3020T Capabilities

[Zeeflyboy]

Problem is that 3020/3040/6040 etc are just generic terms and machines do vary quite a lot in actual details of what is fitted, what electronics are there and so on.

In terms of mechanics, they will do a fine job on PCBs and depending on the machine a fairly decent job on composites like FR4/G10 (which is PCB stuff anyway) and CF.

Unsupported rail type (round rails, typically completely unsupported on gantry) will generally have a stab at light aluminium machining, but results will be variable at best. Proper profile supported rail types will do a fairly decent job with light machining once you've got the hang of what you're doing.

Your experience on control systems will probably be quite useful because most machines are not generally up to snuff on the electronics front, although they are generally a bit better than they used to be imo. Be prepared to do a bit of work in grounding everything properly and personally I think a shielded spindle cable at the least is a must have...

CF is a bitch, it wears out normal tools quite quickly. The best tool i've found are coated fishtail type carbide burrs - on the cheaper end you have the uncoated ones, a little more money but worth it for added durability imo are the ZrN coated ones. My personal faves however are the diamond coated ones but they end up a little spendy perhaps.

There is a lot to be said for making a water tray and cutting CF underwater - it improves the cut quality, keeps your tool alive for longer and traps all the nasty fibres and dust far more effectively than any vac filtration system. To that end if CF is on your to-do list I would definitely recommend you avoid an air cooled spindle and go with water cooled instead - you won't get forced air trying to disturb your water tray.

As for alu, with the high speed spindles and low rigidity of the generic chinese machines you really need either 2 flute or single flute in my experience as you can't push fast enough to stop a 3 or 4 flute from rubbing, fairly light cuts but not too slow is the key to getting passable results out of them. If you intend to do much in alu I would personally say you really need to be looking at a machine with profile rails at a minimum or you'll just find yourself wanting to upgrade to a new machine after a while (exactly what happened to me!).

There is of course the option to build your own since you have some machine experience already.