I was reading an old machine manual from 1985 and saw the original price for a basic 3-axis mill was over $120,000. That's wild.

Wow, that's a crazy number to see in print. You have to remember that back then, that machine was basically a computer, and computers were insanely expensive. That price probably included a ton of custom programming and support that's just standard software now. It really shows how far manufacturing tech has come when a hobbyist CNC can do similar work for a fraction of the cost. Makes you wonder what we pay a fortune for today that will seem just as silly in 40 years.

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colej746mo ago

That mill could outlast any modern hobby machine.

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maxb466mo ago

Man, that reminds me of my uncle's old wood shop! He had this massive, clunky router from the late 80s that probably cost a fortune. It was built like a tank, just like colej74 said, and it's still running. But you had to manually input everything with this weird code on a tiny green screen. The noise it made was unreal, a real screaming sound, not like the quiet spindles today. It's crazy how much simpler the tools are now.

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