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I am a college employee in NC and we get to take 1 free class a semester. The Dean of engineering thinks I can take the CNC class without the prereqs because of my years with Caterpillar as long as I do it as an audit and not for credit. I am planning on purchasing a CNC next spring. Nothing big, I am eye-balling a 4 axis for around $4000.

Anyone have any suggestions on a machine?
Any tips or tricks on running a cnc mill?
Does anyone here have one? If so what do you think?

Excuse me for the long story, they are rarely short. I am a complicated person to be so simply minded

OK, what about anodizing. I know some of you guys anodize. Any tips for that? I have a 14 amp power supply, will that work well for the 10 pans?

As far as your CNC question, you might check out this forum.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi

Yes the Practical Machinist forum is the place to be for machining questions, or really, questions about any sort of craft or trade. There are some real grizzled old school guys on there who know their stuff.

Give thorough info when you ask a question there and you will get good responses. (I wouldn't copy/paste the question you wrote above...they will want more information.) State your budget, your background/experience, and what types of parts you plan to make. Do you know anything about feed rates for various combinations of cutters and materials? Do you know anything about manual machining? Let them know.

-James

Thanks guys for the info. I have a lot to consider before I buy a machine. Hopefully the cnc class this summer will answer a lot of them, particularly do I need a cnc machine. Well I don't need one but I want one. I may find I don't want one after the class though. We'll see. In the mean time, I will check out the site Wiskers posted.