Hi from Canberra Australia
 

This is my first post here although I'm a regular poster on a couple of other forums so I have a good idea on how this stuff works.

I guess I'm probably going to be asking a commonly asked question, so I appologise in advance if it's been asked before - although if that's the case can you point me in the right direction :)

Building a CNC router is partly due to a fascination for the technology and party due to having to manufacture parts for an upcoming project.

Basically I need to machine high speed blades for a ducted fan in aluminium alloy. The machining time to have it done is prohibitively expensive and I can only do so much with my own milling machine and lathes, so a 3 axis CNC specifically designed to make them is justifiable from my perspective. It doesn't need to have a big table, required work size is actually 300mm x 100mm so I guess I'd look at a table which is around 600mm x 450mm or thereabouts.

I understand that only a very limited cut will be possible but isn't a concern, in actual fact that is a benefit in some respects. The major part of the milling will be done on my milling machine, so only the final blade shaping will be done on the router.

I understand that typically these mechmate machines don't have a lot of depth or z axis movement, but that may not be that much of an issue. Although having said that, can you increase the z axis movement limit?

I have about 15 years of experience with AutoCad so I'm quite proficient with 3D modeling and plotting.

The question is, is Mechmate going to be able to do what I want? Or am I best looking elsewhere?

Have you considered putting the stepper motors onto your existing milling machine?