Evening all

[Andy Mac]

Hi all, and thanks in anticipation!

I'm hoping to get some advice on my first CNC router, required for a specific purpose.

I'm an electronics engineer by training, working on military EMC projects, and a background in military aviation but have many engineering related hobbies such as RC Aircraft, electronics, radio, and mechanical engineering.

I have a small bench mill, and a larger (340mm swing) lathe, and my main interest here is building hifi turntables / arms. I have a fair few behind me now. Even though I started out building for myself, I now have a few customers and a fair bit of interest, so to this end I'm looking to improve repeatability, and expand the scope of what I can do.

Anyhow, thanks for having me - I'll go off and post in the machines section to see if I can get some hints as to what I should be looking at!

[magicniner]

A router will potentially give you a larger work area than a mill for a given spend but with reduced mass and rigidity. The results is that lighter cuts are required in the materials it will handle than with a mill in order to avoid spindle deflection and vibration and harder materials.
Have you considered converting your mill to CNC?

[Andy Mac]

I'm looking for a bed size that will cope with a record deck plinth - probably in acrylic - maximum size around 500 x 400 x 50, so my little mill is out. I'd also like it to be able to cope with small aluminium items.