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Benchtop mini CNC mill recommendations

SalmonN

Plastic
Joined
Nov 23, 2020
Hi Everything!

I am an industrial designer by trade and I'm looking for recommendations for a benchtop mini CNC mill to be used primarily for prototyping purposes. I'm mainly interested in cutting Aluminium, plastics, and very rarely SS. I mainly design consumer products not much larger than a mobile phone, so table travel doesn't need to be too large but the potential to cut slightly larger parts is always great.

Below is a list of a few of the brands and machines I have in mind but please feel free to offer any other suggestions!


The Tomach pcnc-440 for example would probably be the most expensive machine I would consider. It would also be great to be able to add a 4th-axis eventually but this isn't critical.

It also seems there are a ton of Chinese benchtop mini CNC mills on the market. Skyfire in particular looked like they have a few products that would fit the bill but I'm unsure as to which of these brands are reputable.

Really any advice or suggestions would be HUGELY beneficial and no bit of guidance will go unappreciated.
 
You would be better off going to the hobby forums. Ive run a couple hobby machines and IME, anything harder than aluminum is going to be painful unless you are using tiny end mills on little parts, and have all day to make them. Even then surface finish/accuracy is not going to be great. Carbide tools don't tolerate floppy machines, so you'll go through a lot of cutters as they will chip and break down quickly in harder metals.
 
An old Dynamectronics 2800 (Dynamite) is a strong minimill. It will take 4 grown men to pick it up and put it on a table. Software will be the issue. Original was backwards. I converted both of mine to AHHA but they have gone out of business. If you find one that is working and has a good operating system they can be decent precision machines.
Carbide cutters in stainless are not an issue.
 
An old Dynamectronics 2800 (Dynamite) is a strong minimill. It will take 4 grown men to pick it up and put it on a table. Software will be the issue. Original was backwards. I converted both of mine to AHHA but they have gone out of business. If you find one that is working and has a good operating system they can be decent precision machines.
Carbide cutters in stainless are not an issue.

Here's one for sale: DYNA MECHTRONICS, DM 2800, VERTICAL, MACHINING CENTERS | MachMarket.com
 
Thanks for the assistance and the link to that DYNA machine.

I'm thinking the Tormach pcnc-440 will probably be the best bet. I have heard good things about their products so perhaps it's best to just bit the bullet instead of wasting money on some of the cheaper options. I really only need the machine for prototyping purposes so a full machining center would be overkill.
 
I'm thinking the Tormach---- I have heard good things about their products

You should probably start finding other sources of information. You could show that machine in action to literally anyone on the planet who doesn't know anything about cnc machining and they would be in awe of how great it is.
I wouldn't even waste my time thinking of a Tormach.
 








 
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