Cross between CNC Milling Machine and CNC Router

[desman]

We make plastic and high density foam parts for aircraft interiors. We currently are running a couple of Shopbots and an old Bridgeport milling machine(Boss9 R2E4). The tolerance level of the Shopbots is acceptable for the parts they make. The milling machine works fine but we are needing to get into more speed and more size than it can run.

What we would like to do is have a machine that has the speed of a router but we also need the accuracy of the tolerance level of a milling machine. We do not need the 4x8 size of a router but we need more size than the Bridgeport which is 15" on the y axis.

Any suggestions for manufacturers that make 4'x4' routers/milling machines with tool changers.

Thanks
Alan

[Drassk]

Forest Scientific can make a really accurate router. MultiCAM makes relatively accurate machines in their top line (MT or somesuch). If you need super accuracy and speed, then you're going to have to dish out for a VMC with a big table and it isn't going to be cheap (Haas makes some with 30K spindles now)