Bench top CNC suggestions

[Andrew Schuetze]

I need some suggestions from teams who have experience with small cnc mills in a high school technology lab. My principal has a thousand or so of unspent technology money and I have first crack at it. I teach classes on Inventor and was thinking the next logical step would be to have students actually create some of thier projects using MasterCAM or ... I really don't know what I need to know to look for such machines. I visited one site this afternoon and found table top mills that could handle up to a 12" by 6" part.

What do I need to be looking for and where? What is a good price? I am thinking that we could then begin to design robot parts.

Thanks in advance,


APS

[sanddrag]

The cheapest CNCs I have found are at http://www.maxnc.com/ but it sure doesn't look like you can do a whole lot with them because they are so small. It might be good for educational purposes though. Their lowest model with a real motor and spindle comes in a little above your budget though.

[Doug G]

I had a similar experience this past summer. I managed to get ~$4000 from a few different budgets and purchased the Microkinetics 4-Axis milling system. It's a nice setup but I find that the g-code for intricate parts is tough for most students. However, I teach them Inventor and with MasterCAM the parts convert easily. Then you just got to get the right postprocessor for your mill and learn about toolpaths and job setups. We plan on using this season to just learn more about CNC and hope to use it to make a few small parts here and there. Next year, I'll work it into the curriculum some more. Be warned that a small benchtop CNC won't make your parts that fast. We made a few sample transmission plates out or 3/16" Al plate and it took several hours (setup and cutting). With an 1/8 endmill we take passes about 1/16 deep at a time (it's all about speeds and feeds!).

[cmaccoy]

Mastercam is a pretty user friendly software (won the ease of use award a couple years ago...) i think thats good for your students.. Also i think you should get one of the routers on the site Sanddrag suggested (i've never seen them that cheap, thats awsome). Routers are also usually what schools purchase. But if you ever have the chance to get a 4 or 5 axes machine i'd take it because those are probably the coolest things ever.

[Cory]

We use GibbsCAM here at WPI in the Manufacturing Engineering and Technology class I'm taking. It's very easy to use (I don't know about how easy compared to MasterCAM, but we learned how to use it in less than an hour, and that included the CAD component of it as well)

Any kind of CAM software is going to be pretty expensive though.

[Andrew Rudolph]

Back in my high school we used machines from intelitek . And MasterCam to draw. They are good enough for most of the stuff you need for a first robot. We had a proLight 1000. We had another machine but i dont remeber who made it.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by cmaccoy

.. Also i think you should get one of the routers on the site Sanddrag suggested (i've never seen them that cheap, thats awsome). Routers are also usually what schools purchase.

I saw routers on a few sites and wasn't sure what they were capable of doing. Do they take drills and end mills? I was thinking they are more or less limited to etching and chamfer/fillet...

Thanks,

APS