A lurker sticks his toe out

Greetings,

I am but a lurker, but thought a comment about my experience in looking
for and deciding upon a miniature machine milling machine.

I too looked long and hard at the MAXCNC, but when I found their 1/5 hp
motor in the Grainger catalog rated at 3.1amps, and the Sherline was
rated at 12amps (both being 90VDC), I decided that I had to look more
closely at the Sherline...particularly because the Sherline can use 3/8"
end mills, as well as the smaller ones.

What I found, was that the Sherline folks are very helpful, the phone is
always answered by a real person, and when I voiced my concerns about
machining 416F stainless steel, I was passed on to Joe Martin, the
owner. Mr. Martin very quickly told me that if I wasn't willing to
limit my depth of cut, using a 3/8" end mill, to about 0.030-.035 per
pass, then I should buy another machine...I had no problem with that,
because it was to be completely CNC controlled, with a fourth axis.

I looked at the Grizzly Mini-Mill, and decided that while it was
appealing, I wanted the ability to easily buy accessories, and get
help...Grizzly has improved (I have had experience with there
woodworking equipment), but they are not, imho, on the same level as
Sherline.

So, I purchased a Sherline 5400 CNC ready mill, with stepper motors,
bought a 3 axis and a single axis controller kit from Dan Mauch (which
my brother is assembling for me, he has a lot of experience with this
sort of stuff and I don't)...But before the he took the machine, I
assembled it, and immediately went after some 416F stainless with a 3/8"
end mill...The results were very surprising...

I feel the Sherline mill is a jewel, and cuts stainless with no problem,
and feeding it by hand, produced a very fine finish and excellent
accuracy...But I didn't exceed the depth of cut recommended, and I
wasn't babying it...So, I am looking forward to getting it back, and
with CNCPro, BobCad 17.0 for CAM, to bring my creations that I make
using Vellum Solids to life...

Additionally, it is nice to be able to buy the tooling, when you don't
have time to make it...Making it would be fun, but I have other things I
need to get done...

So FWIW, that is my 2c.

Regards,

Craig Chamberlin