[magnets]

Personally I don't like plasma cutters for FRC applications. They aren't super accurate (compared to waterjets), and they are expensive and a pain to run. Our team has a CNC router that can cut aluminum (shopbot 4' x 4'), a cnc 3 axis mill, and a really old bridgeport with a DRO.

We make 70% of parts on the bridgeport, 25% on the shopbot, and maybe 5% on the cnc mill.

If you don't have a good bridgeport with DRO/a good lathe, get one of those first.

Cutting sheet aluminum on a cnc router isn't totally ideal, cooling/lubrication is a little trick, and the parameters take a bit to get dialed in, but there is a massive amount of flexibility. We make things out of foam, plywood, and HDPE all of the time.

If you already have a bridgeport/lathe/other cnc machine, you could invest in a plasma cutter, but it depends on your team. Come up with a spreadsheet that shows you if the machine can save you money in the long run compared to sending parts out to be machined.