milling aluminum

sadisticiron

has anyone thought about or have set their machines up to mill aluminum. i was thinking about setting up another z axis to hold a router spindle but was wondering if anybody has done it or has an idea. i am thinking of doing a few things not so much production work

jeepsr4ever

These machines are not setup to take machining forces. The main issue with machining forces are acceleration and the angle of the force. Some mfgs will advertise a CNC plasma/CNC router but to do one well means you will not do the other well. Take DTHC for instance if you have a DTHC controlled Z axis you cannot route with it. But if you dont have DTHC you can do some routing but the system must be setup for it meaning larger/wider gear racks and slowing down acceleration on the motors...ect.