CNC Advise

[groovyd]

I am newly interested in purchasing a small desktop CNC for doing random crafts.

One of the uses I would like it to support is to be able to mill blanks out of O1 tool steel bars for use as a straight razor. The idea is to buy the steel bar in the correct length (6"), thickness (3/16"), and width (7/8") and use the CNC to cut around the shape of the blade and ideally to cut the rough blade taper profile and put the hole in the tang, possibly even engraving the tang. It doesn't need to cut quickly or be a finished or polished profile since likely it will then need heat treated and sanded and polished down more. Let's say it should be within 1/32" of the final profile. The idea is to let the CNC do the 90% work of getting it close and then just step in to finish it up using fine sanders and grinders.

First of all is this even possible? I don't see needing more then 7"x7"x2" workspace ever would the Zen CNC kit be the right choice? Would a dremel be a good enough spindle? What end mill do I need, something Carbide I suppose? To be specific what would be the minimum CNC complete setup I would need to satisfy this use?

In addition I noticed most kit CNC require a parallel port but I run a macbook pro without one which can run Win7 through virtual machine or perhaps there is some good CNC software for OSX using USB?

Thanks for any advice and I look forward to learning CNC! It is awesome that something that used to be limited to big shops with thousands of dollars is now practical in the home.

[ger21]

Unfortunately, the answer to almost all your questions is no.

Zen? No
Dremel? No
Mac? No

What you need is a mill. A lot of people start with a manual mill and convert it to cnc.
Mini Mill - 2 Speed Mini Milling Machine

[groovyd]

I appreciate your reply, any additional information as to why would be helpful in understanding the limitations of CNC, or are they limitations of Zen or the Dremel? I don't mind getting a stronger router spindle upgrade or even setting up a cheap second pc with a parallel port. I noticed there was some other Fireball CNC that looked a bit tougher and had USB?

Specifically I am just interested in understanding better what the various limitations are. To someone who knows nothing about CNC it doesn't sound like it shouldn't be possible with something economic and easy, but clearly that is always not the case Thanks again for your wisdom.