cnc foam router

[mtrider]

Hello all, let me first say i have been a member for a while, alot of creeping, but rarely posting? we have a small shop doing alot of commercial print and graphic work .i have learned so much from this very talented community! alot of laughs also..thank you!:U Rock:

now to why i posted in this section...... long story short...a "friend" recently acquired a complete cnc foam carving system... 14' router & vacuum table, 16'hot knife, laser scanner and all computers w/ software...they have 0 knowledge of this industry...we have offered for them to bring it into our shop, so they can put the pieces together, and see what they need to do to at least get the equipment running?? with that being said, i realize the potential that this would afford me, to be able to utilize this equipment. i'm not really in the position to try and buy this, and they already mentioned that they weren't interested in selling it... we did explain to them that this is not a "plug & play" get rich type of thing... it would require extensive training, and alot of on the job learning ie..wasted material, layouts , finishing, assembly mounting ect... Real Work!! ... these people have sales and graphic design careers currently... we currently focus on vehicle wraps, murals, & large format prints, but do our fair share of banners, signs and assorted graphics... ..

i guess my questions would be to the people that are experienced with this technology, how hard would it be to learn to run these things? i'm sure there is a great learning curve, but what is realistic?... can the router mill more than foam, with different bits or motors? do you need to know cad to utilize them... currently we use adobe cs5,& flexi.( im sure that different programs will drive these?)

And to all the other businessmen here...how would you approach this ...try to form a new company with these people, or try to rent time from them on the machine?? i definitely dont want any "partners" in my established business. they own them and i would love to see them use them, but i dont know that they will or can? currently all the machines are in storage, and have been for the better part of the year.... we have the space, it would be tight... but do-able... Any Thoughts?

sorry for such a long post , but i'm losing sleep thinking about the things that could be created w/ this stuff ........ looking forward to your replies... thanks Guys ......& Gals

 

[Techman]

with your "friends" experience.. (none) I wouldn't waste the time and energy.
It will take up a lot of space for a long time before anything of value appears.
CAD software is not easy. It will take while and a few seminars to get up to a beginner level.

The mind to run a 3D machine is not the mind of a vinyl printer. How long to get a vinyl printer up to speed? Give a cnc machine 4 times longer just to learn to post the simplest of jobs. That equipment did not appear because the previous owner got tied of it. He likely was overwhelmed.

The CAD software will cost a few grand. Flexi is not a cnc cad software.
If this is a real foam cutter then you cannot cut anything else.
Some will say it is easy. Well yes it is if one is running the cnc as a glorified jig saw...
Anything more than that and its a whole new game. This is not a project for a speculator/ The expenses will be high.

 

[mtrider]

thanks Techman... yes i agree that it would be a great learning curve, thats why i am a little hesitant ...i also agree that it is a whole different ball game , compared to a cutter and printer....i am pretty sure that all the software is there, as this all came from an established business that was forced to close, due to unscrupulous business practices... the machines are from streamline automation... far as i can tell they are "foam" machines, and thats what i thought, they are only for foam... was just curious about other material like soft woods and such.... also was thinking about having a tech come out from the manufacturer and have them set everything up to see if it is a complete set... but im not prepared to spend alot of money on a big anchor, that ultimately is not mine...

we have done a fair share of carved signs, but the actual routing was outsourced, and the painting was completed in-house... so i was kicking it around to see if we could justify adding these to our arsenal. our first printer was a little bit of time to get it up to speed, but our 2nd was really just plug & print, and constant tinkering w/ our profiles... and settings within the RIP.. ... not too bad......thanks for the advice Techman...

what do others think?

 

[SebastienL]

First, CAD software is not a must. I do all my prep wor in Illy. But you do need an application to program the router. Generally, these accept any vector files, including .eps.

Not knowing what kind of machine you got makes it hard to say what you can cut. MDF, Particle board, pvc, styrene, acrylic and maybe brass and aluminum are all materials a good router should be able to cut. If it is equipped with a knife, you can also cut Coroplast.

There is a lot of learning to do, for sure. But if you can run and maintain a printer, I think you can run a router. Maybe you should consider hiring someone to set it up. Most programming software are set up so that once you have determined feeds and speeds for each material, you only need to select a path, assign a preset cutting tool and your pretty much done.

"3D", of course is a little more complex... A lot of thinkering in the programming software. You can create "3D" surfaces from vectors and B&W pictures, or combination of both.

Hope this is helpfull to you.

 

[mtrider]

thanks Sebastian..
we just took the router in to the shop yesterday, to get it out of the outside storage area.... heres the scoop...its a cam tech industries cnc table router, 14" long... the table is in decent condition, and overall there is minor rust.. most seems to be on the rails...it was manufactured in 2005..the tool head has some rust on it but the bit seems to spin pretty smooth manually?.. table in not a vacuum table... the rest of the equipment we will see later this week, but it was all bought as a new package... anyone know anything about this table router? ill post a couple of pics.. thanks all again

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

thanks Sebastian..
we just took the router in to the shop yesterday, to get it out of the outside storage area.... heres the scoop...its a cam tech industries cnc table router, 14" long... the table is in decent condition, and overall there is minor rust.. most seems to be on the rails...it was manufactured in 2005..the tool head has some rust on it but the bit seems to spin pretty smooth manually?.. table in not a vacuum table... the rest of the equipment we will see later this week, but it was all bought as a new package... anyone know anything about this table router? ill post a couple of pics.. thanks all again

Cam Tech is a company out of Canada. I worked at a company that had one, and one of my major concerns about it was we had to replace one of the circuit boards multiple times. It was more hasle than it was worth...

They are not too hard to use, but that board issue turned me off of them.