Sure, the more toys the more fun. Might as well get a laser cutter as well.
Lathes are good for mostly round metal stuff.
Mills are good for mostly non-round metal stuff.
3D printers are good for weird stuff.
Lasers are good for cutting sheet stock, and burning your house down.
Whether you need a mill depends on what you are making.
I disagree that FDM 3D printers are inaccurate and crude. Sure yes they are to a degree, but so what? Some people are happy with carvings done with a chainsaw.
You can get accurate parts with a little tuning, and the software now compensates for shrinkage. Surface quality isn't the best though, being made from layers. You can sand that, add bondo, or paint with heavy primer. And then sand it some more.
One inaccuracy comes from the 3D world and curves don't get along (long story), so things like circles becomes a series of short lines, ie more whatever-agon than a circle. This causes holes to be undersized so they may need to be drilled out.
Sharp corners don't exist either, they vanish when the head changes direction. Squeeze toothpaste out into a square, and check the corners. Inside and outside corners are rounded. May not matter, mills can't cut inside corners either.
Despite being 'plastic' (usually PLA) the parts are surprising strong.
Here's an example of the weird stuff 3D printers are good for:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/90eshtj1nf9z9y2/Curtain%20bracket%201.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8p4qcsppc1o6v5b/Curtain%20bracket%202.jpg?dl=0
This is a bracket off some curtains, the ones you pull a string to open & close. I've no idea how this works, but it seems the string runs thru the plastic bits, and they wore out. Of course you can't get spare parts...
So I printed some new ones. Modelled in Fusion 360 and printed on a cheap TronXY P802 printer (Anet A8 variant):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhkwxjm3zd3c3t0/Curtain%20bracket%203.png?dl=0
This is a small part, about 18 x 12 x 7mm (3/4 x 1/2 x 1/4") with slots on bolt sides, annoying to make on a mill.
3D printers are usually as slow as a wet weekend, each of those parts took about 20 minutes to print. As it was a small part I slowed the speed down (1/3rd of normal) and use a fine layer height. But... I have a I part I can't otherwise get. Beats replacing the curtain tracks.
Supposed to be riveted in, but I didn't have any quite long enough so nuts & bolts it was.
I've made a few odd things like this, knobs for saws, little jigs, , etc. You can get quite fine details; surprisingly you can print bolts, threads and all, and they work. I like printing big bolts, say M40. Fun to play with.
You can also make stuff that's probably otherwise impossible, like this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1276095. Printed as is, you don't need to add pins or drill holes to get the articulation. Or this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:320853 (see http://i.imgur.com/Eq3NEbu.gif). Again, printed in one go. The example is a bit rough (under-extrusion by the look of it) but they're fun to play with. And people can't figure out how it's made.
So yeah, if you like making stuff a 3D printer, like the lathe, mill & laser it has its place.
Tony
> -----Original Message-----
> From: GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com]
> Sent: Monday, 14 October 2019 5:24 AM
> To: Minimill
> Subject: [GrizHFMinimill] Now that I have a 3D printer, do I need a mill?
>
> Does a 3D printer have a place in a machine shop?
>
> If you have one, do you need a mill or a lathe?
>
> What do you think?
>
> Harvey
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
> Posted by: Harvey white <madyn@dragonworks.info>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo Groups Links
>
>
>
------------------------------------
Posted by: "Tony Smith" <ajsmith1968@gmail.com>
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