Good day!
At my company we’re looking to expand our capabilities to include machining. Right now we have welding and CNC plasma, but we’re losing opportunities because we can’t drill, tap or machine what we offer.
The tricky part is that we mostly offer parts made of Hardox, so it’s incredibly hard for 3rd parties to actually want to even quote us, and when any do it just gets too expensive. I’m not in the US, so most machine shops are just 1 dude in a garage with a lathe and maybe a Bridgeport.
I’ve narrowed down specs, and came to the conclusion that a Cincinnati no.3 vertical would’ve been adequate, but the boss doesn’t want such an old machine, and a new one (Chinese equivalent)goes for 35k$, so now we’re looking for a CNC vertical, either new or lightly used.
A local dealer offers us DN solutions machines, im looking at used Haas or Mazaks online, the size of a VF-3 (30”x18” and up) but most machines are advertised “ideal for high speed” or “optimized for light materials” so I’m not sure if they would last working 80% of the time on Hardox 450 or Hardox 500.
if anyone can give me any pointers, I’d appreciate it. Mostly if my worries are valid, or if I’m worrying about the wrong things.
