wrote:
I just realized that I've never mentioned what material we work with..
We use 6061 aluminum for everything. The only steel on our robot is the
gears and shafts. So the only real machining of steel we'll do is
keyways.
Does that change any of your advice? (esp concerning accuracy.. im
guessing alu is easier to machine..)

Tatsunori Hashimoto. Harker Robotics

Hi Tatsunori,

Be sure the school has sufficient personal injury liability insurance,
that it has or can obtain competent instructors, that the parents all
sign permissions slips, and that your entire class and the instructor
follow all the other advice from all these other gentlemen responding
to you.

That being said:

I'm window shopping for my own machine, and inexpensive but idiot
proof (BUT NOT CHILD SAFE !!!!) choices seem to be offered by MAX NC
(http://www.maxnc.com/). If you have a couple thousand to spend, I
would recommend that the school buy the MAXNC 10 CL-B.

Essentially, the CNC has already been done for you in a hassle-free
manner, and the owner evidently stands by his product. The only
problem might be shipping expense, this place is in Chandler, AZ (about
5 miles drive from where I live).

I can afford to talk like a naive idiot (at least in the eyes of some
of the people in this group and a lot of others) because not only do I
have no pride left, I'm also not afraid to speak up and ask lots of
questions just to learn... I've also found a friend who was a CNC
mechanic but was laid off, he is willing to be my tutor until he judges
me competent. Could be a while (he he).

Good luck,

The Eternal Squire