HAAS VF-2, under 5 years, trade-in, demo, etc. since they tend to have lots of options priced very low.
Best value, great service, best value retained.
Aka You can sell it for near what you paid for it- minus wear and tear.
Make a spreadsheet with costs and options for a pallet stacker, auto saw, materials racks, any finishing you might need like deburring, tumbling, painting, coating, anodising etc.
Lifting etc. if needed.
50k$ startup is fine, you end up with 100k$++ anyway, over time..
Price ISO40 toolholders, 24 of, and for each collets, drills, end mills, facemills, inserts for all, racks for all, reamers, surface plates, height gauges, vices, vices, vices..
parallels, .. gage pins, micrometers, calipers, dtis, probes, ISO40 toolchanging fixture, ..
coolant tank, drums for chips and swarf, materials handling for same, 70 kW electric lines for the machines, space for same, etc..
hazmat containers if needed,..
hauser etc- quality air compressor, of low noise and industrial-use rating..
air lines built for it .. fittings for same ..
industrial epoxy paint for the floor..
insurance (legal requirements), permits, inspections, workmans comp, etc..
It took us 200k€ to make a demo room (500 m sq2) for machine tools ... with no machines or tools etc..
Economics:
IF you pay now say 200$ each for set of widgets, qty say 2000 / year, 400 k /yr total,
AND You invest 50k$ total,
your self-made widgets will cost approx 3-400$ each for the next 10-15 years, until the initial investment is amortised, paid off, fixed expensively n times in the meanwhile.
OR you invest 200k$, the widgets cost == 80$ each, and the stuff is amortised in 4 years, +/-.
Way It Is.
Any nr here, and elsewhere, of people have made successful machine-shop businesses starting out with less than 50k$.
Your company, almost 100% certain, cannot do so or succeed at it *in terms of economics* for 50k$.
Almost-all who started from scratch skipped meals/payroll/taxes - You cannot. Workers and IRS and Insurance Will Get Paid.
Most skipped insurance/legal/hazmat stuff once or twice along the way until they could afford it - You cannot.
Most had issues with stacking, lifting, organising stuff until they had enough business - You cannot.
Way It Is.
Figure minimax 2 people of skills, == 100k$ total/yr, and amortising 300k investments (5 years) total for minimal productive/efficient shop ..
160k$ / yr, total.
Are you going to save that 160k$ on Your widgets ? Sure ? Risks ? Opportunity costs for 5 years (== 100-300k$ minimal on == 1.3M$ over 5 years) ?
I am NOT saying don´t do it, or it is a bad idea.
I AM saying, that like 99.x% of people, You probably do not have any numbers, any good numbers, any good plan with numbers, on the reality of what You hope to do.
Numbers are important.
Numbers lead to wealth, profits, promotions, success.
IF YOU cannot put YOUR numbers in a spreadsheet, YOU will fail, in economic terms.
Obviously, any successful biz can start an internal machine shop.. with economic lossses.. and sometimes it makes sense.
Lead times, IP, turnaround, process control, legal issues, legal liabilities, can or may all/any be much more valuable than costs.
And "losing / not gaining" == 160$ / yr - current costs paid, perhaps == 50k$/year, may not matter, in any semi-successful business.
Aka You might likely lose 50k$ / year doing an internal shop with 300k$ investment, or 150k$ / yr with an 50k$ investment, but both might still be a good choice !
Key:
You ARE NOT competing with cost-of-widgets made for You. Fallacy.
You ARE competing on being better, more efficient, more productive, skilled, qualified than the BEST contract manufacturer/jobshop in Your area of economic transport / total volume, per year.
..Vs any benefits (vs risks, liabilities, major or minor), from controlling Your own production.
I personally would not assume a position of authority/responsibility, for pay vs equity/profits, for less than 10k$/month, net.
There is a good reason for this, and a good reason I always get more than that, over time/results/whatever.
Make A Spreadsheet.
Would a bank fund this ?
If not, You probably don´t want to fund it either, unless internal values are high, to support the internal subsidies.
The Last Thing You should plan on is some "extra" profit from subbing out "extra time" on the machines.
This WILL be extra losses for You, because all the machine shops in Your area have over 1M$ in invested capacity/efficiency/processes/relationships/finances, and You simply cannot be economically viable.
So You can of course "sell" work at 50$ / unit while spending 80$ /unit.
But it is not a good business decision.