Hobby 5 axis CNC Mill

[Mark_Heli (Mark)]

I have been following an interesting start-up for the past few years called pocketnc who have been working on creating a small desktop 5 axis CNC mill - www.pocketnc.com

When I visited their website this evening, they have just launched their kickstarter campaign - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ref=nav_search

This looks like a amazing product which would have so many uses - machining small parts, model engineering, prototyping, astronomy parts etc.

I could definitely see myself buying one of these when they finally make it to Australia - The current kickstarter launch is only shipping to the US.

There is also a lot of really interesting software available for product design which would complement a small CNC mill for hobby enthusiasts. I recently started an online Tafe course to learn Autodesk Inventor which is 3d digital prototyping software.

I can see that the combination of affordable CNC milling, 3d printers, electronics (e.g. sparkfun), affordable software etc. could open up a whole new realm for amateurs. It almost like the next generation home "workshop".

It would be so much fun to build a small working model engine using something like the pocketnc mill.

Cheers,
Mark

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Hi Mark,
That is one very cool machine there, do they say what it will retail for.
I built myself a 3 axis machine with the potential to add a 4th axis at a later date, I had blogged the build for a few mates to watch it go together.
Have a look if you're interested to see a completely home built machine that started out as a way of making templates for my wife for patchwork quilting but has so much more, it's just up to the imagination I guess.
Cheers
Nico.
http://nico13web.com/diy-cnc-router

[Wavytone]

Now that thing is REALLY interesting, I can see myself after one if these in a couple of years.

I'm also stunned it has taken so long for someone to come up with the idea and the capacity to see it into production.

[Mark_Heli (Mark)]

Originally Posted by Nico13

Hi Mark,
That is one very cool machine there, do they say what it will retail for.
I built myself a 3 axis machine with the potential to add a 4th axis at a later date, I had blogged the build for a few mates to watch it go together.
Have a look if you're interested to see a completely home built machine that started out as a way of making templates for my wife for patchwork quilting but has so much more, it's just up to the imagination I guess.
Cheers
Nico.
http://nico13web.com/diy-cnc-router

Hey Nico,

Wow - what a great CNC router you have built. I am going to spend some time going through your blog in detail. It's great that you have documented the build so well... Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Mark

PS - The pocketnc mills are currently going for ~USD $3500 on the kickstarter campaign.

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Now that thing is REALLY interesting, I can see myself after one if these in a couple of years.

I'm also stunned it has taken so long for someone to come up with the idea and the capacity to see it into production.

I am also surprised that it has taken so long, but I have to say that I am impressed with the ingenuity and determination of the folks at pocketnc.

Cheers,
Mark

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Thanks Mark, yes I realy enjoyed the build, I haven't cut metal with it yet but there's no reason I can't use it for soft metals I've seen similar others on Youtube do it with ease and it's accurate to less than 0.001".

That little five axis is so cool though, and a good price for it to start with.
The only problem I found was the cost of the software to drive it all on top of the machine cost can almost double the all up price and in particular for full 3D CAD/CAM for five axis would cost a bomb.
Then you gotta learne to drive it all, a new ball game if youre not already into 3D CAD.
Great fun learning it all though, keeps you out of the pub

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

If you would consider $3500 for the Pocket NC, consider the Micropronto CNC Micro mill -

http://www.microproto.com/

We have one of these at work. It has bigger travels in every axis (300x150x125mm) bigger than the pocket nC

There are Australian distributors. When we bought it in 2008, it cost about $4000 but that was with a full set of ER16 metric collets. The new ones run on Mach 3 CNC software.

We use it to micro-sample sections of corals, stalagmites and other shell materials prior to lab analysis. These materials are soft and mill very easily.

Any machine like this is not designed to take deep cuts but to take many light cuts. Needs about 1 meter of benchtop on a deep 900mm bench.

joe