Is the Roland MDX-15 or similar good?

[autobot]

Are they any good for their price? They do include a touch probe metrology system to makeup for their higher price compared to other more traditional mills like the taig.

I guess they can only take the tiny 1/8" tools?

[awerby]

But whether they are the right tool for you depends on what you're trying to accomplish. The piezo-electric touch-probe scanner works well, although it isn't fast. It makes very clean scans, meshes them, and can export them as STL files. And it comes with a suite of software programs for scanning, basic CAD, and CAM. So for fairly small objects under 2.4" high, it's a viable 3D scanning device, if you're not in a big hurry. It's a nice solution for a jeweler, for instance, who wants to design a sculptural relief at a comfortable scale, and then reduce it, using the milling function to produce a smaller version.

As a mill, it's not as powerful as the Taig, although it's strong enough to handle light materials like wax, plastic and wood. The 1/8" toolholder is standard equipment in the US, and it's scaled appropriately for the motor; you can get a 1/4" spindle for it, but the motor's the same. If scanning is to be part of your workflow, then the MDX-15 is worth considering; you'd be hard-put to find as capable a scanner plus a mill for the price. But if all you want is a mill, then one of Roland's bigger machines, or a Taig, would probably be more appropriate.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[autobot]

Yeah, actually its like twice the price of the taig, but then it includes all the software that goes with it? So it easily is the same or better value since with a taig, by the time the CAM is added to the mix or even some form of touch probe + the software for that, youd prob be wel lover the price of the roland?

[awerby]

The Taig with a switch-type touchprobe won't make nearly as good a scan as the MDX-15 with its piezo-electric needle. So if scanning is important to you, it's a better value in that respect. But the CAM software included with the MDX-15 is pretty basic; it's not much more advanced than Freemill, which is (as the name suggests) available for free on the Mecsoft site.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software