a little history about me before we get started. i have been a machinist for about a total of 5 monts now. i spent 3 months at a shop that was in shelton wa before they laied me off due to finacial restraints. i was one of 4 people who got it and they said they would hire us back but 4 months later it didnt happen and i ran out of money and had to move in with some family in lynnwood wa. 2 days after i move i had a job at another machine shop. that was last month. still there and loving it.
ok i have done some research and decided that doing a retro fit to a mill just wont work for me. im going to kneed something a little bigger so i wont out grow it so fast. i was thinking about building a gantry style mill but i hear they are plagued with rigidly problems. and what i want to do with it and what they are capable of seem to not fit together so i have a issue to figure out. here is the things i want to be able to do with it eventually.
-must be able to cut up to 304 ss
-48in x 24in y ??in z
-total foot print not much bigger then table
-upgradeable to auto tool change
-upgrade to 4 and 5 axis
-able to use a .5 em and a 1.5 fm
-able to make gears
now the way i figure it i have 2 choices
choice 1. i make a gantry style and use uber heavy duty parts and say screw it to the fast rapids.
or
choice 2. i build a horizontal style machine. would solve a few problems but create a few of its own.
now keep in mind this isn't for production work. it is for more or less prototype style work. as i will be only using it for my self and friends making any thing from rc car and plane parts to stuff for my 79 plymoth trail duster. what i had figured to do was build a gantry with a big ass stepper for the x and use 2 ball screws and 2 timing belts to drive them form the 1 stepper. another option was to use a rack and pinion set up. of which i have no idea on the accuracy rating of thous. i did spend a week at a fiberglass mold shop as a floor sweep were they had a komo gantry style router for making the master for the molds. it had what look like the strips you put on Manuel style machines to make them digital. im not sher how this works or if i could use it for my setup.
so any input is appropriated