Source of Wood to build a Solsylva 37x25 CNC

Hi All.
I decided to get a quote for American red oak. but the the price for the wood came to 435 pounds :cry:. So I am stuck as to what to use. Oak is a good choice because of the straight grain and is dimensionally stable. I have thought of using Iroko (an african hardwood) which brings the price down 370 pounds but as a newbie to the world of wood, I don't know what alternatives there are?

Does anybody know where I can get a better price on either oak or Iroko or suggest some alternatives?

Thanks

Mike

Mike,
Got a bloody big stack of pallets here if they are any good to you ? :whistle:

Cheap.

.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hemsworthlad

Hi mike, Why wood. . well more why this quality of wood? dont get me wrong I love wood especialy quality woods and if it,s for looks then I understand.
But if it,s for strength then it will be a lot lot stronger and cheaper using steel and ali combo. . . To give you some idea I,ve just bought 10*7.5mtr lengths of 50*50*3mm box section for £180.
From this I,ve built 2*9*7ft frames for my garage doors, 2*9*6ft and 1*4*6ft frames for gates and all the frame work for my 1500*1300 project and still got left overs!!

My opion is that Oak and Iroko etc are fantastic for making furniture and gates Etc. . . but shite for a making quality CNC machine.:whistle:
(No wood is dimensionally stable enough in the CNC world)
Compared to metal they will work out both more expensive and second best. . . . . you may as well save your money and take john up on his offer or a close second make it out of MDF.:heehee:

If you got to have wood give beach a look or red cedar both good straight grain woods and cheaper than oak.

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Thanks for your comments - I came to that conclusion as well, so now I'm looking at the aluminium box sections sold by Hepco - I'm sure it won't cost me £400!

Kind regards

Mike

Hi Hemsworthlad

Thanks for the link to this site. It looks very useful. I will go the way of using aluminium framing and I will do a CAD drawing of a version of the Solsylva design using the framing and do some calcs to make sure of the sizing etc. But it seems like I will be able to do the frame for a 1000mm x 650mm CNC for under the £400 I've been quoted

Thanks Again

Mike:wave:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kip

lmfao :D :beer:

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Hi Kip

Thanks for the offer, but I think I will be going the aluminium box section route. Just have to do some CAD drawings and a few calcs to check the strength and stiffness of this approach.

Regards

Mike

The L section is the type of thing you see display cases made out of.
the H section is what cyber criminals are now using instead of iron bars.

Have you ever noticed in the media someone always gets attacked with an iron bar. ?

I must have 5 ton of steel stock in my workshop and I'd be hard pressed to lay my hands on a length just like that.
And when I do need some have you seen the price of it ?

I'd like to know how these low life's can just find a piece lying about handy.??

.

Yea im planing to use KJN to for my new machine, i spoke to a girl on the phone not so long ago now, seemed like a nice bunch of people to deal with.

How accurate was the "cut to lenth" service from them ? Cant remeber her name now (sorry if your reading this) but "she" said they would be cut to a 2mm tolerance.

An ordinary wood mitre saw will wass thru this alloy section with no problems.
Nice clean cut and square.

You will need to clamp it to the back fence, don't rely on just holding it and use goggles and a smock / overalls or something as the chips come keen on your arms.

I have a real simple one from Aldi, I think it was £19.99 and it makes brill job but I did fit a finer blade, again from Aldi, two blades for a tenner.

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I'v got an Ali 60T i think it was on my cheap Argos £24.99 table saw, "all rounder" i think the blade said, got the blade from a guy in france for about £8...go's through ali nice.

ok thanks Dave.