Should I get one as my first CNC machine?
My main goals are making parts in steel and aluminum, with some titanium. I want to be able to recoup some of the cost of the machine by selling parts. Either of my own design or from something like xometry. Ideally I’d even be able to bootstrap myself into upgrading my shop.

Space, cost, and power are a concern here which is why I am looking at Tormachs.

>>2922372 (OP)
>turdmach
>yidometry
id love to know how these faggots figured out the midwit brainwave so well?
i bet you want to make gun parts too
go over to the pm forum and use the search function for these things for a reality check
i bet youll find a deal on a like new machine sitting in some suburban garage where the mid 40s dude will have had the same idea and acted with little forethought
wanting a metal cutting toy to play with is one thing but avoid the delusion that its a money printer

Oh boy, I forgot that this shitstain of a board was taken over by schizophrenics.
I’ll go ask somewhere that has a chance of producing a readable response.

>>2922498
you be back

>>2922491
It is like any other tool. People buying tools without thinking about what to use them for are a dime a dozen

>>2922372 (OP)
Those machines are garbage, and the mill itself is only one piece of machinery you'll need. Xometry is shit, you won't make any money unless your time is worthless. Do you actually have programming experience? Do you have any machining experience? Do you have $20k to drop on everything else you'll need to actually make parts?

>>2922372 (OP)
Envoy your right tolerances of 0,1mm, or just get a 3D printer and a can of aluminum effect spray.

>>2922491
>wanting a metal cutting toy to play with is one thing but avoid the delusion that its a money printer
Anything can be a money printer in the right hands.
If OP had an opportunity for, say a longish-term job of few 1000s of parts over the next year or two, and thought this would fit the bill, it would do what he thinks it does. That Grimsmo guy is raking in money hand over fist selling $1,000 pocket knives to dimwits with more money than sense, and he's doing it with Tormachs.
But that's not what OP's saying. He watched a youtube video and now he wants one. He doesn't have a job opportunity or anything lined up, he just thinks that he's going to buy a machine and someone somewhere is just going to start shoveling money at him. He's obviously a dipshit.
But so are you. Shitting on someone because they want a machine that doesn't come on two flatbeds and takes a team of eight guys three days to unload and set up is a pretty bad reason. You can make money on a $700 chinkshit lathe if you have an opportunity. Buying a $200k machine to dick around with in your garage and try to make a few bucks is a worse investment than a Tormach, ffs.
I remember dopes like you all over the /emt/ threads, which is probably why they're not around any more.
>hahaha have fun working on a machine that can A and B but not C
Okay? I will do just that. Who says I want or need to do C, anyway?
>hahaha you're going to spend $4k on a mini lathe when you could get a real one for that much
Maybe. Maybe he doesn't have room for a "real" one. Or can't get three phase to it. Or this, or that.
It's like breaking someone's balls because they have a walk-behind instead of having bought a $150k tractor with a brush hog and an 8' deck to mow a 65x100 foot city lot.
>why are people allowed to have their own ambitions ideas hopes and dreams and then carry them out in a manner i do not see fit
Yeah, who knows?

>>2922372 (OP)
No experience with tormach, but you can go on Facebook marketplace and buy a used haas vf-2 for about $7000

Try to buy something with a next generation control, make sure the machine is under power and check the axis for noise, measure backlash and run the spindle through the ranges

It’s 3 phase but you can just convert to one phase no problem


I would strongly suggest you get a vf-2 with a side mount tool changer and make sure it’s a cat40 setup because that way you can go to any machine shop in the world and buy a spare part for it and replace it yourself with basic hand tools


Xometry is very competitive, you as a new machinist will not be competitive with established shops with millturbs and experienced programmers and setup guys smoking cigarettes waiting for the next job

I ran a small manufacturing company that I shut down recently

Don’t do it the way I did, I went out and I bought production machines then trying to brainstorm a product…..


Instead develop a product that sells and figure out the steps that you need to brim that product in house and continuously improve your product, your process, your production line

I have a whole set of er40 collets, a set of parallels, a tombstone and a set of vises and cutting tools from 5 years ago I bought thinking I’ll need them or find a use case for them that I never touched

The biggest hurdle I’ve had as a machinist was figuring out work holding…


I used to sit there draw and redraw the stock in surfcam over and over again and redo
My fixtures

After a batch of parts I’d come up with a new idea and completely redesign a fixture to use next job

But then again I’m not a very intelligent or skilled person


I only have about 5-6 years I. Making my own products a real machinist and fabricator will be able to get you more advice or just do it better

I was just paid to make my ideas and solve problems, then later make other people’s designs a reality

>>2922646
The best way is to start with a product have a third party manufacture it, then cut them out as you make the product better


You will get sued this way yes you will create an enemy but that’s the best way to do it


Why would you buy a $250,000 Dmg Mori DMU 60 because maybe you want to build a pocket knife, okay now you have a Ferrari of the cnc machine sitting in your garage, that needs a service call every few months, tool holders that cost more than a harbor freight mini lathe

And an expensive heat shrink machine sitting idle waiting for your idea

>>2922686
That's kind of what I mean, yeah. You don't go out buying hammers without any nails to sink.
But there's still all these boomers
>hahaha why buy something that isn't a six gorillion cnc with built in suck socket and disposable cum rags
>good luck making money with that loser lmao
The mini-machines are a fine place to start for someone just looking to learn or to do hobby shit around the house.

>>2922686
The best machines are Hermle, DMG is shit.

>>2922372 (OP)
>tormach
>xometry

That's like pulling on the freeway with an e-scooter.

>all the retards ITT
Just start pumping out custom pocket knives. Hell you could do car or motorcycle parts too. Adapter plates, engine mounts, suspension parts, whatever. These things have a tolerance of +- 0.005" with no effort and probably 0.001" if you dial it in. That's more than enough 99% of anything you'd do at home, and it's an order of magnitude more than the whatever Alibaba crap is on the market right now.

Not every single job requires tolerances tighter than a nun's asshole