CNC Router V1.0 (For Cutting Multiple Materials)

[biketrialsdave]

A axis added - some detail missing.

[biketrialsdave]

Is anyone able to give me a rough order of magnitude for the sort of price I will be paying for having the custom aluminium parts (gantry side etc) machined? I really don't have too much of an idea right now!

Cheers,

Dave

[Wobblycogs]

Just my 2p worth... I'd say you have a lot of designing still to do. My guess is that you will replace some of that extrusion with plate and you'll probably add more (machined) plate into the design. Any guess at a machining cost at this stage would be unrealistic I think. You might also like to consider whether your design will require machining on both sides of any plate as that will increase the cost due to the set up time needed to machine one side, flip the plate and align it accurately for machining on the other side. If you have a look at my design I've specifically made it so that it can all be machined from one side with the exception of some counterbores that I'll do myself. Lets put it this way, I spent a lot more on parts than I did / will on machining costs.

[biketrialsdave]

Thanks for the help, I will try and keep all parts machined one side only.

Slowly but surely I'm starting to make some progress...

[biketrialsdave]

My thread moved?!

[biketrialsdave]

Small update...



Now I've mounted the FF blocks on the outside of the plates I don't think I'll get an off-the-shelf motor mount which will fit over them? So I might need to use pulleys?

[Wobblycogs]

Pulleys are the way forward, they give you flexibility in the final machine and generally make the design simpler. It's slightly more expensive to use pulleys rather than a direct connection and there are more moving parts which means more points of failure but I think that's a small price to pay.

One thing I would say about your design is start pricing it up. I'm guessing those corner connection blocks are the 90x90 ones - they are quite expensive if you need a load of them and they don't result in a machine that is all that stiff (they are great for display stands, not so great for machines). Once you start getting into the nitty gritty of placing components and pricing up I think you'll begin to consider using aluminium plate and box section more.

Looking good though.