[jinu117]

I need to do some proto and possibly small production run on cnc for small copper round bar stock (1.5" diameter), copper barstock (nothing bigger than 2" depth and about 2" wide... possibly smaller) and on plastic pieces (pvc, hdpe about 4"x4"x4")
Smilar design for first one is in attachment. I am wondering what kind of machine should I get, what kind of software to get to get the design done in proper way and feed it for quick prototyping.
I am very new to this whole thing, I am looking to do this more out of need (and some fun I guess). One thing I don't have is spending too much time to make my own, but I am willing to spend the time to learn how to operate it. (Basically I have really bad experiences with prototype being made by some shops around me, too much delay, wrong job done, too costly for multiple variation of prototype run, etc)
I presume minimum size for time being on the groove of such design to be 1.5mm - 2mm wide and 7-8mm deep.
What would your recommendation be? And thank you in advance...

[phantomcow2]

How much are you willing to spend?
Check ebay for Taig mills, they often come 4 axis and CNC ready. That would do the job for your application

[jinu117]

Right now, my budget is tops 6k in total. (my estimated cost of running to local cnc shop for rest of year for prototyping, wasted time waiting for each iteration, etc) I know it isn't much of budget for CNC really but that's where it is.
I looked at onecnc and it looks very attractive. I am not sure how pricing of package that will suit me turn out to be.
On the CNC machine side, considering I will be cutting copper which is not necessarily easiest thing to cut with it's stickiness, back lash possibilty, etc I would like something that can do consistant work without being prohibitly expensive. Something I don't have to assemble much of... Time is money I guess on my end. Taig conversion looks delightful but I am not sure if 80lbs machine can really handle the job in efficient manner. I could be wrong though. Another one I was looking at was Super X3. Looks to be top notch quality and more than sufficient for what I would like to do. Total cost is something that I am wondering after all though.
In all honesty, if I need to make 100 of such part a month, I will out source it to trustworthy place. But if it is before that number, than I might do small production in house to get these done.
In all actuality, the priority to me right now is.
1) price... of course... (within budget)
2) Easy enough for someone new like me with only experience in CAD... not in CAM. (I learn fast but some things are learned by experience more than just reading, etc)
3) Able to do rapid prototype in reasonable manner.
3) Nicety will be to be able to run small production run.
Sorry that I wasn't being too specific on my original question. I am moderator of a tech related forum myself and I should have known better (chair)

[ataxy]

the syil superx3 seems like a nice choice for you it would leave you some money for tooling a bit

[phantomcow2]

I agree, the X3 is probably a good choice for you.
THe price of the Syil conversion is unclear, it does look like good quality though. Only thing is I dont know how long you are wanting to wait.
You could buy the machine from GRizzly and convert it yourself. CNC fusion has a ballscrew and CNC kit for 700 if you are not interested in making the stuff yourself. You can buy stepper's from homeshopcnc.com, and buy Gecko Drives from them too for a slight discount. For a 4th axis, you can check ebay; I see rotary axes go up for sale sometimes. Installing the kit to convert it yourself gives you a chance to learn about the machines limitations.

[jinu117]

Wow, I checked pricing with onecnc and that is no go... For what I need to do I found out software alone can eat the budget i have lol.
I am looking at some other CAM machine, etc that makes the G-code.... is there some shareware or demo ones out there where I can run my design to see if it is even fesable of using that software?

[KDN Tool]

Hve you looked at DeskCNC? It performs both CAM and machine control functions. It also utilizes a slave processor for all step pulse generation. www.deskcnc.com

Ken

[Ron111]

Jinu117,

May I ask what are you building. If that's something that you feel comfortable letting us know?

Ron

[jinu117]

It's copper "block" evaporator for computer cooling I am building.
Long story short, I make refrigeration unit that cools computer component (particularly CPU) to cryogenic temperature I have tried 2 cam software at this point I think and having hard time importing the DXF file I created from my TurboCad software... (deskCNC and the mach 3). DeskCNC tells me to explode all block... mach 3 won't even progress any further on DXF import asking me what file to select.
Maybe it's the DXF file Turbocad creates, maybe not. There are other prototypes in my mind of similar nature as well as few other part that need to be machined as well (not as complex as this one though).
Thank you for all suggestions so far and let them flow in As for machine I am in process of talking with the Syil as well now finally to get some idea on what to look for.

Sincerely, Jin

[Ron111]

Jin,
The company I had worked for had 3 Cray Super computers, also cryo cooled, infact in the old days, the earily USAF satellite communication receive amps had cryo cool parametrical ion pump low noise amps for the preamp. I had a feeling.

Guy's I wonder if this could be turned on a lathe with the spindle sync'ed with the z-axis as done with a auto threading operation.

So, let's poll the community on this, whether a lathe operation would be possible?

Ron

[jinu117]

Heh, I am supercooling for more of desktop pc's for time being I use one of my own creation myself for overclocked AMD64 running tad over 3ghz Staying ahead of technology basically. (yes there is whole hobby crowd on overclocking...)
I have some other designs that has closed end spiral which I think is impossible on Lathe... as it stands... so don't worry about indexing with lathe
Now, the problem seems to be software of what I am trying to cut with. I am going through some trial ware of cams to get my DXF read and only 2 CAM so far can even read it... (one being bobcad and the other one... I forgot lol...) I am sure another one will be turbocad/cam since I am doing my design in turbocad at the moment. Anyone got experience with turbocad/cam?
Bobcad looks okay but seems bit... awkward to me... (but could be just my newbness)

These are small bits of what I make with the component mentioned

[dammachines]

I have tried 2 cam software at this point I think and having hard time importing the DXF file I created from my TurboCad software... (deskCNC and the mach 3). DeskCNC tells me to explode all block... mach 3 won't even progress any further on DXF import asking me what file to select.

Just wanted to note, Mach 3 is not CAM software. It is a machine controller. Unless you're referring to LazyCam? Not sure it takes 3D DXF files, but I'm pretty sure it won't handle the 4th axis...

[jinu117]

Just wanted to note, Mach 3 is not CAM software. It is a machine controller. Unless you're referring to LazyCam? Not sure it takes 3D DXF files, but I'm pretty sure it won't handle the 4th axis...

Ahhh that makes sense. Thank you. Figured if it import DXF I thought it would be capable of... you know what .
So i need 3d capable CAM with 4 axis? or is 4 axis more of done in the machine control software?

[imserv]

With a rigid setup, this is a very simple rotary 4th axis part. You should not need any CAM to program your part. Just write 3-5 lines of G-code and you are done.

A line like this is the key to the "threaded part":

G01 X-1.0 A1800.0

Fred Smith - IMService
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/hobby

[fivaxis]

I have a 4 axis Taig and Flashcut, after buying a laptop and tooling I am right around $4k. If you're not doing anything too complicated then you don't need cam software, you could probably program it by hand. Pretty much any cam with continuous 4th axis is gonna be expensive.

[jinu117]

With a rigid setup, this is a very simple rotary 4th axis part. You should not need any CAM to program your part. Just write 3-5 lines of G-code and you are done.

A line like this is the key to the "threaded part":

G01 X-1.0 A1800.0

Fred Smith - IMService
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/hobby

If I understand the jest of this... (no I've never seen g-code till now... but I am software developer... and done plenty of coding for controlling things including good old modem, industrial water sprinklers, and... aerospace stuff).
G01 denotes for Linear interpolation? and basically moving on X-axis by -1 (mm in this case I would assume and move the rotational table A which is on X-axis by 1800 step? which might be very short distance like 2mm or so depending on granuality of machine? ---> this part confuses me a bit). I need to find some good instruction on how g-code works

[jl123]

Ahh the good ole days of overclocking. Those days are long gone for me. sigh.

I doubt you'd have any trouble with Gcode...

[fivaxis]

I think he's talking inches. The rotary axis is specified in degrees, so it would move the x axis negative one inch and the rotary 5 turns (360 degrees x 5 = 1800)

Basically making a thread with 5 threads per inch.

If I understand the jest of this... (no I've never seen g-code till now... but I am software developer... and done plenty of coding for controlling things including good old modem, industrial water sprinklers, and... aerospace stuff).
G01 denotes for Linear interpolation? and basically moving on X-axis by -1 (mm in this case I would assume and move the rotational table A which is on X-axis by 1800 step? which might be very short distance like 2mm or so depending on granuality of machine? ---> this part confuses me a bit). I need to find some good instruction on how g-code works