Having possessed my AL-54B for about 5 years and running a profitable side project with it, I am now considering upgrading to something more substantial. I am thinking of something the size of a Hafco AL-336D or a smidge bigger.
Currently I make small components for farm machinery and if I upgrade my setup, I would expand my market to more agricultural parts, general manufacturing, one offs and other small components.
So my questions are:
Is a machine that size and with those specs suitable for a small machining business?
What would be a suitable model?
What features etc. should I look for?
Is digital readout worth the extra coin?
Is it worth swapping my 12mm tooling for 16mm? Will they be more rigid etc.?
Is three phase power necessary? I'm sure I could set it up, it would just be inconvenient and possibly crippling in future
As this is only a side project and not a full time business I can't justify paying too much and as such, I am leaning towards a second hand machine. My budget is about $4000 (flexible)
So the big question is:
Is buying a decent machine in that price bracket feasible? If so, where should I be looking for one?
Andrew
Also, I do realise that it has been a long time since I have been on the forums