Beginners guide to different CNC machines?

[Elliot]

Hello all, before i start i would like to say i have been looking for the past 2 hours and i am still completely in the dark.

I am a heavily pc orientated kind of person and recently have started plans to start a company making bi cycle components and tools. I am pro efficient at CAD programs Solidworks and Pro engineer. Using these i have drawn up prototypes i would like to make a reality. I was going to approach an engineering firm and give them my designs to make a prototype from ultimately just using these high cost services just for the use of their machines.

It dawned on me and the people i will be working with we could get our own cnc mill. I have been researching and researching but i have not come to a conclusion so i reckoned i would try to benefit from the knowledge and experience of a forum.

What i would like to know is what type of mill eg how many axes would i need to make a hub shell? If needed i can upload images of my early ideas as examples of the type of shapes i would be requiring?

[cschmidt]

Elliot

It might be nice to have a rough idea what you are trying to make. Is it the hub for the wheels that you are trying to make or the shell that holds the crank assembly. If it is the wheel hubs, you would probably by looking for a lathe to turn it then finish the spoke holes on a mill in which case you could get by nicely with 3 axis. If you are looking to make the shell that holds the crank assembly, then you would probably want at least 4 axis depending on how many times you want to reclamp or depending on how you will be fixing the rest of the frame to the shell.
Good luck.