I have been toying with the idea of building or buying a cnc set up as part of my hobby shop. (mostly wood working)
It seems absurd, when you think about having full time work. and so many hobbies. Occaisonal access to a machine would be useful. Maybe a mid size Table top unit so it could be moved from shop to shop.
I was wondering if it would be too complicated to share a CNC router?
dswink, I was thinking of a simular ideal. One of the other forums that I belong to came up with a pretty good ideal and that is to do a mailing.
This is how I have it pictured inside my head. First you need a cnc machine. I was thinking of keeping it small and pretty easy to mail around. Then you start a list of people that are interested in building thier own machine. Make some qualifications like you need to have all your electronics before you can be on the list. Must be ready to use the machine. let the little one cut out the parts people need for thier own and then mail it to the next person on the list. Have everyone throw in 10 or so dollars to cover up keep and so on. Have people email you when they are done and mail it to the next person on the list. You might get into a situation of one one of those people that never get around to using it so you could put a time line. Week or two.
In theory you would be able to get all you small parts cut out for 30 bucks on a small cnc machine. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
I'm not sure machine sharing will work. But getting work up front might i.e. a dxf and a check from a group of people. You build the machine and pay for it by cutting the dxfs? Or they buy capacity they must use in the first year, either way you cash the checks.
I'm in the process of building 4'x4' router and it'll scale to 8'x4' in a heartbeat. I plan to offer a simple cutting service for like 10--20$ a sheet, just to recover costs. I'm on the other coast, and plan to use craigslist, hobby stores, boatyards etc to begin with. The idea is that if you want some parts cut at reasonable accuracy for a reasonable price then I'm a phone call away. The cost of all other shops in my area is 40-60 a sheet. If I can get a reasonable flow going then plan to finance my mill, lathe the same way. I am convinced there is a huge market for low cost CNC machining.
If you just want one to have one then a low cost machine made of plastic is probably the way to go, you get to play etc but at very low cost. Polycarbonate, Nema17s and a $10 mini tool and you're away. I would guess less than $200. You can mill wax all you want in 12" cube work space. If you then want something milled in metal emachine or big blue saw are there to help. Hmm is there a group of people here who want such a machine?
I have a small 6dof robotic arm for the same reason. I'd really like a full size one but the cost just makes it impractical. I get to play with the programming side for pennies not thousands of dollars. Also when I crash the arm it doesn't remove my arm as a consequence.
Equipment sharing is done a number of ways the most common is rental, for more specalised stuff co-operatives are usually set up. Planes, yachts and farm equipment are commonly owned this way.
Crazy Idea? CNC Sharing in Boston area
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