[JPR428]

Hello all

Firstly I'd like to say I'm glad I found this forum.

I've been a hobby machinist for many years and also run a small fabrication company making railings and gates and the time has come to move into the CNC world.

I want a machine for hobby use which often involves making small hexapod robots. So plastic and aluminium machining and pcb engraving would be the main jobs.

The machine I've been looking at is the MDL-3-BS from Marchant Dice. I like the size of it and it looks sturdy but I have been unable to find anyone who has experiance of it. Has any one here used one?

If not what machine of a similar size would you suggest.

Although the machine is not really for work use I should be able to pay for it with my company so not straining my own wallet and I have a budget of £2000-£3000.


Many thanks in advance for your help.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Hi and welcome to the zone,

I have no personal experience of these machines but I do know they have been mentioned here a couple of times. If you do a search you should find something and you could post there asking for opinions.

I would question the seller and get his opinion about the kind of work (mainly the aluminium milling) you want to use it for; it may not be rigid enough. He’s a member here so he might jump in and provide some information about the capabilities of his machines.

Good luck,
John

[Kipper]

Looks pricey....not sturdy, Unsupported rails all-round......It's your cash

[JPR428]

Thanks for the advice.

I've been searching google and reading every website I can find to learn as much as possible to hopefully make an informed choice before I buy.

Kipper, you mention the unsupported rails. From what I understand, supported rails are attached to the machine along their full length. Is this correct?
It sounds alot more rigid. Would it be possible to give an example of a machine like that.

Am I right in thinking that ballscrews are a must for aluminium machining or can trapezoidal screws give good results. I think I would prefer ballscrews even though they cost more.

Many thanks

[Kipper]

Supported rails are certainly stronger...they also damp the noise a tad......Unsupported rails are overgrown guitar strings With a budget of £3K I'd want the PC and the router too supported rail

[marchantdice]

1. Please send your enquiry direct....
2. Aluminium and MDL-3-BS, We would advise purchasing the MDL-3-BSX with the addition of the square Hiwin style profile rails and carriages on all 3 axis, as these have many advantages over the supported rails....
3. Ballscrews, without a doubt supplied as standard..
4. Price, yes for £3000.00gbp we offer a turnkey solution, including PC, Software and router included....
5. Manufactured in the UK in our additional new Factory Unit.

Supported rails, ok for the Y axis (where the load is "downward"), from years of experiance try to avoid using them on the X and Z, use the adjustable type

[marchantdice]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...e=STRK:MESE:IT

The majority of our machines are custom builds. Euro card (PCB) up to 7000mm long....applications: concept / demo machines, PCB's, cake icing, ice sculpture, spot welding, milling, jewlery.....and one extreme example to show the quality our machines can perform to: following a police investigation we were informed that a customer manufactured a die for producing counterfit coins...."I'm not suggesting this is a way to make you purchase pay LOL!!!"

[JPR428]

Thanks for the reply Marchant Dice. I appreciate it. I will email you directly with my questions.



I have been reading as many threads on here as possible and the websites of all the machines mentioned and am beginning to understand what is a good machine and what isn't but I'm sure I'll be back with more questions before long.

Thanks.

[JPR428]

Hi

I emailed Marchant Dice with my enquiry on Tuesday but haven't received a reply. I sent it to [email protected]. Is this the correct email address for enquiries? How long before you can send me a reply.

Thanks.

[marchantdice]

Replied Tuesday @14:00 requesting actual travel required, phone number and we could then advise leadtime?

[JPR428]

Thanks for replying Marchant Dice. For some reason your email didn't come through to me. Would it be possible to resend it.

As soon as I receive it I will send any details you need.

Many thanks.

[BobWarfield]

For the work you describe, especially the aluminum work, I would go with a conventional mill rather than a router style gantry. You'll get more precision and rigidity. Given the price quoted here, you can buy quite a nice mill and all the trimmings. Take a look at what Hoss has done with a Sieg X2 for example.

Best,

BW

[philbur]

Looks like a pretty big envelope for only 80 kgs. If you are only making small hexapod robots why sacrifice rigidity for such a large envelope.

Phil

[marchantdice]

This is why we talk directly to the customer, anyone can sell a machine but is it the right machine for the job? Our bespoke builds can be produced to customer specifications!

However most customers prefer the larger gantry design as you never know when you have to machine larger components....

Note, we also sell "conventional CNC mills"

[Kipper]

This is why we talk directly to the customer, anyone can sell a machine but is it the right machine for the job? Our bespoke builds can be produced to customer specifications!

However most customers prefer the larger gantry design as you never know when you have to machine larger components....

Note, we also sell "conventional CNC mills"

Do you sell those without any cnc controls? Any links to those?

[philbur]

But you have already recommended:

"We would advise purchasing the MDL-3-BSX with the addition of the square Hiwin style profile rails and carriages on all 3 axis, as these have many advantages over the supported rails...."

and you haven't spoken to the guy yet.

A big envelope with 80 kgs might be fine for icing a cake but it's going to struggle with that unexpected V8 engine block recondition. A clear example of biggest is not always best.

Phil

This is why we talk directly to the customer, anyone can sell a machine but is it the right machine for the job? Our bespoke builds can be produced to customer specifications!

However most customers prefer the larger gantry design as you never know when you have to machine larger components....

Note, we also sell "conventional CNC mills"

[marchantdice]

Sorry, all our machines are CNC controlled..

Do you sell those without any cnc controls? Any links to those?

[Kipper]

Sorry, all our machines are CNC controlled..

Ah...that's OK I'll bin your controls then Any chance of a web link to them? :cheers:

[JPR428]

I am considering a conventional mill as well. I like the idea of the gantry style because of the potential of larger x-y travel. I've been looking at the Syil X5 which has 400mm of x travel and seems like a good machine. I would prefer more y travel but 160mm is still good.

As well as hexapod robots I've built dozens of other machines over the years and most seem to have a large number of aluminum plates in them, like in these photos of the gearbox from a 1/10 scale tank I'm making.
(By the way, the 3rd picture is of a different gearbox to the first 2)




What I am hoping to do is to cut a sheet of aluminum large enough to make all the parts for the project I'm working on, clamp it to the machine and have all the components drilled and profiled in one operation.

Does anyone use a gantry style machine to mill aluminum and what are the results like?

[Kipper]

Not a gantry machine but....It's a Tank part!.....1:6th Stuart drive sprocket.

Why not plasma or waterjet the parts out of large sheets?




Not found any milling machines on any Marchantdice sites yet.....