I bought “yet another” Machine

Yes, it is another CNC machine, but I probably will not be making molds with it.  Its a gantry style CNC machine sometimes called a bridge mill.  Its less about the rigidity required for efficiently machining metal, and more about the larger foot print for machining sheet goods.  This one has a working envelope of 48 by 48 inches.  I have really wanted something in the 60 by 120 inch range for full size sheets of most things I’m likely to run across, but I just couldn’t justify the cost.  At 48 by 48 it will manage half sheets of plywood, or half sheets (they do come in larger sizes) of sheet metal.  This machine is complete with a controller, and its not the same as any other machine I run, so I get to learn to run a new control system to use it.  Fortunately it mostly uses a truncated set of the Fanuc standard instruction set I am already familiar with.  The company I bought it from builds them “on demand,” so that means it will likely be a month of more before I see it.

I’ve had a CNC router before.  A much smaller, much cheaper, much less rigid machine.  If you have seen any of the wooden plaques I have made in the past.  I made them on that machine.  This new machine will likely get used for some of that same type of work, but I have other ideas for it.  Plaques.  Wood assembly kits for dollhouse, and bird houses.  Gaming boards.  Signs (maybe).  All kinds of things.  One of the first projects will probably be all the pieces for a bunch of storage drawers for the shop.  Most of my tools are in the back of the shop, but whenever I work on vehicles like the recent projects to add electric running boards, and a gooseneck hitch to the new truck I need my tools at the front.  I think I’ll convert two bays of shelves in the front to drawers for a mechanics set out of my tools.  I have lots of tools.  I’ll spend a lot less time walking to the back of the shop for another tool I need to complete a job on a vehicle.   Anyway, cutting out a bunch of pieces for wooden drawers should be a great shakedown for the new CNC machine.