Router vs. mill

[Ugilten]

Hi there,

I'm new to the world of CNCing and one thing I have been unable to figure out is, what is the difference between a CNC router and a CNC mill???

And also am I correct if I claim that a gantry is the "thing that holds the Z axis?

Tanks all

[jmytyk]

the way i understand it, a cnc router usually refers to a gantry style machine. the y and z, are moving on the x. the z moves up and down on the y, and they both move on the gantry which is driven by the x.

a cnc mill may be referred to a moving table type or a metal working mill style. like a knee mill, or a bridgport (search ebay for good pics). a sherline mini-mill could be considered a cnc-mill just on a small scale.

obviously this is what i have picked up- and i think i have the general idea of what everything is called- but there are those on this board that could probably give you the production history and all kinds of in depth knowledge of where and why the two styles diverge. so- this is all IMO

[ViperTX]

That and generally hundreds of pounds of difference with the mill being the heaviest...

[yukonho]

A mill operates on torque, a router on RPM's.
Milling machines are mainly for cutting metal, although they will cut other materials. RPM's for a mill are usually around 3000-5000RPM.
Routers are generally for soft materials like wood and plastics. Routers operate at around 25000-30000RPM.
Milling machines are typically far more rigid and massive than routers.
colin

[Zumba]

As others stated, routers cut wood and plastic, mills cut metal. Every other characteristic goes with the territory.

E.g. to cut a 1/2" slot in a piece of wood, you want your bit to run at ~20K RPM, vs. under 1000 RPM if cutting the same slot in steel.

Size is important as well. Plywood comes in 4' x 8' sheets, so many routers are at least that big. A small fraction of 1% of mills are that big.

As far as weight, many large routers weigh as much as 15000 lbs, so I wouldn't necessarily say that they're light duty by any means.

[DareBee]

On the other hand a milling machine that will cut a 5' X 10' workpiece weighs about 90,000#

[wizard]

In the context of CNC'ing a router is a machine built to handle sheet goods. Contrary to what people have posted it is possible to use a high speed router on metal. Aluminum for the most part.

The term Mill is a catch all as you can have a number of different types of Mills for example Horizontal, Vertical, Planer, Multi Axis machining cneters and probably a few I've missed. Often these mills are out fitted for machining metal with low speed spindles and just as often with higher speed spindles. In fact many manufactures offer their machines with different spindle options depending on the material to be milled.

I suspect that the term router came from the fact that the "router" machines often replace manual labor doing the same thing. Also the machine may be very limited in what they can do, that is simple 2 or 3 axis stuff. Given that Planner and Gantry mills have existed for years that do the same thing that a router does. Part of the reasoning for the term router might also come form the light duty nature of the machines relative to a mill.

Dave

[ducattiman]

So would JRGO plans be good for doing metal parts.or is it more for wood?

[ger21]

Originally Posted by ducattiman So would JRGO plans be good for doing metal parts.or is it more for wood?

Wood.

[mykman]

Hi !

I`m a noob in the forum and the cnc scene as well.
I`d like ask the same thing as Ugilten asked, and a few more.
I`d like to build a cnc mill machine , based the CNC_Router_jgro pdf file.
Can I mill with this type of router with simultanous 3 axis ? The difference between the mill and the router is a controller software/electronic ? and offcourse as you mentioned the spindle speed/torque.
I`d like to mill toy soldiers , and miniature scenery from 3d models.

Thanks everyone for a hopefully answer

[Guldberg]

I think your question is allready answered, cut it in wood, yes, in metal, no. A toy soldier is quite detailed, and when using a router in metal, the cutter tends to shatter. The software can be the same, ofcause pro. mills tend to have their own software, for the rest of us, most people uses mach3, both for retrofitted mills and for routers

[biomed_eng]

To me:
Router - for cutting aluminum (soft metals), plastic, wood
Mill - for cutting anything a router can plus steel, titanium, hard metals.

There are just too may permutations of construction type to make a distinction based on configuration alone.