Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Milling Machine Review!

We test and review the new Bantam Tools Desktop CNC, a powerful three-axis milling machine for precision carving of aluminum, wood, and other hard materials. Jen walks us through her experience using the CNC as a stepping stone from 3D printing and laser cutting, navigating the CAM workflow with Bantam Tools' user-friendly software. Here's how this machine can fit into maker spaces and home workshops to level up a maker's digital fabrication skillset.

NOTE: This is not a sponsored video.

Shot by Jen Schachter and edited by Norman Chan

Tested is:

Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#cnc #review

[justinrowan]

You have to pay extra for feeds/speeds overrides? Yikes..

[grilnam]

I would rather get This Old Tony to do a Maho conversion for me!

[brocktechnology]

Absurdly expensive turn key solution married to crippled subscription software, this is incompatible with the maker ethos

[georgecarter]

I don't understand! This machine is selling for $4000, but how come everything is so cheap, Nema 17 stepper motor, lead screw, 250w spindle… for the cost of all these hardware configurations, I would pay no more than $1000 for this thing.

[speeddemon]

The price and subscription pretty much make it unreasonable for any home user. This is a pretty good machine to have sitting in makerspaces or schools because of the easy software, but otherwise any hobbyist would be better served with something like a shapeoko or any other DIY solution. Although that auto-probing sure does look nice though.

[teedawg]

Question ... is this an independent purchased review, manufacturer supplied review or sponsored review?

[retiredtom]

Clearly this women understands her machine and its limitations. She provided a lot of information in an understandable manner... Good Job! I also like that machine.

[brodi]

Cool commercial. I even watched commercials during this commercial

[jmannUSMC]

The price is a bit out of my budget, but it's good to see more desktop CNC machines in the wild. I can see myself owning one in the future.

[chrisrussell]

I repair CNC machines for a living and all I can see when this thing is running is the fact that the bed has no way covers and all those chips are building up around the wipers for the bearings. Even worse is the axis screw is exposed as well. That's a horrible oversight for a mini machine in this price range and will kill the table bearings and axis screw very quickly if you use it for metals. Seriously, a set of accordion way covers would cost 50 bucks or less for this thing.

[kulmajaba]

How about a full disclosure statement for this video? This really felt more like an ad than a review, with big shortcomings glossed over all the while singing the praises of the product. It's easy to say it's a great tool if you got it for free, but based on the results I saw i wouldn't pay the asking price.

[Hidetogy]

I'm getting one STAT, I missed out on Juicero and I'd hate to miss a deal like that again.

[TheRobD]

Madness. For that price you could buy an actual CNC machine second hand from an auction.

[Bassquake]

Subscription?? Bit weird. Especially at that price! What happens when the server goes down? Screw proprietary subscription services.

[AnalogX]

Awesome a video on Batman's wait.

[stuartmartin]

Full feeds and speeds control being a subscription service is a pure money grab, horrible way to treat customers.

[Durrdalus]

Wait, you pay $3600 AND STILL HAVE TO JOIN A SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE?!?!! LOL!!!!

[brettbeatnick]

Probably going to get some hate on this one. Comes across a little too much like an Ad or informercial. Also, the vernacular at least here on YT, a mill is a precision tool. So putting mill in the title people will probably expect a demonstration of the precision and accuracy of the machine.

[timr]

This machine can hardly do brass... look at that surface finish. My $1000 CNC router (for wood) can do better. This has unsupported round rods (flimsy, flimsy, flimsy), junk software that makes you pay extra for simple stuff like feed rate overrides? Every machine control software out there does that for free... This is essentially a $800 machine with $2800 software and enclosure. Save up for another month and buy a Tormach 440 if you want to cut metal. It's not that hard to learn....

[RichardTheValiantFoolFox]

Me: thats cool (checks price) no it's not