3d printing to CNC

[GEOFFREY]

Here comes my "bias" again. For the size and type of material you want I think you should be building a fixed gantry moving table machine. G.

[Philly]

Here comes my "bias" again. For the size and type of material you want I think you should be building a fixed gantry moving table machine. G.

With the sizes he wants would he not be better off converting a mini mill?

[GEOFFREY]

With the sizes he wants would he not be better off converting a mini mill?

The original post indicated that it would be useful to be able to have the option to sometimes cut something a bit larger, so I was thinking of a working area of maybe 300mmx300-400mm - not possible with a minimill. G.

[Swarfing]

Programming Arduinos and community built reprap software my money is on LinuxCNC??????

Maybe build a cnc mill and plan the second 3d printer build and go for a REPSTRAP that can double as a cnc router?

[Ricardoco]

Programming Arduinos and community built reprap software my money is on LinuxCNC??????

Maybe build a cnc mill and plan the second 3d printer build and go for a REPSTRAP that can double as a cnc router?

To be fair i said Mach3 for simplicity, cos the documentation for linux cnc aint great.. i suppose it would be if it were updated as much as the software.. but the chap maybe good at Linux I personaly think its crap IMHO LOL (oh 30 years as software engineer lets me say that) LOL i know Jonathan likes it as well. but when the hardware side of things is sorted he will have a better idea of where he is and then who knows LinuxCNC could be the way for him..

Rick

[Swarfing]

Rick you will be telling me that Fortran is cutting edge next...lol! Even Jonathan was against LinuxCNC..Until he actually tried it. Maybe because he actually sat and read the documentation mind you may have changed his mind

IT Performance Engineer tells me you are wrong ;-)

[Ricardoco]

Rick you will be telling me that Fortran is cutting edge next...lol! Even Jonathan was against LinuxCNC..Until he actually tried it. Maybe because he actually sat and read the documentation mind you may have changed his mind

IT Performance Engineer tells me you are wrong ;-)

Ok well we will have to disagree then and i have tried it.

Computer Science degree says i have my own opinion LMAO..

[Jonathan]

Even Jonathan was against LinuxCNC

That's not the first time someone's said that, so it's about time I pointed out that I was never against LinuxCNC. I just didn't recommend it until I had tried it myself. In May 2010 I said this in a post:

I'm using Mach3 at the moment, I intend to change to EMC.

It just took me over a year to get round to it! I changed when I started cutting an array of parts from an expensive (2400*740*20mm) sheet of aluminium, and had a problem with Mach3 which I've never found the reason for.

Anyway, so I'm not compelled to delete my own post for going off topic...

If you're happy with 150x150mm, then a milling machine would be the best option. Unfortunately quite a lot of the small milling machines have very limited Y-axis travel, so you wont find many with 150mm. For example this one is quite popular but it's only got 145mm Y-travel. If you can't find one, which ideally would be second hand to save money, then making a fixed gantry machine is the next strongest option.

Another reason to get a milling machine is the versatility of the tools you can put in the spindle. For example if you need to put bearings in these parts, then just milling the bearing pockets almost certainly wont be accurate enough, however with a milling machine you can put a boring head in it and bore out the bearing pockets to get the perfect fit.

[AVRnj]

Everyone, thanks much for the replies.

Very helpful!

I am going to spend the day reading the build logs and try to find some good starting info!