Re: In-between machines?

Neil,

In your 10-15K price range you can find MANY used cnc lathes of good
quality and capability. You're even lurking near the range of some
types of new CNC lathes...

I think your problem is going to be how to choose from all that are
available, rather than merely finding one!

Get connected with the used CNC marketplace, and you'll quickly find
what you're looking for, IMO.

Hope this helps,

Ballendo

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Neil <cobra_neil@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am by no means a machinist. I do have an HF 7x10 lathe and an HF
> micro-mill, both of which I intended to convert to CNC, but after
lurking on
> some machining mailing lists and after a couple hours of
experimentation, I
> know it will not get me what I need. Of the lists I'm on, I'm
guessing and
> hoping this is the best for my question.
>
> What I ultimately need is a way to make low-volume aluminum parts
with a
> "decently clean" finish. More specifically, the lathe parts are
max 2" in
> length x 3.5" diameter, and the best finish I need is 32 or 64
microinches
> (I'm estimating from samples I've seen). Low volume is perhaps 100
pcs per
> month. The parts will be mostly turned, with some minor milling
afterwards.
> I envision spending one whole day a month doing this.
>
> The ideal machines would be as mechanically maintenance-free as
reasonably
> possible. Sure, I expect I'd need to maintain it, but I don't want
to be
> tweaking screws and adjusting things everytime I fire it up. But I
don't
> mind learning and doing whatever programming is required.
>
> For the mill, I know I can get converted table top machines such as
rong-fu,
> bridgeport, etc from companies such as CNC masters. That's fine.
>
> But for the lathe, other than converting to CNC myself (which is an
ordeal for
> me), I am looking for some lower-end commercial lathes, or used
commercial
> lathes. An automatic tool-changer would be nice, but not if it
adds tens of
> thousands of dollars to the price. A 9x or 12x machine seems like
it would
> be great size/capacity wise, but that means converting it myself.
Wabeco
> seems to have a couple machines that are the right size, but not
sure if they
> are hobby machines or otherwise, and the owner of the US
distributorship is
> also very deceptive in his marketing, so I prefer not to deal with
them at
> this point. Companies like Haas and Fadal want to sell me $40K-
$50k
> machines, which is out of the question, both for cost and size.
>
> So where does that leave me? Are there any machines that's in-
between these
> options that might do what I need.$10k-$15k would be nice.
>
> Thanks,
> -Neil.
>