Would You Upgrade To A Larger Mill Or Cnc Current Mill?

TomS said:
I would go with a bigger mill then CNC it when you are ready. You won't regret having a larger work envelope, and the rigidity.

Tom S.
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+1 for both bigger and CNCing it. Been there did just that. Use your new mill and your mini mill to make parts for the new larger mill CNC conversion! I know there are a lot of folks who aren't really CNCer's and prefer manual & old school, but (IMHO) there are things you just can't do on a manual mill that are possible on a CNC mill. But I can't think of anything you can do on a manual mill you can't on a cnc mill other than "feel" the cut. For lots of CNC mill tasks there are manual ways of accomplishing it, but the time, effort and end result have to be weighed against what YOU enjoy and get pleasure from. I really enjoy both learning and understanding how to manually machine a part and the cad, cam, programming and cnc side of machining. Both give a certain amount of satisfaction when things go right and you figure out how to accomplish the task at hand. Ahhh but, I digress... do both!
 
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A bigger mill ( ?Bridgeport Knee mill perhaps.) but no CNC.
 
I am in interested in your question. I have both a lathe and a reasonable sized mill. Both are manual. I suspect upgrading is inevitable when we are starting out. We just don't know what we don't know. The idea of adding CNC function to the mill I have gets thought about but I think maybe the people who say get your experience on manual machines first might be on the right track. There is a lot to learn and maybe parts made on a CNC could give the impression one knows more than one actually does.
Guess is it the journey or just the destination?

have fun deciding.

Mal
 
I too would vote for a bigger mill. You can go CNC later and have a big mill with CNC if that is your thing.
My projects are mostly one-offs so a manual machine is right for me.
 
Numerical Control will not make a machine magically larger in capacity, only a larger machine will do that.

Think about what you are trying to accomplish, a knee mill with NC will save large amounts of time. Do not however expect to achieve accurate results with budget controls, interpolating arcs requires robust drive systems and controls and machine rigidity.

At the shop where I currently work we have a Haas mill that will not make a circle with any accuracy in any material but plastics, it does have linear ball ways so this is to be expected I suppose.
 
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