What are the best CNC and 3D printing machines that a couple thousands can buy (think around 6000$ dollars, 3k for each maybe).
I will find myself in the possesion of these funds and would like to open up a shop, commercializing custom parts and moronic cute gifts that I may sell on etsy and other assorted online retail sites. I think I need something professional enough to do decent designs, but nothing too expensive that will break the bank.
also what software would be best, I don't think I can still coast on with freecad and do stuff fast and efficiently in a comercial setting
Different machines do different things. What do you want to do?
>What do you want to do?
I want to cnc mill cookie sheets. It needs to mill out 5/8" steel but be accurate enough to leave a tray that is about 20 gauge thickness. I'm thinking of getting a 5 axis mill so I can do the corners.
>mill cookie sheets. It needs to mill out 5/8" steel
Stop, you're not getting anything that can mill out 5/8" for that kind of money.
> I'm thinking of getting a 5 axis mill so I can do the corners.
What?
>I'm thinking of getting a 5 axis mill so I can do the corners.
Most people pay more for 5 axis CAM than your whole budget. A non chinese 5 axis mill will run you several 6 figures. I'm not sure what you mean by cookie sheets because a cookie sheet is a sheet and never milled but for uniform chamfers/edges it's probably cheaper to get a custom ground form/angle tool than a 5 axis machine. You could get an old VMC and add a double rotary for 30k like a pl Lehmann or even a Haas but those are for small parts not big sheets.
I'd say buy a 3d printer for $300, look for a used VMC for up to $4.5k and dump the rest into tooling (which is still a very small amount).
>cheap chinese bullshit that will only be broken
Old VMCs will 100% be broken in some way and you will have to spend a lot of time (and probably money) to fix bullshit.
>my dad did this with a laser engraver and he swears by expensive machines
You can't compare machines like plotters, 3d printers or laser engravers with high force machines like mills or lathes. Nothing wrong with buying good stuff but for milling machines $500k+ is the norm and not some absurd boutique shit. Rigging alone will cost thousands. That's the reason people buy shit like Tormachs or mini mills which are still unaffordable for most.
>don't have enough vertical travel to do all the thigs I'd want to do
How much do you need? A VF2 has like 600mm spindle to table that's alreade a lot.
DO NOT spend 3k on a 3D printer my man. Prusa i3 or a Lulzbot 3D printer would be my choice. In terms of CNC machines, it's all about the application. If you want to make moronic etsy shit get a router. You can pick those up for pretty decent prices and they're small enough to take up a corner in your garage or hobby room.
You can get a very good 3D printer for $3000. You cannot get a good (new) CNC machine for anywhere near that price. Tormach is about the cheapest game in town. The base model for their smallest machine still tops $7,000, and that doesn't come with an enclosure or toolchanger. Any cheaper and all you're going to be able to find are micro mills.
Tooling and consumables for a mill basically take it out of the equation. If it doesn't know this already then he is to dumb to do what he thinks he wants to do and should just give up on the idea
fine, the budget could be extended. thing is that the most 3 axis ones I've looked at don't have enough vertical travel to do all the thigs I'd want to do with it.
I was thinking either of one with longer travel on the z-axis or a 5 axis one.
and if we're talking enclosures and shit I think I can built it out of some wood and plexiglass
Then do it in multiple stages...
yeah but its less efficient, innit?
ultimately I will get whatever I can afford and if it takes off well I will upgrade the machines, but I dont want to waste my time with cheap chinese bullshit that will only be broken and waste my time fixing it. my dad did this with a laser engraver and he swears by expensive machines if only for that reason, that you can actually perform your work.
not me, OP
look at auctions, I occasionally see haas stuff go for maybe a 6th or a 4th of your budget.
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. That you thought that you can split your $6k budget between a 3D printer and a CNC mill 50-50 tells the whole story.
Buy a $300 3D printer and realize that you don't even have what it takes to run and troubleshoot the 3D printer, let alone a 5-ton clappered out 5-axis CNC machine running ancient software and hardware.
NTA.
>3 years into CNC
>Went on hiatus multiple times due to a chain of financial issues
>Only just now realizing STL files don't come with toolpaths