
Is there an inexpensive way to get a small hobbyist cnc mill ? For steel and aluminum perhaps ?
All I know is I do not want to learn cad/cam.
One with basic bottled g code programming.
Thanks
J
 
I don't think you are likely to find what you are looking for. Not sure what your definition of "Inexpensive" is. If you are able and willing to do all of the work to convert a manual Mill to CNC then perhaps you can get one working for $500 to $1000 over the cost of the manual mill but more likely you will spend 2x - 3x of that. Additionally, CAD and CAM go hand in hand with CNC. Unlike the 3d printer world, there are not online repositories of ready to run G-code that you can download. There is something called conversational programing with higher end controllers but I have no idea how that works. I'm sure others will have something to add and possibly better outlook than my response. Good luck.
 
I second Boswell's response.

I have a G0704 mill converted to CNC. I consider this to be at the middle end of the hobby cnc market. It does well in aluminum and OK in steel. There are smaller machines out there but all of them leave you wanting more rigidity.

In today's dollars a G0704/PM25 costs about $1800. Add, at a minimum, another $1000 for CNC software, motors, motor drives, cabling, and some extremely basic tooling.

At this point, I have probably $3k into CNC controls on my machine although I have done paid work with it and I would consider this an above average cost for the machine.

If you are willing to go with a router, you'll get into the market much cheaper, although you'd be machining mostly wood and plastic. Maybe some aluminum and probably not steel.

CAD/CAM is the basis of all of this CNC stuff. I think you just need to get into the mentality that you will need to learn it and learn to have fun with it.

Not trying to discourage in the least, in fact we would love to see you get into CNC, but trying to set expectations.
 
I think you need to learn at least CAD since you need to generate toolpaths. I think LinuxCNC will do simple tool moves but not complex designs without some type of CAD package
-Mark
 
Thank you all for your honest information.
In around 2010 , I wanted to get a feel for cad/cam
software. Solidworks seemed to be one of the best, but out of my budget.
I made the mistake of buying BobCad, worst mistake I ever made with a software purchase.
I have a Grizzly mill, but not interested in turning it into a cnc machine.
Conversational cnc seemed like there were some canned g code programs for some basic functions.
My budget for cnc mill and software is about
$5-$6000.
Thanks to you all
J
 
You can find used CNC machines in the $7k range. They are older machines, but still functional. For example, I have seen TRAK machines for ~ $7k, and they have conversational milling. The problem with these machines is that if they go down, it can be expensive to bring them back to life.

If your are wanting strictly 2D (x and y only), as has been mentioned, there are CNC routers, some of which can handle aluminum, for $4-5k.
 
Thanks
Seems like I may just have to accept that cnc milling is still out of my budget.
I would not be able to afford repairs on a used cnc mill.
J
 
Not sure if it would suit your needs but I'm thinking about building a PrintNC CNC router.
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A couple thoughts.....
Mach3 and Mach4 have add on packages that have "wizards" for basic cnc functions. It is possible to string together the Gcode from them to make "continuous" program vs piece meal.

You mentioned Solidworks..... An EAA membership includes a Solidworks License as part of it's $40/yr membership fee.

If you just want to learn CNC.... though not as capable as a mill, have you considered possibly a CNC router? Much cheaper, but something to learn on. One of the Engineers in my office brought his Shapeoko CNC router in for a project we were doing. It was surprisingly capable for what we asked it to do. We cut AL and Polycarbonate. If you slowed it down and limited your depth of cut, it could probably do steel.
 
If I were going for cnc, I would want to mill steel as well as aluminum.
I bought a manual Legacy router sled , used it a few times, just to lazy to think about all the setup.
If I had the cash, I like Tormach.
That said, I would like something much smaller but with ability to mill in 3 axis.
thanks to all
 
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