Small machining centers

I went to a show recently and I saw a machining centre that was a
little larger than an office desk.

That would be ideal for us as the tooling we make is maximum the size
of a dinner plate. 90% is small than 100 diameter.

Would anybody be able to recomend a company ?


Regards
Giorgis

PS: We are in Sydney Australia

 

Giogis

Small machining centers are cute, but most of them (the ones that I've seen
anyway)
are scarcly better than toys. Of course, that may be all you need, but I'd
think real carefully before laying out cash.

I've been machining parts for about 35 years. One thing I know is an
absolute. If you want accuracy and repeatability, you have to have
ridgidity. Ridgidity usually requires mass, "dead mass". In this vein, the
best small machines I've seen are made of polymer concrete or mehanite, but
are somewhat larger than a desk. They are also pricey, being designed for
high speed and extreme accuracy.

Have you given any thought to the toolroom CNC's by Fadal and Haas ???

Mark

 

buy a dremel grinder kit, and find an old plotter.
Most postprocessors can be doctored up to run it.
Instead of it turning a diameter, it will move a light table by use of a
simple gear rack. Have the post processor divide y moves by pi.
Great for cutting plastic and wood. You can even get tricky and have a z
feed because some plotters can adjust the pressure of the pen with a code.
(don't try this at home)

 

"news.readfreenews.net" <>
wrote in message

pressure of the pen with a code.

I had to check the headers on this post. I was sure
it came from
alt.rec.crafts.metalworking They make variable
speed dremels now too.

 

Besides size what are your other requirements. What type of materials
are you machining? How many axis do you need? Does it need to be an
enclosed machine? Do you require an auto tool changer? Other requirements?

 

A dremel grinder kit ... Sounds very inventive but I require
accuracies to the level of atleast 0.01mm I also require at least 4
axis,
and considering we make tooling out of aluminium that
the dremel kit may not be quite what I am after.


Thank you to those that responded, this is the info I got

www.cncteknix.com
www.allmachinetools.com/vmc10/vmc10_cnc_machining_center.htm
www.Minitechcnc.com

It is a good start.

Giorgis

 

http://www.brother-usa.com/machinetool/info/tc32b/tc32b_ove.html

 

You could have a look at the Haas Office Mill. Won't be cheap though.

http://www.haascnc.com/VMC_MODEL_OM.asp#officemill