Simple CNC setup for drilling/engraving aluminum

[necrophagist]

Hello, I am interested in building a CNC machine that will be just enough for drilling holes and engraving through aluminum which will be no more than about .125"
and Steel at about 0.09" in thickness.

I do not forsee myself doing anything else than the activities mentioned. So, what would be a good enough stepper motor set that wouldnt be "overkill" and what would be acceptable rpms for the spindle that will be used?

I was going to consider using my drill press which is about 3100 rpms at 1/3 HP and adding to that one of those manual milling tables. So would this be too much or too little for the job???

Thanks,

[necrophagist]

Anybody with suggestions????

[lbrc]

Sounds like you don’t need much in the way of rigidity but will probably want a high speed spindle, haven’t seen one in action but something similar to this might do.

http://www.townlabs.com/TL518main.html

But then there is also the accuracy and repeatability question too, so it would depend on just how precise you need to be not to mention how many times you want to repeat the process, and this is where price comes into the picture.

http://www.benchman.com/mx.html