Bench top milling machine?

[Marshal]

Does anyone have any ideas on a commercially available benchtop milling machine with high accuracy? We're looking to remove like 0.003" around a 3D profile from some plastic parts before we paint them, so a small table top machine seems like it'd be the perfect fit. We'd need to be able to have fairly high accuracy and repeatability to take the same amount off each time and have a good enough surface finish that lines wouldn't show through the paint. That tells me we'd need a relatively high RPM, especially when some of the parts would probably require cutters 1/32" or smaller.

 

We just saw something like this at a demo (http://www.intelligentactuator.com/tt-table-top-robot/), and we'd get a motor to mount to the Z-axis, but I don't know if something like this has enough repeatability to do what we want.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

[Newbeeee™]

Haas do the bench top mill - with toolchanger etc

[specv]

Marshal,

Check these out http://www.tormach.com/product_pcnc_770_main.html

[Rotary Ninja]

I was going to say Tormach. A guy I know has been looking into them. Another friend of his bought one and sent a part up he made on it. It looked very good. I didn't know Haas had a benchtop? Will have to look into that.

[Marshal]

Marshal,

Check these out http://www.tormach.c...c_770_main.html

 

Pete,

 

Do you have any experience with those? They seem like they're too inexpensive for a machine like that.

[specv]

I have been looking into one for my own personal use. They are more ridgid than a normal "benchtop" mill because they are built like the big boys using cast iron bases and have 10k spindles. If you are only using it to cut plastic then i would look at something like http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=31662&site=ROCKLER The problem is if you need to hold tight tolerances you will need to pay for it.

[specv]

Haas do the bench top mill - with toolchanger etc

 

If you are talking about the Haas office mill they start at 55k, if you go with haas the toolroom mill starts at 26k.

[Marshal]

I have been looking into one for my own personal use. They are more ridgid than a normal "benchtop" mill because they are built like the big boys using cast iron bases and have 10k spindles. If you are only using it to cut plastic then i would look at something like http://www.rockler.c...62&site=ROCKLER The problem is if you need to hold tight tolerances you will need to pay for it.

 

I was guessing tight tolerance would cost more, that's why I didn't think the Tormach machines seemed like they cost enough to hold the tolerances. We are only cutting plastic for now, but the tolerances are still pretty tight, I think we've got to be within a thou consistently to keep everything so it'll fit back together. In some cases, we might just be taking a couple thousandths of paint off instead of the plastic, so we wouldn't want to touch the plastic at all.

 

I know our hurco could do it, but it's only got an 8k spindle, and is tied up pretty much all the time with other jobs.

 

We had been looking into Datron mills because they're apparently really accurate (and way expensive), but they take up so much room that I don't think they're necessary for these parts we're trying to modify. The biggest one is only 3"x4"x1.5" at the moment, and the volume of parts we're likely to be doing is high enough that it'll tie up any machine for probably the next 6 months to a year.

[specv]

The tormach machines are inexpensive, but they are, in the benchtop world way more accurate and ridgid than the aluminum extruded framed routers.

[Rotary Ninja]

If you are talking about the Haas office mill they start at 55k, if you go with haas the toolroom mill starts at 26k.

 

Neither of which are really benchtop mills. The Tool Room mill is nice for what it is. But still pretty pricey. I ran one and was making some 718 Inco parts on it. They are a little flimsy, but did the job.

[Marshal]

It doesn't sound like Tormach has the accuracy/repeatability we need, according to an email from them.

 

Has anyone worked with these instead: http://www.mdaprecision.com/index.php/

[SledGeek]

http://www.rolanddga.com/products/milling/

[Bucky Cornstarch]

Is floor space a huge issue? One of the advantages of a "normal sized" machine is that you could fixture the table to run multiple parts at a time.

[Marshal]

Is floor space a huge issue? One of the advantages of a "normal sized" machine is that you could fixture the table to run multiple parts at a time.

 

at the moment it's a huge issue, but hopefully won't be an issue within the next few months.

[SledGeek]

Marshal, keep this thread alive if ya can, I would like to know what you purchase and some results and performance details when you can.

[TK-32™]

Marshal, keep this thread alive if ya can, I would like to know what you purchase and some results and performance details when you can.

 

X2!!

I just spent a few hours reading on those Tormachs

[Mr. M]

I know of a few guys that use the Tormachs for knife making and they seem pleased.

[#Rekd™]

What about the Hass office mill?

[Marshal]

Marshal, keep this thread alive if ya can, I would like to know what you purchase and some results and performance details when you can.

 

We're actually looking at purchasing a small spindle and mounting it to our painting robot. At least, that's the current thoughts if we can get the robot running the way we want.

 

The Haas office mill might be too big of a footprint for what I was thinking, but certainly an option. Chances are, we'd need some sort of probing, but I imagine we could do it without probing as well.

 

Now we're being asked to remove between 0.006" and 0.010" on a total of 14 parts per product before we paint them. That's what the customer wants anyway, certainly isn't likely to happen unless they really want to pay! Especially considering some of the parts would probably have to be fixtured multiple times since the surfaces aren't exactly flat. I've got to figure out how to reduce that to just a few parts now, that should be fun.

[Craig Madsen from CM3D]

Are the surfaces that are not flat a consistent angle? If so, get tapered tools. If necessary, get them custom made. You will save tons of time versus fixtures or surface machining.

[Marshal]

Are the surfaces that are not flat a consistent angle? If so, get tapered tools. If necessary, get them custom made. You will save tons of time versus fixtures or surface machining.

 

it looks like some are, which we'd get a tapered cutter for, but there's at least one part that doesn't appear to be a consistent angle. That particular part has to be machined on two opposite sides, so that'll be a pain if the customer is adamant about doing this.