Hobby milling

Draft

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Introduction

According to Roland milling machines manufacturer, retrieved 15:13, 15 February 2012 (CET), “Subtractive Rapid Prototyping (SRP) - starting with a solid object and removing unwanted material - has several advantages over traditional rapid prototyping. Significantly less expensive than rapid prototyping machines with the same resolution, SRP machines mill a wider range of materials that cost less and have no need for chemicals or post finishing work. Plus, they produce a superior finish.”

See also:

• fab lab
• 3D printing
• Vinyl cutting Silhouette Cameo

Hardware

All the entries concern hobby mills, i.e. not the kind you would use to work with steel and other dangerous materials.

Entry level consumer mills

Roland iModula

Roland iModela iM-01 Hobby Mill.

• Price: About $1000, 600 Euros
• Cutting area: 4 x 3 inches (1.5 in vertical). This is rather small.
• Includes the iModela Creator design software
• Materials: Wax, plastic, light wood, etc.
• Support site: http://icreate.rolanddg.com
• As of feb 2012, the EU support site doesn't include a usable list of national redistributors ...

This model has a reputation of milling very slowly, e.g. days for a smaller model.

Links:

• Mini 3D mill is like a mini 3D printer, except the exact opposite (Dvice.com, retrieved 15:13, 15 February 2012 (CET))
• Roland's New CNC Hobby Mill, Make Magazine, retrieved 15:13, 15 February 2012 (CET)

Entry level desktop mills

Lumenlab micRo

CNC Robots

• Price: This model is either available as kit ($700) or assembled ($1300). Plus a price for
• This model also can engrave, pint on fabric, draw/plot and 3D printing (with a seringue ?)
• Materials: Wood, metal (which one ?), PCBs
• Work area: 32.3cm X 29.8cm X 8.5cm
• Resolution: +/-.001 inches

Lumenlab m3

This is a larger model of the micRo (above)

• Price: $1800 assembled or $1000 in a kit.

Desktop mills

Desktop mills are part of the official MIT Fab lab 2.0 specification (see also [1] (FabWiki)

Roland Modela MDX series

Roland MDX-15/20 Scanning and Milling Machines

• accepts IGES, DXF and STL files, i.e. typical CAD/CNC formats
• include a 3D scanner
• Materials: Wood, Plaster, Resin (modeling wax, styrenform), Chemical wood, Aluminum (A5052 according to JIS), Brass

MDX-15:

• 9.6 kg
• 152.4 mm x 101.6 mm x 60.5 mm
• Price: About $3500

MDX-20

• 13.7 kg
• 203.2mm x 152.4mm x 60.5mm
• Price: About $5000
• Currently (Feb 2012), this is the suggested model in MIT list