Quote Originally Posted by d4cnc View Post
When you say steel requires more skills etc.. you mean the frame of the machine? Or everything?


I wouldn't be able to get it right with a mitre saw, a little welding & filing I presume?
Would I need to outsource to a metal worker to cut and weld for me? Or is trusting that to a stranger not good enough perhaps.. Is the problem not so much the cutting but the aligning everything square and level?
By skills I meant the skills to use the tools you have. Just because someone has the correct or best tools doesn't mean they can use them better than a skilled man with basic hand tools.!! . . . . IME Often they can't.

I can't answer your question whether you could get it right with basic tools has I don't know your skill level.? Only you know that.

What I'm saying is that to build a machine that is accurate, and lets face it whats the point if not, or strong enough to cut steels CORRECTLY needs certain amount of skills/tools and abilty. This is in both construction and fine setup has they go hand in hand.

My experience with out sourcing steel work is that while often they are very fine welders or fabricators they don't fully get what your trying to achieve when it comes to a CNC frame so they will weld it like any other structure unless instructed otherwise. While strong this often leads to higher distortion of metal and more work for you down the line when trying to get level or planer surfaces.

If you do the welding your self you fully control the heat and to some degree the distortion of the frame so saving or lowering work.
It's wrongly assumed that you need perfect looking runs of weld beads and the frame needs the bejesus welding out of it for strength. It's perfectly possible to build a nice strong frame if you have never welded before with just a little practice.
Grinder is your best friend when welding skills are low and resemble pigeon shit.! The fact that heat needs to be kept to a minimum is also an advantage to inexperienced welder because all you need is short welds or lots of tack welds spread heat out over time.

If you cock up whip off the welds with the grinder and start again.!!

The accurecy is partly down to how you approach the build and what tools/machines you have available. I won't blow smoke up your jacksy and say it's easy because without machines and know how to use them it's not easy achieving accurecy required for good machine. Strength comes from design and materials along with Fab skills but no point having one without the other so you need to either account for this and get the machinery and skills to use it or again out source. Which doesn't sit well with a low budget.!!

Cutting hard materials really and quickly shows any weak spots on a machine and why I say cutting metals requires whole different approach and to some degree skill set. Do-able yes and has been done many times, easy NO NOT AT ALL.!!!

Routers cutting softer materials are much more forgiving with higher tolerence for error or lower skills of the builder.!! . . . . Hell even I can build a good one so anybody can. . Lol

With only £1k forget steels is my advise.!