Need Help!- 4 axis CNC for artwork

[woodsnskins]

Hello
I need help in configuring a CNC setup.
I am looking for a desktop 4-axis CNC machine to do some artwork. I would like to import some clipart and then draw that on a work piece (either a flat surface or a cylinder)

Also, is there anyway to hook an automatic fluid dispenser to the CNC?

I would appreciate recommendations for the CNC router and software.


Thanks

[jalessi]

Hi,

Welcome to the zone.

Please provide more information, such as material you would like to machine, size of work, diameter etc...

A fluid dispenser to dispense glue, paint,oil....?

What is you budget and how many hours a day will the machine be used?

Is it for a hobby or commercial application?

Your questions are a little to vague.

The more you ask, the better we can inform or help.

Jeff...

[woodsnskins]

Hi Jeff
Thanks for your response. I do not want to cut any material. I would like to draw/paint on a cylinder which could be made of wood or styrofoam.
The fluid will be some paint or paste. The size of the cylinder will be about 6" diameter max. This is for hobby so it will be operational mostly on the weekends for few hours
I do not have a good idea about the CNC cost.... however the machine should have very good tolerance to draw art on cylinder or a flat surface
Thanks in advance
Thanks

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by woodsnskins Hi Jeff Thanks for your response. I do not want to cut any material. I would like to draw/paint on a cylinder which could be made of wood or styrofoam. The fluid will be some paint or paste. The size of the cylinder will be about 6" diameter max. This is for hobby so it will be operational mostly on the weekends for few hours I do not have a good idea about the CNC cost.... however the machine should have very good tolerance to draw art on cylinder or a flat surface Thanks in advance Thanks

A small cnc router with a 4th axis should do the trick. Instead of a cutter head you can just make up a pen/pencil/marker holder and be done with it.
how long is the drawings on the cylider going to be. A 6" diameter might get into problems with clearance under the cross beam on some of the smaller machines.
www.cadcamcadcam.com has a few that might fit the bill.
There are a bunch more suppliers.

Of course it depends on what you have for a budget and what you want for accuracy, are you talking .001" which is very accurate for a router type machine, or .010" which is easy to get on a snall machine and is probably more than enough for what it sounds like you are doing.

Depending on exactly what kind of flow you are looking it cold be easy or near impossible to hook up th efluid dispenser. If you have an electrical fluid dispenser already and you just need the computer to turn it on or off, that is easy. If you need to make something from scratch, then that is more difficult.


Mike.

[jalessi]

Wood,

There is a big difference between paints and paste, now you are introducing a viscosity issue.

Are the designs going to be used over and over or are you personalizing each one?

As Mike stated mounting a pen or marker etc would be fairly easy, the paint or paste would require a special pen. See the link below.

http://www.durablesupply.com/saksolpainst.html

How long are the objects you want to embellish?

MORE DETAILS!

Jeff...

[TOTALLYRC]

Please , more details.

[woodsnskins]

Originally Posted by TOTALLYRC Please , more details.

Mike thanks for your response.
The cylinders could be as much as 9" in length. I will need 0.001" tolerance machine. I do not have an electrical dispenser.

[woodsnskins]

Originally Posted by jalessi Wood, There is a big difference between paints and paste, now you are introducing a viscosity issue. Are the designs going to be used over and over or are you personalizing each one? As Mike stated mounting a pen or marker etc would be fairly easy, the paint or paste would require a special pen. See the link below. http://www.durablesupply.com/saksolpainst.html How long are the objects you want to embellish? MORE DETAILS! Jeff...

Hi Jeff
The cylinders could be as long as 9 - 10" in length.


thanks in advance

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by woodsnskins Mike thanks for your response. The cylinders could be as much as 9" in length. I will need 0.001" tolerance machine. I do not have an electrical dispenser.

So what you are looking for is a machine with the absolute minimum of the following travels X10 Y6 and clearance under the Zaxis of at least 8" to clear the parts and the added height of the rotary axis. And a 4th axis to rotate the cylindrical parts. Plus you want .001" accuracy.
It will more than likely need to be X12 Y8 Z8 because you need a little room to get around the items.


http://www.taigtools.com/cmill.html. with a sherline 4th axis. If all you are doing is 6" round parts and less than 5.5" flat parts you will be all set.

On the round part all you really need to do is get to the middle of the part and stay there. The 4th axis rotates and the table will pretty much stay still.

As you will not have any cutting force to speak of, you won't need a cast iron machine.

I have a Taig and I can measure it if you are absolutly sure of the size of the parts you wan to make.

How much are you looking to spend. A ready to run machine will be about 2K usd plus,plus,plus.
Mike

[woodsnskins]

Originally Posted by TOTALLYRC So what you are looking for is a machine with the absolute minimum of the following travels X10 Y6 and clearance under the Zaxis of at least 8" to clear the parts and the added height of the rotary axis. And a 4th axis to rotate the cylindrical parts. Plus you want .001" accuracy. It will more than likely need to be X12 Y8 Z8 because you need a little room to get around the items. http://www.taigtools.com/cmill.html. with a sherline 4th axis. If all you are doing is 6" round parts and less than 5.5" flat parts you will be all set. On the round part all you really need to do is get to the middle of the part and stay there. The 4th axis rotates and the table will pretty much stay still. As you will not have any cutting force to speak of, you won't need a cast iron machine. I have a Taig and I can measure it if you are absolutly sure of the size of the parts you wan to make. How much are you looking to spend. A ready to run machine will be about 2K usd plus,plus,plus. Mike

Hi Mike
Thanks for the help. Which software will work with this setup (with sherline 4th axis) so that it can wrap a design around a cylinder ?
Looking around I do see that 2k plus is the avg cost.
thanks

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by woodsnskins Hi Mike Thanks for the help. Which software will work with this setup (with sherline 4th axis) so that it can wrap a design around a cylinder ? Looking around I do see that 2k plus is the avg cost. thanks

I haven't done any 4 axis work yet. My router has deskcnc which is both a machine control program and a cam program. If you look at their site, they have a tutorial for ring machining.

There are many other cam packages that will output 4 axix g-code and will work. Try and download the trial packages of a few and see which one works best 4 you.
I use deskcnc daily and use mach 3 tp run 2 of my three machines.

I am glad to help.