Hi all,
This is my first post and I'm a newbie when it comes to CNC milling . I'm an electronic engineer and would like to build/buy a small CNC mill to be used for
- Panel designing (arbitrary holes/openings on sheet metal & label engravings).
- Milling of small parts for use in my own projects.
- Cutting tool travel: x = 150-300mm, y = 80-100mm, z = 50-80 mm. Longer/shorter travels may also be OK.
The material would be almost exclusively aluminium sheets/blocks, and a bit of copper & plastics. I'm very experienced in electronics, so I can easily handle the stepper motor control and s/w interfacing part. What I cannot do/choose easily is the mechanical part. Should I buy a ready-made mill and convert to CNC myself (by attaching 3 steppers to the x, y, z knobs), or should I buy separate parts like CNC rails/bearings/slides & drill and combine them together to build my own CNC mill from scratch? Another option is to buy an already-converted mill like the ones from Proxxon, Sherline and Taig.
My priorities are (highest first)
1. Machine precision, robustness & repeatability.
2. Compatibility of controller with easily available & good quality s/w (Mach3 or others).
3. Relatively low cost (say, up to $2,000 - I'm only a hobbyist, not making money out of this).
The easiest solution would be to get a ready-made CNC mill retrofit, like one from the following.
- Proxxon MF70 (http://www.usovo.de/).
- Sherline (http://www.sherline.com/).
- Taig (http://www.taigtools.com/).
A friend of mine has just bought the Proxxon MF70 (which comes with the SMC-800 controller), but he's now discovering that there's a serious lack of good and cheap s/w for this controller. He's already spent a lot of money on s/w (WinPC-NC & Filou-NC) and still hasn't been able to really use the machine!
What do you guys think/recommend I should do? Which ready-made mill would you suggest I get? Or maybe build it from scratch? I found this link in the UK that sells parts for linear movement.
http://www.marchantdice.com/
Any pointers or information is greatly appreciated.
Apologies for the long post & thanks to all for the great forum & info.
Costas