[exDM69]

This isn't a general purpose CNC milling machine.

If you read the whole article, this is specifically designed to mill and drill the lower receivers of AR15, from a piece of aluminum stock called the "80 percent stock", which is a non-functional metal part that is only missing a few holes.

If you have grand ideas about bike accessories and other metal objects, you can buy a proper CNC mill which is a bit more expensive than this. Or pay for CNC machining service at your local machine shop. It's not super expensive.

[joshu]

http://Othermachine.co/

It is a tiny cnc mill. I have one and I love it. I mostly make wooden arty thinks, but I did successfully mill an aluminum car part for some friends.

[rev_bird]

I've been thinking about getting into milling (wood, or freaky candles) for a while now, but I can't tell if my lack of familiarity with CAD software is going to mean I stink at it forever. How hard was it to get into? Do you have special training from a trade or anything, or did you just pick this up as a hobby?

[joshu]

No training except for googling stuff and pestering their customer service folks.

I learned openscad from the tutorials. I use meshcam to generate tool paths. Mostly I use python to generate the source art and just cut that out.

[buro9]

I visited the site all excited only discover that very fact.

I'm also probably on some weird list now for visiting a site to see about home made guns.

[stan_rogers]

"A bit" being the operative phrase. Something like a Sherline with the CNC options wouldn't set you back much more than that (depending on how many axes you need, bed size and height, of course). Not pretty, not overly fast, and takes some manual setup, but it'll keep you well south of the $10K-ish you could otherwise pay for a slick turnkey.