I'm looking for a quite specific machine and was hoping some of you might have insights. The purpose of the machine is to produce optical surfaces with freeform shapes (think of the water surface of a pond, smooth and wavy). The surface finish should be close to mirror, but a small amount of polishing is acceptable as a post-process. Productivity is not the issue, only the precision/surface finish is important.
Typical tool: ball nose of diameter ~2mm (0.08in)
Axis: 3
Axis resolution: 0.0001mm / 0.1µm (0.000004in)
Axis travel: ~ 100x100x100mm (4in)
Material: soft metals
Typical feed rate: 200mm/min (8in/min)
Typical surface size: 20x20mm (0.8in)
Typical stopover: 0.02 (0.0008in)
Spindle: up to 20k rpm, very low runout
Budget: ~30k US$
Machine weight: ~100kg (220lb)
No need for tool changer or flood coolant. Material remove rate is not important.
I know well the mono-crystaline diamond SPDT machines like Precitech, Moore Nanotechnology, etc... but those are overkill for our needs (and too big and too expensive).
I have found some interesting machines like
Minitech GS
MDA Precision V9-TC8
NS CNC Mira X7
Any experience with some of those?
Do you know of other manufacturers? Ideally well connected to Europe.
I'm based in Switzerland.
Typical tool: ball nose of diameter ~2mm (0.08in)
Axis: 3
Axis resolution: 0.0001mm / 0.1µm (0.000004in)
Axis travel: ~ 100x100x100mm (4in)
Material: soft metals
Typical feed rate: 200mm/min (8in/min)
Typical surface size: 20x20mm (0.8in)
Typical stopover: 0.02 (0.0008in)
Spindle: up to 20k rpm, very low runout
Budget: ~30k US$
Machine weight: ~100kg (220lb)
No need for tool changer or flood coolant. Material remove rate is not important.
I know well the mono-crystaline diamond SPDT machines like Precitech, Moore Nanotechnology, etc... but those are overkill for our needs (and too big and too expensive).
I have found some interesting machines like
Minitech GS
MDA Precision V9-TC8
NS CNC Mira X7
Any experience with some of those?
Do you know of other manufacturers? Ideally well connected to Europe.
I'm based in Switzerland.