I'm seriously considering to build a CNC router mainly for aluminum milling. I found plenty of different designs available on the net, but really looking for something that has been proved to be working well enugh. Is there anything you clould point me to? I'm really looking for a frame with a working surface close to 600x800mm (can be larger or smaller a bit). Thinking of using a 2.2kw watter cooled spindle on that. And Nemas 23 for axis motors.
Just so you know - I have alrady made a working plasma CNC machine, so I'm not a complete newbie neither in DYI nor in CNC, and I have acces to plasma, laser and milling CNC machines, also a 3d printer, so making parts from aluminum or metal or plastic would not be a problem to me.
Hi Pash - Theres quite a difference between a router and a mill. You are clearly making a mill so you need to research these a bit better. A 600x800mm mill is a big mill. Peter
peteeng - I just did a little research on differences between these two, I'm really talking more about routher than mill. For me, as non native English speaker, these two were pretty much synonims...
So back to router question then - 800x600 is not a large size for a router, is it? I'm considering this size (or similar) cause in most of the cases I would be cutting parts from 8 to 12 mm thick aluminum sheets, mostly in sizes betwen 400x600 to 600x800 in mm's.
I do know already, that I don't need high rpms for milling aluminum, my understanding here is that putting high rpm spindle will let me cut not only aluminum but wood or acrlylic as well. Wouldn't it?
When building the frame, I'm not yet sure if I want to foresee ability to add 4th axis now, or I would just build anoter (true milling) machine later on with 4 axes if I find I need it.
Hello Pashab - A router is usually designed for cutting soft non metallic materials. Whereas a mill is designed to cut metals. If you look at Mills they weigh several tonnes and are very huge structures especially at 800x600 bed size. Routers can be 200 kg and have no chance at cutting aluminium. Some routers can cut aluminium but they will use a light fast cut strategy not a deep cut. You do need to research much more to decide what you actually need and why you are doing it. It maybe much cheaper for you to contract the jobs you want to do at a machine shop with commercial grade milling machines then make a "router" and expect it to cut aluminium efficiently. This site is full of "routers" that people are trying to upgrade to cut aluminium, or routers that do not cut aluminium and people are puzzled why it won't. If you are a hobbyist or a Maker who just wants to have a go then by all means do that. But you had better do much more research before you start.... Peter
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Looking for good CNC router design
