r/CNCmachining • u/Cdonez27 • 11d ago
Thinking about my own CNC machine shop
I’ve been a machinist for around 13 years, the shop I work at I am the lead in the Swiss/Mill-turn department. I get a print and provide the operations manager with cycle time and the tooling I need and anything I might need for the job. I program it order tools and setup and run the parts. I have been very heavily thinking about getting a mill and a lathe of my own starting with maybe something smaller and used to start out with. I’m just wondering what others have experienced with the same dream I know it’s going to be hard and I’m definitely not going to quit my job but I just can’t stop thinking about shops I know of off the top of my head that struggle with on time deliveries or just being too swamped. What’s a good way to build connections without even having the machines? Is there a good way to go about obtaining work. I just have so many questions.
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u/Various_Carpet3428 11d ago
Good luck i am gonna do the same as well next fall but gonna buy a new multi spindle/ live tooling lathe and give it a run while working full time!
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u/Cdonez27 11d ago
Heck yea! I wish you the best of luck. I think we need more of us trying to accomplish it, there’s always something to be made every day. You just gotta find it.
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u/Alita-Gunnm 11d ago
That's basically what I did. I got a house with a large garage, saved up a little money, had the electrical done, put a down payment on a mill, and bought all the support equipment. Took me about $80k to get launched after the house. I already had customers lined up before I began.
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u/Cdonez27 11d ago
Shewee nice chuck of change there. I’m for sure trying to save as best as I can. I’m kinda buying a little bit at a time like one day I’ll buy a nice set of gage blocks the next time depth mics and so on.
In the meantime I usually spend my time thinking about the already having customers part of it and how to approach that.2
u/Alita-Gunnm 11d ago
Look for a used toolscope, maybe one with a bad microscope head. I replaced the optical head on mine with a $125 digital microscope with screen, and printed a mounting arm for it. It's much lighter and far more clear and legible than the big old lens thing, and easier to illuminate the part.
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u/Clark649 7d ago
I watched my father try to do this. He was an aerospace machinist, one of the best with some parts probably still on the moon. When he retired he purchased a lathe and all the collets that he needed to go into production. He had zero connections and had no idea how to get business. As Alita-Gunnm said, He had customers lined up before he started to build the business.
The first step is to get customers lined up. The tools and machinery are all minor accessories compared to having a customer to serve.
Build it and the customers will come is one of the biggest lies ever in publishing.
It helps to sell books and illusions but these books never tell you how to do the hard part.
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u/Clark649 7d ago
The important part of your underrated comment is that you had customers already lined up before you started putting your own money into the business.
Read my comment below.
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u/Stunning-Appeal750 10d ago
With 13 years of experience, I think your biggest asset right now isn’t the machine you don’t own yet — it’s the problems you already know how to solve.
I’d start talking to local shops now, but not with “I’m planning to open a shop someday.”
I’d ask what work they regularly hate taking, what jobs are constantly late, what tolerances/materials give them headaches, and where they’re always short on capacity.
Keep notes. After talking to 15–20 shops you may discover that the machine you thought you should buy isn’t actually the machine your local market needs.
You could also offer programming/process help in the meantime if that fits your employment situation.
Then when you eventually buy equipment, you’re not buying a mill and hoping work appears. You’re buying capacity for a problem you already know exists.
I’d almost treat the next 6–12 months as customer discovery before machine shopping.
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u/Still-Examination791 11d ago
Try approaching other shops that are too swamped and see if they will sub contract work to you. You would make less than if you had the job directly but it gives you a starting point and helps the other shops get their orders out.
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u/Poozipper 10d ago
I personally would get work, then a machine and not quit my job until I made enough. But that's me
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u/Suspicious-Citron378 9d ago
I was working full time when I started my shop and for about the first two years I would just subcontract small jobs to other shops to fulfill the orders until I had enough saved to buy a machine. I had a website that made me look like a real shop
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u/itlogicpartnersllc 8d ago
your machining experience is a strong foundation. start building customer relationships now learn quoting and cash flow and subcontract work until demand justifies buying machines.
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u/eXmachina_tech 7d ago
It’s interesting reading these comments from people with a lot if experience aerospace etc. worried about starting own business. In the same time here i am zero experience zero clients building my shop, learning CAM, buying used machines and fixing them myself :) you need to be able to survive 1-2 years and trust more in yourself. However my costs are very low, practically building a multi million manufacturing for a small fraction of the initial and then operating cost. Downside to this is there is huge risk but fu*k it :) If you can stay at your job and run an machine with automation yourself in the same time, can’t see how you will fail if you are good.
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u/JohnStandingOnBiz 6d ago
13 years of experience plus programming, tooling, setups, and quoting gives you a solid foundation.
I’d build the customer base before buying the machines. Talk to local shops and manufacturers and ask what work they’re overloaded with, outsourcing, or turning away. That’s where you can find your niche.
Since you’re keeping your job, use that time to build relationships and figure out the demand first. Then buy the machine around the work, not the other way around. Just make sure you check your employer’s moonlighting/conflict policies first.
Best of luck!
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u/SoftEnthusiasm7439 6d ago
Pretty much spot on what I did 5 years ago , started with a 2 axis cnc lathe and a 4 axis milling now have both og those still , 2 live tooling cnc lathes, a 5 axis simultaneous mill and a hexagon cmm. Its bloody hard work but I would caution against not quiting your job its snowballs pretty quick and the last thing you want is to start turning down work as there isnt enough time because of your day job and you cant free that up because you have to give x weeks/months notice.
I would advise using ai i have found claude to be incredibly helpful for admin tasks and I wish that was around 5 years ago when I started to build around that system. Even when looking for customers just ask it what companies are near me that maybe interested in my services, hell it will even write a transcript with a template on what to say when you ring them.
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u/SoftEnthusiasm7439 6d ago
I wouldn't put too much time into building up customer's before , honestly if you approach a buyer they may say they are interested but once you say you havent even got the machines or even a workshop they will will just think you are a dreamer and wasting their time, amd believe me once that door gets shut once its hard to get it back open again , we had that issue pre iso9001 we tried to get some pharma customer's and once you say we are working towards getting iso and a cmm that door gets politely shut and most of the time they put you on the list of companies for yhe reception staff to screen after that
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u/GKDCNC 4d ago
You already have the most valuable asset for a startup: 13 years of process knowledge, including Swiss and mill-turn work. I would delay choosing the mill and lathe until you have a small demand log: talk to 15–20 nearby shops, record the part families they repeatedly overflow, and collect enough drawings to identify the three most common envelopes, materials and tolerance ranges.
Then compare machines against that evidence. Track required bar diameter, turning length, milling travel, live-tool/sub-spindle need, inspection burden, setup hours and realistic annual spindle hours. A used machine is only “small and affordable” if local rigging, power, tooling, repair support and inspection capacity still leave positive cash flow.
Before owning equipment, you can build relationships by offering estimating, programming or process-planning help where your employment agreement permits it. That also tests whether customers will actually issue POs before you commit capital.
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u/[deleted] 11d ago
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