Screw Machine or CNC lathe?

Have a small (about 1"x4") product cut from hex stainless with a pipe thread outside and bored two sizes with a fairly thin wall section at the deepest part of the bore. Currently made outside for a reasonable price but thinking of bringning it inhouse.

Screw machines are cheap but I know nothing about setting them up and they seem to be dying. CNC I know very little about but I feel more comfortable with any sort of programming. Also they seem better supported.

Which way would you go?

ArkTinkerer

The first question is "How Many" / Day.

Quantities are low now (2K/year). Looking at maybe 10K? per year if everything ramps up.
Could be multiple similar products just slightly different.

When you say screw machines "seem to be dying", I hope you mean old Brown & Sharpe cam machines because the CNC screw machine has grown steadily over the last 20-25 years.

This is something that sounds like it could be excellent for a single-spindle CNC screw machine, but it would have to be a 32mm machine with a rotary guide bushing. You'd need a pretty big cam machine to handle hex stock that size, and they tend to be extra-noisy.

I really think that you'd be better-off with a CNC chucker and a bar feeder. Shorter learning curve, more upward flexibility, lower initial cost overall.

i think your better off farming them out. what if these other parts dont mateialize? what if your qtys don't go up?

you have to look at the real cost of the machine...
1. initial purchase price
2. tooling
3. coolant
3.5 what to do with old nasty coolant (hrs)
4. way oil
5. did i say tooling?
6. getting it moved in
7. getting it moved out
8. learning how to run it
9. getting power to it
10. time spent learning how to run it and not selling product
11. time spent repairing it
12 and the list goes on

if you have a product and can make money selling it after paying what someone else charges you to make it your in a really good spot. unless his prices start getting all out of whack, then stick with what you have. making a product in house won't necessarily make it cheaper. ultimately at that point why would you make it cheaper. keep making your 20-50% markup and think of the next product to design and build. from what i've seen you have identified the hard part of the market and are succeeding doing it. unless your qtys hit taht 10k per year mark and you can afford enough to hire someone to run your new machine for you i wouldn't do it. this was a lesson that i missed when i was learning about the trade.