Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice on selecting a 5-axis mill. I work in a research setting, and am looking for a small 5-axis milling machine for an upcoming project which will involve milling mostly aluminium. My lab also houses some dental researchers, so it would be ideal to select a machine that can also be used for harder materials such as titanium and ceramics. It is not a production setting, so speed is less of a concern. Similarly, auto-tool changers and hydraulics etc are nice but not essential by any means.

I looked at the Datron C5 and D5 machines, which seem to match most of the criteria but the work envelope (100mm x 70mm x 30mm or thereabouts) will be too small for the research side - ideally I'd like a work envelope of about double that.

I haven't found any similar 5-axis machines with slightly bigger work envelopes. Is anyone aware of any I should be looking at?

If a similarly priced commercial turnkey solution isn't available, another option would be to add a 5th axis trunnion table to a 5-axis mini-mill, but I haven't found any information on which 3-axis machines are suitable for this i.e. have a controller that will accept a trunnion table without too much modification.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Leeko