CNC Mill for jewelery - for metal

[andescruz]

wondering if anyone is using a cnc mill, (cad-cam) set up for jewelery, i would like opinions on a besktop size machine, capable of milling stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, etc. if there is a thing out ther ein a small size as such. any input would be welcome. affordable is a good quality too.
thanks!!

[cartertool]

I use mine all the time, this page shows some of the sort of jewelry I do on the Taig:
http://www.cartertools.com/cncjewel.html

If I were going to be hogging out lots of stainless and titanium for big pieces, I'd look into a larger mill, but for the sort of stuff I do the Taig works great.

Nick

Originally Posted by andescruz wondering if anyone is using a cnc mill, (cad-cam) set up for jewelery, i would like opinions on a besktop size machine, capable of milling stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, etc. if there is a thing out ther ein a small size as such. any input would be welcome. affordable is a good quality too. thanks!!

[Stepper Monkey]

There are some great desktop jewelry mills, and there are some great mills for exotic metals, but the two really do not meet.
Been there, tried that, and there isn't a good all-in-one option. Even were there to be, constructing it would cost more than just buying two separate mills for the two different purposes. This is why I now own several mills.

My best advice is to clearly define what you will be doing with the mill on a regular basis and purchase based on that. If you really do need to be doing two totally different types of job, get two different types of mill. It's cheaper, more capable, and you'll be much happier.

[Harryman]

Check out Minitech's, they are accurate enough for jewelry and robust enough to mill stainless without a problem. I've got a Minimill Pro and it's up for any jewelry type operation including metal molds.

[jasonargo]

funny how steppermonkey and harryman(millingjeweler) are never on at the same time. which one is clark kent?
harry usually follows monkey in the posts so he must be the one from krypton, haha

[Harryman]

If you only knew the sick, sordid truth..... LOL

We do live in the same time zone, so perhaps we check the forums at similar times during the day.

[under-dog]

Originally Posted by cartertool I use mine all the time, this page shows some of the sort of jewelry I do on the Taig: http://www.cartertools.com/cncjewel.html If I were going to be hogging out lots of stainless and titanium for big pieces, I'd look into a larger mill, but for the sort of stuff I do the Taig works great. Nick

Hey Nick long time no talk. I dont want to derail the thread with this but this is something I have contemplated but havent put the effort into research on how to do it.

I looked at your Pi ring on the 4th axis. How do you set up to do 2D engraving like that around a band on 4th axis. Do you just switch the Y axis cables to the 4th axis motor? If so is there a specific way to tune the motors, generate the files, CAd files, etc.?

[andescruz]

I had a look at your Etsy site, nice stuff cartertool.

stepper monkey- what i am wanting to do is be able to mill out rings in geometric shapes, andwith geometric patterns in the surface of the rings. as well as mill some rings with the bezel settings etc. so, more dimensional than a 2d more engraving style. did you have any input on a machine that can do this? or, is it all in the tools you use?

any ideas for a small enough machine for jewelery, but a skilled enough machine to cut the metals, not the waxes. i'm not concerened with the abilty to mill wax with this machine.

thanks!

[cartertool]

I used Bobcad's 4th axis conversion, or rather I wrote my own script in Bobcad that does the same thing but a little easier.

But here's an article I wrote detailing how to fake the 4th axis:
http://www.cartertools.com/fake4th.html

Nick

Originally Posted by under-dog Hey Nick long time no talk. I dont want to derail the thread with this but this is something I have contemplated but havent put the effort into research on how to do it. I looked at your Pi ring on the 4th axis. How do you set up to do 2D engraving like that around a band on 4th axis. Do you just switch the Y axis cables to the 4th axis motor? If so is there a specific way to tune the motors, generate the files, CAd files, etc.?

[Stepper Monkey]

I have a postprocessor for Mach that pretty well makes it automatic - it does essentially the same the same thing for the rotary axis without as much fuss. It also swaps the Y and A axis in the g-code so you don't have to switch cables in a four-axis rig to do rotary cuts from a file "faked" this way. If anyone is interested let me know and I will send it to you.
It has saved me TONS of time.