Looking to obtain an CNC machine - anything collecting dust out there?

[Danny Blanchard]

Hello fellow CNC enthusiasts!  

I have a problem: I'm obsessed with machining, machine building, and just about anything that involves automated systems that make things.  This ailment has caused me to switch careers from being a ship's engineer (and as of late Captain) to pursuing CNC work as employment.  Now most would say that working in your hobby field is one way to kill that passion, but for me this is not the case.  I wanted to play with fancy machines, software, and tooling that I simply could not afford to own, or even rent: so I got a job at a plastic injection mold-making company here Chicago (well, Melrose Park technically).  Thus far I've got to program and operate a Kuraki KBT-13DX (3-axis horizontal boring machine with a rotating non-active 4th axis table rated to 20,00lbs) and a Makino v56 (accurate to two-tenths), which are vastly different and unique machines.  Down the line we've got 5-axis Italian FPT's, a Hermle, a brand-new DMG, plus a slew of 3-axis machines, sinker and wire EDMs, and a few graphite mills.  I'm in a total CNC-nerd heaven.

But I can't get enough.  When I'm at home, my precious couple of hours not spent hanging out with my wife and dog are spent gnashing my teeth over the fact that I don't have a home mill to experiment and learn with.  I keep a notebook at work of things I want to research and try off the clock, but so much of it is limited by simply not having a machine to use at home.  

I've been drooling over the Pocket NC (USA-made 5-axis beast), the Evo One (gnarly Italian step-brother of the Nomad 883), and the Mini Raptor (USA-made ball-screw/profile-rail gantry router), but in reality all three of those machines are far outside of my budget at this point in life (new city, wife in grad school, new job in a new industry, crushing student debt).  

So I've taken to obsessively scouring Craigslist, the Inventables For-Sale forum, and the Shapeoko Classifieds website for something more within my means (but with no real luck).

I've also looked into building my own machine, but after completing a BOM that gets me a halfway-decent GT2/G-Shield/V-wheel/decent-spindle setup, I've either met or exceeded the price of an X-carve or similar.  So there goes that idea.

Anywho, I spent a lot of time building RC multirotors, helicopters, airplanes, and boats over the last couple of years, and I have lots of un-used stuff hanging around that I'd certainly be willing to get rid of if I knew somebody wanted any of it, and my thought was that perhaps some of you with a longer CNC history than me might similarly have machines laying around that you'd like to see gone to a good home?  

Of course I'm willing to pay a fair prices for said machine based on it's condition and my needs, but generally I'm not looking for anything bigger than a 1000mm unit, and currently I only have $594 in my personal discretionary spending account and would still like to have a few bucks leftover to buy some cutters.  Also, as one last factor, I'm a bit too much of a purest to consider anything with a frame made out of MDF or similarly loosey-goosey material, unless it's dirt cheap.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions!

Danny

206-330-6915 (Seattle transplant)

Forest Park, Illinois

DannyBlanchard.Blogspot.com

Items for barter/trade/sale:

- Nikon VR 70-200mm f2.8G lens (and Aquatech weather shield with eyecup for D300)

- Nikon 50mm f1.4D AF-D prime lens

- Lowepro Velocity 8x SLR Camera sling bag

- Canon G10 digital camera with WP-DC28 underwater housing

- Aluminum extrusion (square profie, not thin tube) autopoles x2 for photography - (89"-146", collapsed to fully extended)

- Esky Belt CP brushless 450-size CCPM helicopter

- Multiplex Shark RC airplane with Seaplane hull attachment

- Faretec CT-6 Carbon-fiber leg fracture traction splint (EMT stuff)

- PowerTank 10lb Polished Aluminum CO2 off-road tire/air system with regulator, roll cage brackets, and hose (plus a 90% full tank of CO2).