DIYbanter - View Single Post - Need to find a cnc machine for prototyping. Any suggestions?

wrote:
I need to find a cnc machine that I can use to create prototypes. Our
company already has many cnc machines but these are large, designed for
production purposes, have all the bells and whistles on them and
require very skilled workers.

My department often needs to have a piece of plastic milled out, holes
drilled - all the basic things you would do with virtually all cnc
machines. My department does everything from designing electronic
ciruits to building prototypes of products, so we are not cnc skilled
people.

What I am looking for is a cnc machine that is relatively small. It
should either sit on a bench or desktop or on its own table that can be
carted around. It should allow me to mill out surfaces and drill holes.
It should either come with software that I can use to create 2D parts.
I'm not interested in milling 3D. If it gets that complex, then it can
be done on our production machines. It would be nice if the Z axis can
move up and down at some variable speed for drilling holes, depending
on the material to be cut.

In summary, the cnc machine should be simple and can be programmed by
someone not skilled as a cnc operator.

A friend of mine says that cnc machines out of Taiwan are pretty good
and low cost (relative to other countries). Any suggestions on
manufacturers?

Thanks
Johann

Go to: alt.machines.cnc

Randy