CNC Mill/Router?

[Steven Smith]

I hear good things about Velox, so not trying to dissuade.

3005 has a CNC Router Parts Pro series 4'x8'. In retrospect, i would have done a 4'x4' unless you have an excess of shop space (we don't).

The machine has had a few hiccups and learning curve moments, some due likely to being assembled quickly, being on a base that isn't perfect, etc. Some are due to Mach 3 and a few little oddities in the control software. Some are true design issues.

All that being said, roughly a season and a half after we got it, I'm pretty pleased with the results. We've upgraded it to an eBay 2kW spindle and added a vacuum for chip clearing, air blast for chip clearing and some cooling, and either manually follow with coolant or dry cut depending on the material.

With proper CAM to do roughing and finishing passes, I can do acceptable press fit bearing holes in aluminum. On 6061T6, we cut at ~40IPM on a 3/16" single flute bit at ~0.05" per pass. We can hold a 3/16" drill bit into the router (jobber length) to get acceptable rivet patterns (might get carbide soon). 5052 aluminum (for bent parts) is a bit more troublesome and we have to stay on the coolant, but it works. Polycarb/acrylic/wood/etc all cut just fine with lots of margin of error.

One big lesson learned for us (and any router) is how important work holding is. The preferred method to cut aluminum is with an upcut bit to clear chips, but it also lifts the material. If you don't have adequate work holding the material will bend upwards and vibrate and rub against the bit. We have a sacrificial MDF table, and we layout our parts with screw holes every 5-6" inches around the edges of the part, then screw it down tightly. A vacuum table would be a better solution, but we don't have the time/money to retrofit.

Talk to them about the "DIY" electronics kit that has the same components as the pre-built ones. If you can do your own enclosure and wiring, you say ~$500-750.