Quote:
Originally Posted by Thad House
Do you already have a lathe? I would say that having one is more important then a manual mill, which is more important to have then a CNC. That would be the order I'd purchase things in. I don't know much about specifics to buy, but I know other people on here will have better answers.
|
I know the manual lathe is considered above the CNC on Chief Delphi, but depending on how your team builds, a CNC may be more useful.
For example:
This year, we used all hex shaft on our robot, no encoders, hex collars, spacers, and bearings. The robot frame is gusseted 2x1 aluminium extrusion (pop rivets, plates, holes made by cnc). Each end of the extrusion is faced by our mill so that it is square, all the holes for the pop rivets are made by CNC so that everything lines up perfectly. The gussets are made inhouse on the CNC as well. The custom gearboxes we used on the robot.... You guessed it, machined by our CNC mill. We also have a hex broach, so that we can buy circular collars and make it fit onto our .5 inch hex shaft.
Now, this isn't to say that a Lathe is totally useless, because it isn't. As a team, we under-utilize it. However, depending on what direction your team wishes to take fabrication capabilities, will then dictate what tools you buy.
Also know that my perspective is from a team with access to a large machine shop (see below). This is simply the direction our team has decided to take our machining, a lathe may be more useful to many teams who design for a different chassis/design differently.
955 has 3 Manual Mills, 1 CNC, 3 Lathes, 2 Table Saws, 2 Chop Saws, Sheet Metal Equipment, and 2 CNC routers. + Full on Welding Equipment (Through the high school shop)