I run a small business designing new types of user interfaces to computers, and I'm looking to do some rapid prototyping of plastic enclosures for a new product. The PCB that will go inside the enclosure is roughly circular and 1.7 inches in diameter, and whole thing will be about a half inch high.

I've been looking at Sherline mills, Taig mills, Syil, Tormach, IH, various brands of laser cutters and 3d printers, but based on size and cost considerations I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Sherline, Taig, (or other similar sized mill) or just outsourcing this job and getting something nicer later. For me the value of doing this in-house is that I can iterate a lot faster and get to the final design more quickly. Also I would use the mill to produce parts more quickly in the short term, but if the product takes off I'd use the case design as a starting point for an injection molded version.

At school I learned how to use a waterjet, lasercutter, and zcorp 3d printer, but I never got to try the CNC mill or lathe. But I have a feeling that there are a lot of extra steps involved in getting to a working part than what I'm aware of. So, a few questions:

1) Would a Taig CNC mill be suitable for cutting models out of ABS plastic? Would another plastic/mill combination be better? Does milling plastic create fumes or bad smells? Would liquid coolant be required?

2) How does the routine maintenance and number of steps to make a part with one of these machines compare to a laser cutter, or a waterjet? I gather there is a lot of lubrication to be done. How long does this take? Are there other tedious steps in the process that I should know about?

3) I'd like to do my modeling in solid works and then take the part from there to whatever CAM program the mill talks to. Is this easy to do with the desktop mills?

4) A lot of people talk about servos versus steppers and ball screws versus acme screws... Do I need to worry about missing steps when cutting ABS, or is this only an issue with metal? Likewise, can I get away with acme screws with a softer material, or is the material hardness not related to the issue of backlash?

5) If one buys a CNC desktop mill, like the Taig or the Microproto one, how long does it take in terms of setup before one can actually make parts?

6) Is there anyone in or near Cambridge, Ma who would be willing to show me a desktop mill in action?

SOrry for asking so many questions! Thanks in advance for any advice!