Any DIY CNC people near Santa Cruz, CA?

[SkyG]

Hello -

I'm just getting started on the CNCZone here. I run a small model airplane (rc) kit company out of my home here in Santa Cruz, CA. I do all my kit production using a kit built laser cutter (by Emission Technologies). So my background in CNC is limited to 2 axis work (well I guess some folks would consider a laser cutter 2 1/2 axis right?) Anyway, I'm considering building a CNC for my shop, so that I can create plugs for vac forming and fiberglass part production. I'm hoping to machine cowls, canopies, spinners etc from either hard wood or foam, so that I can create molds for those parts. Attached are a few pics of a cowl I made using laser cut stacks of balsa, which I then sanded and primed. Doing shapes like this is fairly straight forward, but when it comes to more complex shapes, this method can fall short. So, I'm hoping to either build/assemble a system that would suit my needs. I'm wondering if there are any CNC folks in the Santa Cruz/San Jose area who would be willing to let me check out their rigs, or perhaps even offer me some help and guidance. Ideally, what I'm looking to build would be something on the smaller end (no larger than 12X24 cutting bed) but that would have a good amount of Z travel - say 6" or even more.

Thanks

-Sky

[BRICE_ARNOLD]

That's funny. I have been using my CNC to machine aluminum parts for 1/5 scale RC cars in the bay area. I am in the middle of making a vacuum forming machine to make car bodies and I also need to do 3D CNC for the mold on my machine. I am currently looking for a CAM package.

[SkyG]

Brice -

Hey to a fellow Bay Area guy! That's cool you're making your own vac forming machine. I ordered a set of plans and read up a bunch on it, and realized that for my purposes it was easier to outsource. I quickly realized there's a lot to it! (not that a 3 axis CNC isn't even more complicated) Anyway, I found a guy in Texas who services a huge portion of the home kit market, and he does a great job for a very reasonable price.

-Sky

[harryn]

Hi, I live in Pleasanton (NE of San Jose on 680), and am in the middle of my first DIY 3D cnc router. The goal is to be able to handle a sheet of nominal 4 x 8 ft x 6 or so inches.

What I would really like to do with it, is find some people that can design up their foam or wood parts, and I can machine them out for them. Maybe this could help you with your need for parts to make into molds.

Anyway, my build has a ways to go, so it is not going to be next week for this kind of work. Either way, it is always fun to meet people with simialar hobies.

[awerby]

I'm in Oakland, which isn't all that far from Santa Cruz. We've just finished building a CNC router from surplus linear actuators; it seems to work pretty well. The nice thing about going that route is not having to mount the ballscrews and slides; they come premounted, which saves a lot of the most difficult work. I can also help with the CAM program.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[bkinman]

I am just now starting a machine, and live in Santa Cruz. I would love to chat with ya.