Hi,Lately I have been in the market for an affordable CNC solution and I think I just found one. From the correspondence I had with them yesterday, they are planning to sell a slightly updated machine in kit form during 2006 - for significantly less $$. Looks to me that all my custom panels needs have been solved :-)http://www.cncdudez.com/

>Hi,>>Lately I have been in the market for an affordable CNC>solution and I think I just found one. From the correspondence>I had with them yesterday, they are planning to sell a>slightly updated machine in kit form during 2006 - for>significantly less $$. Looks to me that all my custom panels>needs have been solved :-)Quite interesting, thanks for posting the link! The cheapest I have seen was in the $4-5k range.What to check is how much "play" the thing has - what you pay for in more expensive machines is the tolerances in the slides and other parts that pay back in accuracy. The pcboard example looked quite reasonable even - just dont expect a laser engraving machine for that price :) Still, this could be a very useful aid in building. You could ask him to engrave some text in plexi at various sizes for a reference? That would be an interesting test.I have been happy with FrontDesign, but one must admit it quickly ends up costing the price of that machine if I were to do a small regional jet overhead panel set for example.. my GA setup has a rather small number of panels so far.Besides, one can mill interesting things from thick plastic boards for example, like throttle levers, mechanical parts etc..//Tuomas

Not dreaming of a laser-quality engraver... their claimed accuracy seems to be enough for home-manufacturing custom panels approaching the quality of commercial solutions. I don't even have a choice since nobody offers today custom backlit panel manufacturing for a reasonable price. On the accuracy point: they are working on a "floating head" add-on which can greatly assist in the depth accuracy of the engraving process.I was aware of that when I decided to go for a "non-orthodox" (read "non-Boeing or Airbus" ) cockpit so after checking many options, I realized that buying a CNC is the only way I can satisfy my cockpit building needs.CNC Dudez are not the only good solution and I found several around $2,500 price point - here is another one http://www.sherline.com/CNCprices.htm - but for some reason, I found CNC Dudez to matching my exact specs. Maybe the fact that he Dudez answered my emails immediately with relevant answers had something with it?Anyway, I'm in holding pattern now waiting to see what they have in store for 2006 though it is highly likely that I will place an order as soon as I see it on their website :-)

Great find Al!I found a manufacturer that was prepared to make my panels, if he could sell them later using my plans...But things are taking too long, so I'm also thinking of building/buying one of these.It should be within the 1000

Hi Alex, A couple of people you may want to check with that has done quite a bit of research regarding CNC and Laser.Alan Dyer, he just bought a laser, he's sent me a few pictures of his work, utterly amazing quality.Roberto Soriano, he's expecting a CNC machine any day now, I've seen pictures of samples he's received, VERY GOOD quality.Anyway, theres two sources for you of people that's done some heavy duty research.

Hi Toine,I know who you're talking about... I am not sure that you should count on that ;-). I surely hope it will be much cheaper but I wouldn't hope for less than GBP 1,000.And you DO need much larger panels - this CNC will be a bad joke for you. If you found a reliable and willing local supplier then I suggest you save the CNC money for more productive things. You surely need it :-)You say "all your plans are ready". Did you already put them in ACAD or Corel?Meanwhile, back to the shuttle ;)

WOW! Thanks Matt.Don't have the $ for a laser thing but I am curious what RS will be getting. My budget is pretty limited and considering that I plan to use the CNC only for the cockpit hobby, I hardly can justify a significant increase.Thanks for the links! I will make good use of them (and their experience).Best regards,Al

If you are a keen builder, there are free plans for a couple of different cnc machines on www.cnczone.com There are also free driver plans for unipolar or bipolar motors up to 7amps at http://pminmo.com/That's if you have the patience to build one. It can be very challenging.David

Thanks David,I know of cnczone of course. Been combing the web for CNC ideas for several months and WAS tempted to build one myself. Then I remembered that I catually want to build a cockpit andnot a CNC setup - lol. I must admit that I did toy with teh idea for some time but considering the difficulty and the time that project would take, I had to go for what I found now. The farthest I can go is building a kit. At least I don't have to source anything, and can become "productive" much faster."Challening" is an understatement. One also needs to be VERY talented and skillful at that. A CNC is a precision tool and I am not confident enough that I can build a good one from scratch and satisfy my needs for panel building at the same time.

Alex,Well, a local provider could also be quite expensive...if you calculate the total size of the panels, it will be about 33m