I was fascinated by the possibilities - I had to do a bit of searching and -- AND SO what about LEGO Mindstorms as a source:
"CNC PROGRAMMING: While the NXT isn't going to give the designer a complete education in CNC, it can come close to providing the basic understanding of plotting. CNC stands for Computer-Numerical-Control (there are variations). Have you ever seen those machines that cut into metal using lasers or water-jets or simple drilling and follow a programmed shape on a computer screen? That's a version of CNC. In college, we used CNC to cut out parts from aluminum and steel. We designed the part using software first - we had to know trig, geometry, algebra, and other stuff to properly draw something as simple as a 1/4-inch hole in the material. Programming a robot to follow a path or to perform a certain movement has characteristics of CNC."
http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com/2006/...n-my-ipaq.html
Seems like it could be 90% solution and about 250 USD.
By grade 10 I had already scratch built and launched rockets, made a wind tunnel, a lotta smoke and noise and a science fair winning rocket motor test stand. Mind you - we weren't so PC in the early 60s so a kid and teacher had a bit more latitude.
Best of luck and :cheers: Jim
Maybe an off-site field trip to a machine shop could be a neat eye opener for the kids too.
Experience is the BEST Teacher. Is that why it usually arrives in a shower of sparks, flash of light, loud bang, a cloud of smoke, AND -- a BILL to pay? You usually get it -- just after you need it.