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Milling machine... am I nuts? - Page 4

post #46 of 50
1/21/11 at 12:48pm

Uhh at this place near dc... we make things I am not supposed to talk about... doesn't really explain why we need mills and such but my company makes their own cases for many of our devices, only they aren't as intricate as what I intend to make for my amps generally, at least as far as the case work is concerned.  Rarely do they have ventilation holes and the inputs/outputs are sparse.  I for one am happy they decided to outsource less machining to do it in house... maybe just so I can use said machines but whatever.  There's a room below my office with about 4 drill presses... also not quite a router but we have one of those mini pcb routers from t-tech.com as well.

 

I think this mill has a travel area of 19"x7"x5" so maybe it would be a little bit of a pita to work on my top and base panels with but I think I could work it out...  but as you can see it's not really fully set up yet as the packing box is partially still standing around it.  My only issue is I'd probably have to stay late or come in extra early to get time with it.

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post #47 of 50
1/21/11 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
Ah, right. Certainly sounds handy having that machinery available, even if it does mean spending a few extra hours at work.
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post #48 of 50
1/25/11 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by elliot42 View Post

n_maher; Sorry, I should have better considered your CNC router suggestion, you know what you're talking about. Someone on another forum also suggested I look at CNC routers for aluminium since cutting speeds should preferably be 5-10k RPM with AL and smaller diameter cutters.

I was pointed to this machine: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/CNC-6040-ROUTER-ENGRAVER-DRILLING-AND-MILLING-MACHINE-/170584782288

It's now looking very appealing now that I've thought about what I would actually do with it.
I was thinking about getting laser cut vinyl stickers for panel labeling as someone did recently in the "Post pics of your builds..." thread but I could just engrave them with a CNC router.
I have also been watching videos of CNC routers cutting PCBs which looks awesome, and as Jeremy mentioned doesn't involve nasty chemicals and pricy transfer methods.
That CNC router, or even a DIY one, would also be much cheaper than setting up a mill with tooling and everything else.

Now I just have to decide what tasks are most important to me right now. Being able to mill steel was appealing, but if I make sure the cases I get are all aluminium where I want to mill them then that really shoots down my one benefit of getting a mill.

 

same mob I linked you to in my last post, except I linked the 3020 smaller one. i'm seriously considering one. maybe we could split shipping, which is a massive chunk of the cost from them
 

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post #49 of 50
1/25/11 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 
I've been seriously considering this one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/CNC-router-mill-engraver-desktop-milling-machine-6040-/180616101313
It doesn't have the VFD water cooled spindle, but it's the same as what cncdiy.org sell on eBay and it's a local seller in Sydney. So I can pick it up myself instead of waiting weeks for delivery and the guy can actually speak English well. Seems better from a support point of view as well.
Plus, I doubt they would split the shipping for two items, it'd all be in the weight. Could ask though.
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post #50 of 50
1/25/11 at 10:48pm

oh yeah when going into the unknown local support trumps pretty much everything

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