[AndyL]

Hey folks,

Couple questions about design for those who know this stuff a bit better.

Still in the design phases of a 12x12x4" moving gantry router, HSS construction (Its what I know, have and am comfortable working with). Main goals were to cut acrylic and thermoplastics with the occasional piece of aluminum.

Not enough room (or budget right now) for 2 machines so ...

1. What design considerations would I need to make - if I realized I'm going to want to mill the occasional piece of steel (ie cutting adapter plate out of 1/2" x 6" flatbar)? Strength I'm not too concerned with - I think I'm well beyond beefy enough...

2. Can smaller milling projects be done without liquid cooling - or should I start investigting how I can add that? Having a perfect finish isn't needed - mostly just need a decent cut (about equivalent to what I'm getting now using a 4 1/2" grinder and a drill press to make the same components free hand)

3. I was planning to use a laminate cutter, is there something more appropriate in terms of being able to cut both acrylic - and steel, where the motor speed is variable enough to handle both with enough torque on the low end for the steel?

4. Is there a recommended 'off the shelf' tool that could be used for steel I've spied some that look like grinders but with a vertical chuck in the mill forum - but no clue what they'd be called/where to source them. That's assuming I needed to use two different tools and swap as needed.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated

[ger21]

I think you'd need 2 different spindles, one for steeel and one for acrylic, although a spindle slow enough for the steel will probably still work for acrylic, just much slower.

[joecnc1234]

I would use a cool mist to spray coolant on for steel you can find them on msc for around $100 but your rpm is going to have to be so much slower I don't even know if you can get a router that slow around 1000-2000 rpm if you have to, use a carbide bit and take small depths of cut like .050" and feed it faster with the mister you should be ok at best.

[AndyL]

Yeah, Somehow I dont see being able to use the same tool for cutting acrylic and steel... Possibly if I did a true spindle type mount - with some radical gearing options between the motor and spindle.

However at this point its probably easier to just build the Z axis to accomodate 2 different tool mounts.