Milling machine... am I nuts?

Suggest you contact our own moderator - n_maher and ask for some opinions. I believe he recently acquired a mill for the purpose of DIY casework.  I don't know if he spent as much as you're contemplating, but he probably has some good advice.  He did some excellent work on a prototype we're working on (take a look at the slots):

How about the this one?

Maybe it's not big enough for what you want

but it can be set up with computer interface for CNC work.

Not married and no kids?

GO FOR IT !!!

I guess I should have given you this link.

If you got the room in your garage or personal workshop I'd go for a small machine shop sized vertical milling machine with a non-fixed knee (turret mill) [Floor standing].  It's big enough to do even the biggest of cases you want to work on.  Find the local auction house or where the schools get rid of the old machines when they upgrade or get rid of that shop class.  You can acquire pretty good old machining tools that way that need minimal love and care.  Depending on the crowd you can easily acquire them for less than that with money left over for tooling.  You can also find nice ones on Kijiji or in local buy and sell magazines/papers for around that price with a basic tool complement.  Even though some are abused they are still better then the Chinese junk (those machines don't last).  You don't need CNC functions, you can do a flawless job with a little bit of practice.

You're not nuts, a milling machine is a perfectly good and useful tool for almost any metal working project; including case work.  It'll get much use trust me.  You'll find projects to do with it you like it so much.  I don't currently own a milling machine.  I lack the space at the moment.  I do have a lot of experience using them, and lathes.  If I had the space I would have one and a lathe.

P.S. Never mind limited space.  Well if you can find a quality english (The best) or american desktop milling machine that will work with your space I'd go for it.  What about knobs? or nice looking feet? There is a small lathe vertical milling machine that can do both.   Think they are call trig lathes it's been a while since I've seen it mentioned, they are table top size.  And you can save money if you avoid CNC and just learn to do it by hand, like a skilled craftsmen.

I've seen vintage extremely small table top metal lathes at 3' long, I'm sure there are vintage milling machine at that size that can fit in your closet.

Alternatively you could build a setup manually controlled of your own design using a dremel like people do with the diy CNCs.

I'd rather give my case to a company for laser cutting or so. I think it's quite a lot money ($3000) for just equipment and you don't need any special equipment if you are skillful.

My father told me: "You couldn't cut that case just by hand to make it lower." Well, I did that just with a saw and a filer and it fits perfectly.

And it's just a one example. It just take tiiiiiiiiiimmmmmeeeeeeee.

Well I think I’ve topped $3000 grand easily getting panels done overseas, so no you’re not mad. You also have a market here... don’t know how big, there’s no competition, but I’m willing to give it a crack for starters hehe. I’ve actually thought about this, only two things have stopped me, I know nothing about milling and cash. Besides n_maher, Kerry also has built his own mill, he posts more on the “other” site... would be good source of info.

if you have the room for it, especially the height, and access to 3 phase power

you definitely want one of these.

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/fadal.jpg

I saw one recently go for about $10k used, delivered with warranty.

The rest of them are toys which are ok, but without a digital readout

it makes it very hard to do anything but straight cuts.

Crazy? No, not crazy, but a milling machine really isn't what you're after if panel fab is the primary use case.  What you really want is a CNC router, which is what Kerry built.  It's true that I own a mid-sized milling machine but they require space and a lot of patience to use.  I looked into the smaller machines like the Taig and others but ultimately the tables and travels were simply too small to do what I wanted to do.  So I've got a 400lb bench top machine (with a dedicated stand) and with it I've been able to do some decent work.  It's still very time consuming and as the OP noted the tooling is very expensive if you get decent stuff.  Also, as Kevin noted, without a DRO it's even more difficult to work anything complex.  I added a DRO to my mill and it's simply indispensable.

So my advice, do a lot of research before buying anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin gilmore 

if you have the room for it, especially the height, and access to 3 phase power

you definitely want one of these.

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/fadal.jpg

 

I saw one recently go for about $10k used, delivered with warranty.

 

The rest of them are toys which are ok, but without a digital readout

it makes it very hard to do anything but straight cuts.

Haha that's just an over kill toy.  Vintage milling machines 60s-70s retrofitted with a digital read out, is more then enough to do a majority of projects for the average man.  (They will run on 240V single phase (The 3-phase machines I've used where never connected to 3-phase power but were still powerful enough)).  Good tooling is a must.

elliot42 What about English machines?  Where ever you keep it make sure you take good care of it.  Moisture in the air (and blood) will make the table rust.  You want to keep it rust free.  Don't neglect it.

n_maher Some people are incapable of CAM work required for CNC. ;D

Yeah it take a lot of developed skill and patience to use flawlessly, but it's by far worth it.  I would of guess they had limitations, I didn't really know a whole lot about them [Taig].  I know they were more of a hobbyist toy.  Good to know.  DRO equipment is a must, but once you use them you cannot live without them.  I agree, if your going to take the plunge and buy this equipment make sure you do the research.  To keep your wallet happy, and yourself safe in general (best to learn how to use them properly.  Don't want to trip an auto feed at the wrong time and panic).