Cutting and milling...

[Frio]

Hello everybody,

I was wondering how you guys go about milling parts from aluminium and cutting carbon fiber sheets.
I read previous posts about this, but it's still unclear to me, sorry :drool:

Essentially I would like to know a little more about the following:

- do you use industrial grade CNC machines or hobbyist (CNC or not) mills?
- do you use the CNC mills also to cut the carbon fibre sheets?
- what CAD/CAM software?

A little help would be really appreciated, as I would like to produce some prototype parts, and I am trying to investigate how expensive it would be to purchase the necessary machinery...

Thanks!!

Frio

[mark christopher]

cheaper for carbon fibre to ask hansell composites or fibre lyte who will work from drawings and do one off at a good price

[dave g]

i use:
rhino cad for 2d/3d drawings
rhino cam for 3d toolpaths and gcode export
sheetcam for toolpaths in 2d drawings and gcode export

mach3 control software for milling machine
tormach cnc 4 axis milling machine

as mark says tho fibre-lyte can do the carbon for you if you have a dxf drawing.

[Frio]

Thank you guys,

these are good tips.
I am aware of fibre-lyte for the carbon parts, and I am certainly going to use them, but I was wondering what would be a fully independent setup, as even a good company like fibre-lyte cannot cut carbon and send it back to you minutes after the drawing is finished... :drool:

Frio

[dave g]

depends what your budget is :)

the tormach setup is around £6k by the time its come into the country with all the shipping duties etc...but to buy a similair machine over here would be £10 upwards.

you can get a basic setup off ebay for 2-3k which will do small modelling jobs.

and cutting carbon..carbon eats milling bits like a fat kid eats cakes...

[Frio]

Very interesting, I guess most people access already existing machines rather than purchasing mills for the purpose of hobby then... :)

What are similar machines in Europe and why not a tormach then?

Cheers,

Frio