CNC or Mill/lathe??

[bbksv]

Well I decided to do my body and paint work myself for my hotrod...so now I have an 8-10k budget for various tools I have always wanted. So..I will spend several thousand on the tools for the body work and paint but have a few thousand to play with after that. I was thinking about building a CNC machine and taking a couple courses at a local college here...or getting a Mill and a lathe (or maybe a combo)...but I don't think I can afford all 3 right now. The CNC's I am looking at are about 2000-2500 ish. I have been looking at mill/lathe combos for around 2k as well. Any thoughts?

[Gumball]

I have nothing but old machine tools and absolutely love them for the hobby stuff I do. My lathe is a Southbend 9" from the 1950s out of a local high school shop - it's old, but in near perfect condition and was cheap. My mill is a similar vintage Tree machine (sort of a small version of a Bridgeport) and is more than up to handling the sort of small things I fabricate. If you're looking to do more complex parts, then the CNC is going to be helpful. But, if you want to do things the old-school way, vintage equipment is the best.

[kabacj]

I agree with Chris. I also have 1950s tools and they work fine. I think you actually learn a lot about the feel of cutting metal that would be useful if you decided to go CNC . The only thing that I wish I had with a CNC is the ability to duplicate parts exactly time after time quickly. I can get the same accuracy with the old tools , it just takes longer.

CNC is great, but I would get the manual tools first. They are cheap and better for quickly making one off parts we commonly need.

Oh and the combo tools usually are not as useful as the dedicated tools. Unless you are really short on space I would get dedicated tools.


My opinion.

John

[bbksv]

Ive been trying to look for an old lathe or mill within 100 miles or so..but no luck so far. Only other option is to go with something new..but Id need to go fairly cheap.

[kabacj]

Old tools are way better then new. Made in USA 50 or 60 years ago. Try Craig's, list. For 700 bucks I got a super high quality Logan 9 inch lathe with every accessory and cutting tool you can imagine. I even got over 100 lbs of brass aluminum bronze and steel stock to work with.


Be patient. The good tools are out there.

John

[bbksv]

Any other thoughts? I haven't found any old equipment at a decent price...but am still thinking about the CNC as well. There is a bunch of other cool stuff I can do with the CNC but I would hate to get the CNC then realize I still need a mill for most of what I want to do.

[RM1SepEx]

Go old school and used, should be able to find a nice setup with tools, fixtures etc. You only need CNC for repetitive production work

craigslist all the way!

[Scargo]

I don't think you can build a "CNC mill" for that cheap that can do much work. Perhaps you could buy an old used one for that. I could be wrong. I haven't been in the biz for a few years. I used to have a number of CNC mills and machining centers. Personally, Id save my pennies for a real machine at least the size of a manual Bridgeport.

[bbksv]

You can actually build a pretty nice one for about 2k that will do aluminum and softer materials. Not a CNC mill bu a CNC router..something like a 2x4.