Best router for under $10K????

[gregrnel]

Hey all!!

I'm a newbie (please be gentle) and looking for my best bet for $10K including cam software, I am currently learning Rhino, so that's my design choice.

Here's what I want to do...solid body electric guitar bodies and necks as well as plastic parts and foam prototyping. So I'm looking for about a 2' x 2' table with at least 6" of Z.

I've looked at the EZ router, the Shopbot PRTalphaBENCHTOP and the K2 KG2525.

Are these accurate enough for to hire them out for prototyping?

Any help is certainly appreciated, Thanks!

[zealouse]

Hi, I bought the K2 39x25 for guitar building 6 months ago. The machine is a dream come true me. I use Mastercam and Art cam to produce my geometry and Mach3 to read the G-codes. I set my feed rates at 200 and use Onsrude solid carbide router bits to cut out the guitars. I can cut the neck and pickup pockets in a matter of minutes with ease. I'm usually dead on with accuracy but rarely off more than a thousands of an inch, but make sure you get the Z axis Upgrade,3 Axis Servo Motor, and most important the Hi-Tolerance Ball screw of .001 Tolerance . It is a very stronge, ridge and reliable machine. I did research for a year before I bought it. The only problem that I’ve run across is that routers doesn’t drop below 10,000 RPM's. I always think bigger faster stronger is better, but it you want to drill you could have some problems with the speed and the fact that routers us collets and not chucks, so its not so easy to change shank sizes. I found that the Jacobs chucks are not designed for 10,000 RPM's, nor are Mills design for cutting wood.
We guitar makers have to drill allot and drills are rated between 3,000 to 9,000 RPM's. Its very important to be accurate with our drilling for intonation and placement, so I found at J&L a 1/2 shank that holds the full range of collets to accommodate the variety of drill's and high spindle speed, it cost $120.00. I can't remember what its call off the top of my head but I can look it up if any one's interested. The only other way is to buy a set of drills with one shank size, but I never found any, nor have I come across any drills truly made for such high RPM's, but I'm getting perfectly true drill holes. I almost bought a Mill cnc and I'm very lucky I didn't. With wood you need to cut at a very high feed rate in order not to dull your router bits and a very high spindle speed, between 26,000-30,000 to cut threw the wood properly. I will be attending the NAMM convetion in Californa in December to show off our guitars. We have recived patentes for our desighns. I'm always intrested to see others peoples work and ideas. Hope this helps -Jason Vileguitars

[Switcher]

zealouse,

The guitars on your website, are very cool!

[Arch]

I'll second Jason's choice. I too have the same setup as him except I use OneCNC for geometry and Mach2 for controll. I'm getting exceptionally good results also. Absolutely love it.

[Joe Crumley]

Greg.

One of the financial considerations when purchasing a CNC is the software. As mentioned earlier, ArtCam is 9K, while Enroute 3D is 7K.

I think you would do well with "Vetric" for $600.

Keeping your bits cool isn't a function of RPM's. It's chip load. Wood can be hard or soft and the travel combined with the RPM's determines how long a bit will last.

Consider the Ez. I have one and it's probably more than you will need. That's the way it is for me.

J.
www.normansignco.com