Roland MDX-540 engineering

[drakke]

What is special about the Roland MDX-540 cnc mill that it can justify a $27k price tag?
I am not trying to be glib but asking what the engineering must be - I know the specs are impressive.

This is a fixed gantry machine with a moving table which I think makes it more rigid.
The ACT DMC III machine has a similar configuration and pretty good specs.

Can the specs be realized with a DIY mill even if custom parts need to be milled?
I think Visual Mill is equal or even exceeds the capabilities of Roland's SRP software.

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[awerby]

The MDX-540 is based around a really massive aluminum casting, also it's made in Japan and has a lot of fancy options like the ATC (which cost even more). The ACT mill has better specs, actually, but lacks those options. SRP Player is nothing special; VisualMill runs rings around it in terms of features, and is a lot faster to generate toolpaths.

It's certainly possible to build a mill that's better than either one, but you'd have to have a very well-equipped shop, know what you're doing, and you'd still need to spend a lot on quality components.