Hi again Mross506:
OK, now we have a much better idea of what you hope to accomplish and it all makes much better sense.
If you want to make big things and use the CNC mill to do it, you need something big enough to hump in a large piece, even if it's just a lightweight weldment you need to put some details on, that you can't do any other way.
Something Haas VF10 sized or bigger if it's going to be an enclosed machine.
Something you could park a small car on.
A VF10 can take a workpiece 10 feet long but will set you back a quarter million dollars if you buy a brand new one.
If it is an open machine, it can be a lot smaller and often still be made to work with some ingenuity.
If your machined parts are all much smaller, then a Haas VF2 or VF 3 sized machine is very popular.
The VF3 is 40" x 20" x 25" capacity so it's already a decent size and for a CNC mill of that capacity, it's pretty cheap at 75 grand. (especially if you can score one used and pay half of that).
If all you're ever going to do on it is drill some holes in some frames you can get away with a lot less...a good radial drill will make an awful lot of holes in a week too.
I'm going on about Haas machines, not because they're super top of the line toys, but because they are everywhere, they are easy to run, they are pretty cheap and they are decent to have serviced, so they're a pretty safe bet for a shop that doesn't make it's money doing balls-to-wall production.
Similarly for turning, a Haas toolroom lathe is not a powerhouse like an Okuma is, but for low volume work on a variety of stuff, they're a versatile choice.
They're cheap machines too (35 grand for a TL2), but can get you into the game in a way you will never be able to do with manual equipment.
So if you need to cut threads, turn the odd goofy shape, run low volume production, bore sprockets and sheaves...typical machine maker type stuff, then they can do all that , just not as well as that super beefy monster you can buy from Japan.
You can put a Multifix manual toolpost on one, you can put a manual 4 jaw chuck on one, you can set up a gang setup or cheap aftermarket turret on one, you can hump in a biggish workpiece, all in a way that's much harder to do on a fully enclosed production machine.
But the "real" machine can run rings around a Haas for ripping off cubic inches of metal per minute and can do it for hours at a time with tenths precision for a quarter million dollars.
So for better or worse, that's where I see you making the best gains for your buck, given what you've told us.
Others will have different opinions, but I'd bet I could make a pretty productive shop with these, for the kind of stuff you've been describing.
Cheers
Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining
On edit: Oh yeah, I forgot...you don't get to just
"we already have the CAD needed to dump the print into a CNC and let it do the work."
Sadly there's a lot more to it as you will very quickly discover.
MC