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I am toying with the idea of CNC or possibly getting a mill and retrofitting it with CNC. I imagine there is a huge learning curve to retrofit a mill, and I admittedly know nothing about CNC. I have a decent knowledge of CAD and Rhino. My GF is also familiar with 3-D programs and wants to make earrings and jewelry she builds in 3-D programs.

All I would really want to do is headstock inlays, fretboard inlays, and neck carving. She would just be making very small things out of aluminum. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I live in Alaska so I think I may be better off building the table myself if I can't find a mill locally.

Unless you get a mill for next to nothing, it will likely be more expensive than building your own gantry. Since everything you are talking about using it for is relatively small you might want to consider buying a desktop CNC mill, which are sometimes available as kits. What kind of budget are you working with? Are you comfortable with basic metal work such as cutting, drilling, and tapping? How about electronics: Can you solder a pc board based kit and debug it if necessary?

The more you are able to do yourself, the more bang you will be able to get for your buck. My 3'x4' CNC gantry's structure is made almost entirely from 80/20 aluminum extrusions. Even including the power supply, stepper motor controllers, and software it could be duplicated for under $2000. Had everything been purchased as a finished unit $5000 to $10,000 would be the likely price range.

Answering the questions I have posed will make choosing your path much easier. As it stands your original post is not far off from simply asking a questions such as: what car should I buy?

I built a router a few years ago. It is a journey if you are up to the challenge. I learned a ton and now have a great 2' x 3' router.

It sounds like you have a pretty good idea what you want to do with the router/mill. A mill, even if retrofitted with CNC, would probably not be right for your needs. The spindle would be too slow and make inlay very difficult. It would also be tough to do metal working with small diameter cutters. I would make sure you get this worked out first and then try to back into what kind of machine will fit your needs.

Good luck!

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Brad
Avon, OH

For the mix of things you want to do, you might check out lobocnc.com. It's an open source CNC milling machine project I am working on. Carving necks is about the largest thing I have done on it (it's too small for carving archtops or solid bodies), but its great for inlays, fret slots and working on non-ferrous metals with tiny bits.

Very Cool, thanks for the link. That looks like what I'm looking for. How much did yours end up costing you in the end?

I sprung for the Makita router instead of the Grizzly ($100 instead of $50), and the vise and the table material ended up being another $50 or so. There's also tooling. Small carbide bits run from $10 to $20 depending on the type of bit. (You'll need a 1/4" to 1/8" collet adapter for small bits, which should be less than $10.) As for software, there's a lot of free/demoware available that'll get you going. (You do need a PC to run the thing, but any old PC running almost any version of Windows should work.) All totaled, you should be able to get a functional setup for less than $1000.