A 6 DOF robotic arm as a milling machine?

Hi,

I have always dreamed of cheap 5 axle CNC machining mill. It should be possible to CNC-machine a car with that or similar complex object like a human head.


But is there any sense to buy a low cost 6 DOF robotic arm from ebay and use it as a tool like this:

www.ebay.com/itm/New-6-DOF-Manipulator-A...&hash=item257c457338

Is it difficult to make exactly this robotic arm to work with Linux CNC or some CAM commercial software? Is there a ready software solution?

Maybe the table where the machinable object is fixed could have such an function that it could rotate with a servo. But I think that in theory a robotic arm with a

table like this should be able to machine whatever form.

Please tell me your opinions of a plan like this. Many thanks in advance.

You are asking for opinions, so mine is: too complex with high probability of no success. In fact the base machine is very weak and probably will fall down when you place a milling head on it...

it would be difficult to make the type of robotic arm shown to do anything useful , for what you describe you would be better off looking for an industrial puma style robot
please grasp the thoughts that you need MASS and strength to be able to withstand the cutting forces applied without the arm moving off position , this in essence requires gearing and solid building .

the arm shown uses rc servos which lacks strength or suitable gearing etc ..

but yes what your looking for can be done , but their not cheap due to the construction needed
but to answer your question Linuxcnc is able to handle it ( up to 9 axis ) , however 5 axis or more cam software is not cheap .

Hello
That is exactly what i need
low accuracy +-0.5mm
materiel is polystyrene
so even the motor is light and powerless

i want to make 3d models from a 3d file, say OBJ
and make a small 3D real model

today im doing it with a 3 axes machine and it is so low tech....

please advise

3D-innotech wrote:

today im doing it with a 3 axes machine and it is so low tech....

please advise

If you can do it with a 3 axis machine then there is no need to complicate the situation to make it more high tech. The old KISS comes into play here. The only reason to go from 3 axis to more is if you physically can't make the part with a 3 axis machine or the investment in time and money to go to 4 or 5 or 6 ... or 9 will be paid off by improvements in cycle time.

Now if it is just for fun then go for it and give it a try. If it does not work then so what you can still do it the old way with your 3 axis machine.

My 2 cents.