i (23 male) have around 60k USD to start a cnc shop i also work with my father but he dosent have any cnc just manual machines.
i have been learning mastercam but i have a few questions!
we have manual lathe but i think buy a cnc lathe will reduce expenses!
List item which machine should i buy first?
List item which programs of cad/cam/cnc should i learn?
List item also i think i found i client that distributes flanges so is a good idea to buy a cnc lathe ? or i should consider a lathe with a miill
Welcome to the group! Probably everybody in this group has asked the same questions at some point. The answers will vary depending on your individual circumstances.
I would suggest you immerse yourself in the TITANS of CNC Academy: Building Blocks series to start. You can download learning editions of SolidWorks and Mastercam for free at the TITANS of CNC Academy website and learn the basics without spending any money yet. I prefer SolidWorks and Mastercam because they are the industry leaders, and found in a majority of shops worldwide.
I don’t know where you are located, but there are Academy Small Groups throughout the world. These are shops that will allow you to come in and make the Academy parts you’ve programmed on their machines. You’ll find a map of Small Groups on the TITANS of CNC Academy website as well.
When you have completed both the Building Blocks and Rocket Series, you should be able to better assess what machines you want or need to make the most of your investment.
When your done with the rocket series, do the Chess Set. The chess set is a great project to learn CAD with and it also involves using duel tooling to manufacture. However, I cheated and 3d printed my set. I really like how the pieces turn out; it is a nice set.
Do you & father do more lathe jobs? or more mill jobs?
If you do more lathe jobs, how many of those are for at least 10 of the same parts?
If you seldom do more than 10 of the same parts at a time, then a CNC lathe may not be advantageous. If you do a lot of lathe jobs with batches of 10 piece or more, then a CNC lathe may a plus.
If you do more one or two piece jobs that require milling, especially if they have bolt hole patterns (flanges) or curved features, then a CNC mill may prove more useful for a start-up shop or a manual shop that is moving toward CNC.
I started out in 1963 was a manual shop, then bought my fist CNC machine - a 4-axis vertical mill. Mill work always seemed slower than lathe work, so I would load 2 or 3 separate job in the CNC mill, and let it run unattended, while I made $'s on my manual lathe. My thinking was, let the CNC do the slow complex manual mill jobs, while I could still do the easy manual lathe work. Also, I would free up my lathe sometimes by letting the CNC mill thread mill parts. The trick is to load the mill’s table with as many jobs as you can.
As time went by, and the jobs coming in increased I got a 5-axis CNC mill, another 4 axis CNC mill, and two CNC lathes.
As far as which mill to buy - look for which brand has best support in your area. Haas? I chose an Atrump mill with Centroid controls for my first CNC mill - their support is excellent, and the controls were very easy to learn - especially important since I had zero CNC experience at the time. I use MasterCam for the mill.
My CNC lathes also have Centroid controls - I program lathe jobs using Centorid’s Intercon, at the controls - it’s much faster than using Mastercam for lathe.
but sometimes we work on the lathe to make 1 or 2 pieces. I just got a client who may constantly buy 10-20 pieces (flanges) from us but in stainless steel. and that’s why I was thinking about buying a CNC lathe, although the CNC mill also caught my attention for square parts. Probably I will need to get more Clients that need pieces in bigger batches
