Hello and are my plans realistic?

[obsolete]

Hello all

I like making electronic musical instruments but I like doing it well, enclosures included. I feel I've taken a pillar drill, a step drill and a pile of hole saws as far as I can! I want to build a CNC machine that can do the following.

1. Cut/machine aluminium and acrylic of up to 3 mm thickness
2. Mill hard and softwoods - depth, not sure
3. Engrave wood, aluminium and acrylic
4. Mechanically etch circuit boards
5. Has a flexible (I mean versatile not bendy) spindle holder so it could support other technologies like a 3D plastic deposition head or a laser cutter (if some bright spark gets the tech small enough)
6. And finally a working area of 20" x 20" (I'll likely need to do large panels for 19" rack mount equipment). Not sure about depth yet, haven't thought that through suffice to say 2.5D is fine (I know that contradicts the 3D printing bit but … )

Speed is not essential, this is for personal not commercial use
Accuracy should be good but doesn't need to be space programme grade or anything!

I'll buy and assemble everything myself but anything that needs "making" (cutting out parts from MDF from a plan, machining custom motor mounts and so on) I will get local tradespeople to do in the interests of expediency and quality.

And finally my budget excluding computer and software but including all other electronics is …

£1000

I'm currently reading The CNC Cookbook and doing lots of Googling but can I ask the question, are my plans -within reason - realistic for that budget?

Thanks
Jim

[JAZZCNC]

I'll buy and assemble everything myself but anything that needs "making" (cutting out parts from MDF from a plan, machining custom motor mounts and so on) I will get local tradespeople to do in the interests of expediency and quality.

This reads like you Intend using MDF as the machine frame.? . . . If so then I urge you to re-think, yes I know folks use it often but honestly it's false economy and will give far inferior performance.



And finally my budget excluding computer and software but including all other electronics is …
£1000


Yes it's do-able at this size, thou will still need carefull buying of components etc and clear accurate idea/plan of the machine required.
It's very easy to buy unsuitable components and under estimate machine frame construction needs or materials and with a budget of £1000 you haven't got much wiggle room.!!

To save me lots of writing read post #8 about half way thru. http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/showthread.php/3744-where-to-start

Cheers.

[obsolete]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. That's great to hear. £1000 doable but not a breeze sounds like a good challenge. I haven't made the decision to use MDF at all I just used it as an example as I have seen it used. Lots of writing not necessary, a brief answer was all I was after! I will dive into the thread you've linked to.

Thanks again
Jim