Re: Re: wrong guy, but have servo question.

Marcus,

Nice post, with some good points!
For a "going" commercial enterprise, I believe your comments are well
placed. But...

Many of the people here do not have the need for, or the experience
to design, a VMC type machine. They CAN, however, "pick up" a used
kneemill and "see the light at the end of the tunnel". And others
with similar experience will join in to help them.

I have to laugh a little on the "inordinate effort" part though! Roll-
Your-Own/retrofit CNC has evolved to the point of being "nearly" a
bolt-together procedure. MUCH easier than 10, or even 5 years ago! As
you noted, much less expensive too!

Gordon Robertson, AKA smoke, HAS designed a new cnc "base" machine.
But it's no Haas.

What you propose IS viable. But for only a very small group, IMO. The
person who can save the most(good knowledge, experience, and skills)
will be the least likely to pursue this path. He or She will just BUY
the VMC, and get back to work!

The person who wants to do what you are suggesting, who doesn't have
the above benefits of skill, knowledge, and experience will need to
either spend a LOT of money paying those who DO, or spend
an "inordinate effort"(learning to weld, for example) on a "hopeful"
return (hope that the "proposed" machine has been worth it)

Most will prefer to attack the problem in the way Jon A has
suggested: Start with what you have. Use it the best you can, make
money, and re-invest in your tool capabilities. The "bootstrap"
or "leapfrog" approach.

Please understand that I AGREE with your basic point ( to be sure
your efforts result in the machine you NEED). Many people DO tend
to "bite off" too little; maybe because they see the results of so
many others who have "bitten off" too much! :-)

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

>what I was pointing out is that this choice leads to some
>significant compromises in the performance of the machine.
>I was making my comparisons from the point-of-view of a commercial
>user whose choice has to compete with other brands of CNC on the
>market.<snip>
>Why are you spending this inordinate effort on the CNC guts and then
>bolting it on to such a limited machine?
>If you really LOVE tinkering, then my comments obviously are of no
>importance, but if you're thinking in terms of using a machine like
>this in a commercial application, and are hoping to save
>bucks...have you really made the best choice?
>Has anyone of you out there considered building a decent machine
>base to take all this incredible effort on the CNC guts?
>Even if you farm out all of the milling and surface grinding, I bet
>you could come up with a pretty decent machine base for less than
>the cost of a kneemill.
>Just some sobering thoughts, guys
>Marcus