What machines do I need for this project?

[TXSteel]

Hello, new forum member here. I also posted on the "Introduce Yourself" page.

I'm trying to figure out what machine(s) I need to make the attached 6061 aluminum parts. A few questions:

1) Would it be impractical for a beginner to attempt these parts on a manual mill? My initial idea was to get X-power feed and move the Y-travel for the curves, but I suspect I need to go CNC. Is that right?

2) My largest part is 26" long. Do I need to cough up the $$ for a machine with 30" X-travel, or can I get good CNC results with multiple setups? "Good" to me would be a tight enough tolerance to line up the screw holes for mounting the neck and keyhead to the maple body of the guitar.

My initial budget was ~3k for making chips fly, but now I'm thinking more than double that . Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[macardoso]

You have a couple tricky parts there for sure.

A machine with sufficient travel would be ideal, but careful fixture design would allow you to work in multiple setups.

Fixture design is a bit of an art. You need to both locate and clamp the part accurately and without deformation.

What tolerances do you need to meet? The neck looks to be a good candidate for a stout router type machine.

I'd be most concerned about machining the keyhead. I see a minimum of 4 setups to machine the part as drawn.

The neck could be a single setup, and the pedal looks to be done in 2.

 

[TXSteel]

I'm not sure how to calculate a reasonable number, but I don't need extremely tight tolerances for this project. These parts were originally sand casted out of 356 aluminum. I plan on creating a hole template from the assembled parts in Fusion 360 so I can pre-drill the holes in the body for mounting the parts accurately.

Which CNC routers should I look at?

 

[Larry$]

Which CNC routers should I look at?

What is your budget?
How much are you going to use it?
Home made or commercial?
How many axis do you need?
Tool changing?
Maximum part size?
I've owned 3 but never made one. But mine were for making a living. We cut sheet goods for commercial casework but also will cut aluminum for the machine shop down the street when it exceeds their machine sizes.
Like with metalworking machines, the heavier the build the faster and cleaner the cuts given the proper tooling and feeds.
Some CNC routers can't run the spindle slow enough for harder metal and still have much power left. Aluminum can be machined at 16,000 rpm if you keep the feeds and coolant up. That's typically what we run with a 3/8" end mill. You will have to provide some means of using coolant. A spray bottle works but gets tiring. Keep your feeds high enough to develop a decent size chip to carry away the heat. Nothing wrong with high spindle speeds just everything needs to be adjusted to match. In your parameters adjust the travel ram speeds so you don't get too slow into the corners. For starting a cut always start the Z ramp outside of the cutting line and use a helical or other curve to come in right on the tangent. The faster the feeds you use the further you want the control to look ahead so it doesn't over shoot the corners.
It works, Have fun.

 

[Cadillac STS]

Could consider spending most of your time doing detailed drawings in Fusion 360 then find a CNC shop that will run them for you. At least check into it and get it priced out with a few bids to have the numbers. Then judge if you would be better off buying your own CNC equipment to make them yourself.

 

[Cadillac STS]

Maybe contact Titans of CNC titansofcnc.com They just moved from California to near Dallas TX. Would be so cool if they did your parts and you could share the experience back here!

 

[MrWhoopee]

Welcome to HM. I admire your ambition, and I don't want to pizz in your Cheerios, but this is not a beginner's project. Previous suggestions to find a CNC shop to make these are spot on. Machining is a very demanding and highly technical trade which requires years to achieve basic competency. Adding CNC programming to the mix makes the learning curve a vertical line. While I generally find having something you want to accomplish is a good way to learn, trying to start with something this complex is a sure way to get discouraged and waste a LOT of money doing it. If you just want to get these parts made, pay someone with the skills and equipment to make them. If you want to learn machining, set your sights lower. Even simple beginner's projects can be very challenging when you're just starting out.

 

[JimDawson]

You ask a tough question here. If this is a 1 off build then farming the work out to a someone who has a CNC machine might be the best solution.

But if you plan on doing a number of different things and want to do your own work then it's time to go down the CNC rabbit hole. Those parts could be done on a manual machine, but it would be soooooo much easier to do on a CNC. A used knee mill with a 10x54 table would meet your work envelope requirement.

 

[TXSteel]

I plan on making four or five of these for myself , but I'm not interested in running a business. I tinker a lot and have way too many interests, so owning the tools would be better for me.

I was looking at doing a Precision Matthews cnc conversion (either PM1030 or PM940), but now I'm wondering if a CNC router + manual PM1025 would be a better direction. I think I need one cnc machine, but a router alone wouldn't be sufficient.

Each guitar requires 40 pieces of a curvy 4" pattern out of 16 gauge steel, so a cnc router would be nice for those.

If I got a CNC router, I'd prefer it to be 3-axis and capable of cutting 16 gauge steel. Is that too crazy? I've never looked at CNC routers before, will research more after work today.

 

[macardoso]

Getting a very stout router would allow you to cut steel sheet, albeit slowly and with much less accuracy than a true milling machine. Perhaps for guitars, that doesn't matter.

Stay away from the aluminum extrusion kits as I think they probably won't have the rigidity you need. I only have heavier stuff so I might be proved wrong there.

Nothing wrong with wanting to get into machining to support your hobby. If making 1 or 2 of these for minimum cost was your only concern then go get them made for you, but owning the equipment allows you to experiment so much more. Welcome to the club!