Clay Milling Machine Equivalent

[nxakt]

First post, hopefully in the correct section.

We have a helmet design company, designing Bike helmets primarily, small company. The common way of styling bike helmets is to build a clay or foam master by hand and to digitize the model and rebuild in surfaces and machine a master. The shapes incorporate multiple direction mold pulls and are very organic in shape. Here is an example of an existing design, (not ours) that illustrates the nature of what we need to machine a master prototype.



The styling process is interactive, so the models will be worked on before and after machining, for this reason we are using industrial design clay. Wax clay, Chavant style. The material used for automobile studies and mockups. The only other material we will be cutting is PU tooling foams, generally low density.

Tarus makes the definitive machines, and the Studio Machine set up they have seems ideal, rotary index table, light-weight motors, 5000RPM, etc. Here is an image of their Studio Table. Ideal except for the price.


And a link to the full specifications

For our purposes this machines is too large of an investment, car companies operate in a different price category. The elements though, seem basic, XYZ milling travel, indexing head for inclination (30 degree steps), rotary table for repositioning the model.

Ideally we would like to machine a head shaped core for the interior, apply the clay to the desired thickness, and machine the exterior surfaces in the round, with as little re-indexing as possible. Remove the core when finished working.

Can anyone recommend a more conventional setup that will accomplish the same result? We are willing to modify equipment if needed. The work envelope is about 30 x 30 x 25 CM.

Our design office is located in Shanghai China.

Many thanks in advance for any input.

[flyinchips]

I'm surprised at the size of the work box. I would think that it would need to be much bigger. A Tormach PNC 1100 with the 4th axis might be a good fit. Give it a look.

[nxakt]

Thanks flyinchips, the Tormach looks like is the basic solution, like it would do the job. Seems like a basic 3-axis with a rotary table 4th axis is the solution.

I also was reminded of the Kolb clay milling solution. Longer travel than needed and still need the 4th axis added.



And found the FrogMill which looks like the sort of setup I imagined with the center of the fourth axis inline with the work surface. Size is too large.



You are correct work envelope would nee to be bigger than 30x30x25 CM, that is actually the part size.

Thanks.