RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Expectations, bridgeport

John:

When you look at the cost for adding CNC to a Sherline unit, here's an idea
what it's costing me to add CNC to a Sherline 2000 mill. Is this within the
ball park when you were scoping your costs, or were you thinking of
something different?

1. CAD program to produce DXF drawings - Intellicad (Free)
VectorCAD ($15.00 USD special offer)
2. DXF->GCode Converter - ACE Converter (Free)
3. G-Code Interpreter - Stepster (Free)
TurboCNC ($10.00 USD)
EZCNC ($20.00)
4. Computer - Existing unit (Free)
5. Stepper Drivers - Camtronics ($160 - $240 USD)
6. Stepper Motors - $10.00 per Axis (Used)
$48.00 USD list price per Axis (Sherline)
7. Mill Conversion kit $190.00 USD list price
8. Miscellaneous Items $100.00 USD

You could also look at a Taig mill. I believe that the entry price is lower
than Sherline's, but you don't have the range of accessories available for
it that you have for the Sherline. As far as costs to add CNC, about the
only difference in the above list and Taig requirements is the mill
conversion kit, which is the hardware that allows you to add motors to the
machine.

You might also want do decide whether or not you want double or single ended
motors. Double ended are more expensive (Sherline's are double ended) but
allow you to add your handwheels to them while many single-ended motors are
available on the surplus market.

Now, if I total it, the cost (over the price of the mill) is something like
$600 if you use surplus motors and $750 if you use Sherline's motors. You
can figure the mill cost for between 10% and 15% less than the Sherline
catalog prices if you order from one of their dealers. What's nice is that,
if you find that you outgrow the Sherline, you'll be able to use many of the
CNC items on a larger machine and recoup some of your investment by selling
off the Sherline. However, there are several folks on this list who have
both, a desktop machine and a "full sized" machine and use the appropriate
machine for the appropriate task.

-- Jerry Jankura
Strongsville, Ohio
So many toys, so little time....


| -----Original Message-----
| From: info.host@... [mailto:info.host@...]
| Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 7:54 PM
| To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
| Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Expectations, bridgeport
|
|
| > Out of curiosity, what do you plan to use the mill for?
|
| I looked at Sherlines for a long time and it'd be great because
| it'd use up
| no room at all, I could have it in my bedroom where the spare computer is.
| But then I started to find things I didn't like about it like the good but
| not brilliant accuracy of the mills and the transverse sizes.
| They're cheap
| but once you add on all the extra bits and then the CNC control it's not
| that cheap anymore, not considering what else you can get.
|