Router recommendation for University

Hello,

Hoping to pick a few brains for some advice, I trust I came to the right place.

There is a total of £6500 to spend exvat. The machine will be used at a University to manufacture small projects and also allow teachers to learn how CAM equipment operates, therefore, it should ideally be suitable for use in secondary schools.

As is often the case with schools/universities, we have a ridiculous deadline to work to. We have to notify the relevant people of which model we wish to acquire by close of play today. I have eyed up the Denford MRC40 which is just shy of £5k exvat, any comments or suggestions on this model or which would be a more suitable alternative?

Any help or guidance will be greatly appreciated and acted upon

Denford are popular with educational establishments, but they are exceptionally expensive. I'm not sure who else to suggest, other than make it yourself/student project...

Looking at this video of theirs, is that a 500w kress spindle on a machine they charge £5000 ex vat for? Jon wasn't kidding when he said they were exceptionally expensive...

Denford MRC 40 - Versatile, Affordable Router, Miller & Engraver - YouTube

That is over price crap. Even with the cost a CE mark an the required insurance an overhead. You could build better then that an have both the machine an training experience together.

Michael

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Originally Posted by m.marino

That is over price crap. Even with the cost a CE mark an the required insurance an overhead. You could build better then that an have both the machine an training experience together.

Michael

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Careful Micheal last time I called something "Over priced crap" I got Banned or nearly Banned . . Lol :bull_head:

If I only had 3 grand I would buy this , Eagle V I have the small version and love it , and Colin who sells them knows his shit and is forever helpfull lol , but if it was a Uni Jonathans suggestion .. a student project to make your own would be a great choice and good for the old CV :)

Oh and I'm making a chilli for tea :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fivetide

If I only had 3 grand I would buy this , Eagle V I have the small version and love it , and Colin who sells them knows his shit and is forever helpfull lol , but if it was a Uni Jonathans suggestion .. a student project to make your own would be a great choice and good for the old CV :)

Oh and I'm making a chilli for tea :)

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I'd sooner cut of my own testicles off with blunt stick than pay 3K for that and could easly build far better than that for £1500.!

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

I'd sooner cut of my own testicles off with blunt stick than pay 3K for that and could easly build far better than that for £1500.!

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Same here - Michaels response applies to that one too! Looks like just a CNC6040 with some paint and better electrics...still limited by unsupported rails and an air cooled spindle, to name but a few things.

l .. hell what do i know about CNC's ! ?? But the Chilli was awesome lol !!

I'd still get someone to build one for me , because I'm not an engineer.. IM AN ARTIST YO KNOW .!..

FiveTide,

Trust me been down the learning curve the hard way myself. To the OP, seriously for the money you are talking about; not only could you build a better machine then the one you pointed too but would also have the practical engineering experience that will do you well out in the real world. There is a lot of crap coming out these days and what folks are saying in their ads should land them in court.

As far as getting banned, hope not, but I can point out with experience and engineering facts where these machines are crap and are lying their back sides off.

Michael

Quote:

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Originally Posted by m.marino

FiveTide,

Trust me been down the learning curve the hard way myself. To the OP, seriously for the money you are talking about; not only could you build a better machine then the one you pointed too but would also have the practical engineering experience that will do you well out in the real world. There is a lot of crap coming out these days and what folks are saying in their ads should land them in court.

As far as getting banned, hope not, but I can point out with experience and engineering facts where these machines are crap and are lying their back sides off.

Michael

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I know what you are saying, the thing is I joined the community to get advice post CNC, I’m getting old now and I have come to the conclusion that I map the path of learning out first, I have a goal and to get there can I cut out things that I don’t need to learn.? If I was to build CNC’s to sell then of course I should learn to make one , but I’m not going down that route, I’m only interested in the end product the CNC gives me, and I doubt I will need more than one CNC machine every 18 months. So to that end I will buy one saving me loads of time, and then can concentrate on the real object of using the machine to accomplish my goals. I don’t mean to hijack the thread but maybe what is needed is a machine to teach how to use it then , I would build one, but at the same time if there are engineering students that could gain some knowledge from building one then you have sated to sets of ambitions and that can only be good.

remember that the machine they choose MUST BE SAFE to use in an educational environment.

I bought one of these new for about £1400 plus vat new. Its a lot more solid than I was expecting being mainly constructed of aluminium profile.

3 Axis A3 Ballscrew Assembled CNC Router Package

I had to do the electronics and mach 3 side of things myself but I doubt I would be able to build the mechanicals for what I paid and the machine does everything I need it to. It recently cut some Aluminium tooling plate, took a while but it got there.

What sort of products are you looking to make? That would dictate what sort of machine you should be looking at.

Denfords are overpriced, some of the little routers/mills are pants but their VMC's like the triac look rather good.

Software is an important factor as well as you don't wont students being put off by having to spend weeks and weeks learning a toolpath generating program like mastercam. Something like cut2d and cut3d are cheap and you can learn them in about 30mins with some guidence from somebody in the know. They are however a lot less powerfull than some of the big cam programs, something that falls between them is Rhino 3d with the Rhino cam plugin. What CAD program does the Uni have? If you have something like solidworks you may be able to get a cam plugin?