Hi Everyone I would like to introduce myself - I am Jonathan, based in Northamptonshire and I am currently in the market for a CnC router - I think!

I understand steppers and how to drive them and that's about it.

I am not sure if I can make this reality or if what I am after will be out of my budget/justification of the amount of intended use

I have recently been in "sponge" mode soaking up as much info as I can - the pandemic might have worked in my favour as it's stopped any knee jerk purchases from eBay etc that could have turned out to be a poorly thought out approach.

So I want to mill modelling foam to create the type of thing in the picture below which can then be used top vreate a GRP plug - I think I will need a 4th axis?

Ideally I would like to be able to cut from a solid block of foam approx 1500m x 500mm x 400mm (Z) I realise this probably not possibole without ££££££ and I think I may have to cut in sections and join them together.

Last night I pretty much gave up on the idea as too complex, as my brain was addled with info and machines costing £££££ , too far out of my comfort zone - so I am posting here for any pointers that might be able to put a smile back on my face and a dent in my wallet.

I have £1.5-2k to spend

I was tempted to buy a cheapo £100'ish China derived machine which would end up in the skip just to get on learning the software (Mach 3) and g code - would this make sense - any suggestions as to ideal platform - or any other suggestions to get on with the learning wqould be much appreciated.






many thanks for all and advice in advance
Regards
Jonathan