CNC Machines

[RoboMaster]

We thought about making our own CNC, but didn't think it'd be worth the time, effort, and money. It's a pretty big project (at least for us). We've also thought about buying one, but that also is quite expensive and not worth it for what we do in FIRST.

I would totally agree with rahilm to get a manual mill or talk to local machine shops. One of our parents/mentors co-owns a machine shop and is always very willing to make whatever we can think of (unfortunately, we haven't thought of much for him). A manual mill is also great as rahilm said, if you can afford it. See if you can get a used one.

Most of the time there isn't a ton of use for a CNC. But every once in a while you'll find it would have been really handy. We've asked the machine shop to make a couple brackets and drill holes for gear sprockets. There are teams out there that machine really cool "trick parts" that can be the highlight of their robot or drive system. On a related note, there are a bunch of teams that machine their own wheels. I think that's a little overkill, but to each his own.