Background
I'm starting a long term craftsmanship improvement project. What I do is rapid electronic prototyping and occasional freelancing where I need to mill case openings for keypads, lcd screens, connectors, etc. Some are aluminum, but the real day-to-day stuff is plastic.
Anyway, the routing and milling are the only parts I really dislike. Until a year ago I did it all by hand, but even with a typical dremel routing table the slowness, unevenness, high runout, and mess make it impossible to do anything really high-quality. I know part of that is technique, but after grappling issue this all month, I realized the only real solution is to automate.
Request
Basically [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9-mPOA7PXs&feature=related"]YouTube- CNC Mill Front Plate[/nomedia]. The problem is I have little mechanical experience other than small power tools. Actually, I just found out what CNC means this month so you can count me as a rank amateur. After asking around the web and youtube I was sent here to just find a direction to start in.
- If I want to do a first-time CNC mill for plastic and aluminum, is 1mm accuracy realistic?
- Can you give me a run-down of the tooling and skills needed to build that type of CNC?
- Is there a basic construction type I should look at first (gantry, XY table, etc)?
- Which sub-forum should I look for?
- Any other advice?
Hoping for 1mm accuracy | Biggest case size is probably 8"x8"x4" | 1/8th" thickness