in search for the ideal CNC mill

[tekstyle]

Hi there,

I am new to the CNC scene and I am looking into building or purchasing a small desktop size mill. What I wish to accomplish is build a machine that is capable of making small aluminum and plastic parts around the size of 4" cube or smaller with accuracy of .2 millimeter. I also would need at least a 4-axis mill, although a 5-axis mill might be required.

I plan to run the machine with mach3, and featureCAM or solidCAM.

I have looked into finelineautomation.com and cncrouterparts.com. these places seem to have fair prices. but i just need to add 2 more rotational axises to make it a 5 axis mill.

Please offer advise and suggestions. thank you.

[kling8]

Hello,
Well I would talk to different reps. to see what will fit your needs best, id call serveral to see what options you have, though I would not build one, I read alot of people building there own CNC's I have worked on home build stuff and I wouldn't even think about building one myself, all the time, effort and money, for a machine that will probably have continuing problems, and all the effort could have been put into making product, money.
Hope this helps alittle anyway..
kling

[stevespo]

A small commercial 4 or 5 axis mill is going to be pricey, and trying to build one rigid enough to tackle aluminum with precision is going to be complex. The 8020 builds are certainly capable of occasional work in aluminum, but if this is something you're going to do on a regular basis - you probably want more mass (steel/iron), different spindle, etc.

If you really want to make a mill, then go for it. It is going to be a long project and require a lot of research, sourcing parts, etc. It may take several iterations before you get the engineering elements right to produce the kind of quality you're looking for. A great learning experience, but it will be a while before you're making anything.

If you want to make and design parts, then consider outsourcing them and eventually pick up a small (used?) VMC and you can do the work yourself.

Steve

[tekstyle]

Originally Posted by stevespo A small commercial 4 or 5 axis mill is going to be pricey, and trying to build one rigid enough to tackle aluminum with precision is going to be complex. The 8020 builds are certainly capable of occasional work in aluminum, but if this is something you're going to do on a regular basis - you probably want more mass (steel/iron), different spindle, etc. If you really want to make a mill, then go for it. It is going to be a long project and require a lot of research, sourcing parts, etc. It may take several iterations before you get the engineering elements right to produce the kind of quality you're looking for. A great learning experience, but it will be a while before you're making anything. If you want to make and design parts, then consider outsourcing them and eventually pick up a small (used?) VMC and you can do the work yourself. Steve

This is just a project I am working on for personal use and maybe original side profit with it but nothing serious. when the design and products are good enough, i plan on purchasing a more commercial mill to mass product aluminum and plastic parts. I am also not rushed with time but definitely will need to learn how to use mach3 and the cam softwares (i am currently using solidworks 2009 to do my parts design).

with that said, I am really not rushed on a schedule but i would really like to know if there's any cheaper alternative than expensive 5th mills that we typically see on the market made for rigid mass production of hard materials. My goal is to start out with a smaller investment then slowly grow bigger as profit grows along the side.

[Karl_T]

By far the best bang/buck is in dead or obsolete control commercial CNC machines. You can pick up great iron for very inexpensive prices. refit it with a new control and you got something. You very likely won't find 4 and 5 axis, just three axis machines.

Karl

[Bobbyr70]

Good Luck on your endeavor. CNC as a Hobby and small business is quite a challenge and very rewarding. I have successfully converted one table top machine Also for sale here on CNC zone. it was a stepper drive conversion and by far the easiest. I purchased all the components (electrical parts) through Keling and cnc4pc. would recommend them highly. as for the mechanical components I purchased the ball screws off of ebay, had to do a lot of scanning through items to find parts that would fit my application. It only took about 3 months working on weekends to get the basic machine up and running and was almost a year before I had it close to the way I wanted it. Second Project was a Lagun anilam 10x50 knee mill. that has taken every bit of a year to complete. Never purchase a machine with out seeing it first hand. I don't recommend auctions unless you can attend them to see what you are getting. It cost me almost 7500 to get this machine up to perfect condition. New ball screws were 3000 alone. just be aware it is not cheap unless you want less the the best results.

[ksanalytical]

I don't know if anyone would describe them as "small", but there is a user who's just taken delivery of an Industrial Hobbies mill which was configured with 2 additional rotational axes. IH is working on a trunnion table design as well, but I have no idea how far away that is.

Ken.

[awerby]

I'm not sure it qualifies as "ideal", but it will hold those specs and make aluminum parts the size you want, while the rotary 4th axis is a standard accessory. It's a very sturdy mill for its size, and using it will certainly get you much further up the learning curve than dreaming about a mill with more axes. The CAM software required to program 5-axis toolpaths will probably cost more than the 4-axis Taig, fully loaded.

Once you're comfortable working in 4 axes and using the Taig on actual projects, you'll be in a position to start designing your "ideal" 5-axis machine, and you'll have a mill that can do at least some of the work involved in building it. Taig CNC mills come preconfigured to work with Mach3, which is included with their CNC mill packages.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

Originally Posted by tekstyle Hi there, I am new to the CNC scene and I am looking into building or purchasing a small desktop size mill. What I wish to accomplish is build a machine that is capable of making small aluminum and plastic parts around the size of 4" cube or smaller with accuracy of .2 millimeter. I also would need at least a 4-axis mill, although a 5-axis mill might be required. I plan to run the machine with mach3, and featureCAM or solidCAM. I have looked into finelineautomation.com and cncrouterparts.com. these places seem to have fair prices. but i just need to add 2 more rotational axises to make it a 5 axis mill. Please offer advise and suggestions. thank you.