Hello everyone,
Just wanted to share a little bit of my initial experience with the Nomad 3. Spoiler alert, I like it.
I’m a beginner, I’m not pretending to be an expert, but if you are a beginner like me, totally misinformed from the immense sea of half truths you find over the internet, this may be for you.
First and foremost, I have to begin with what I think is a vicious myth: Buy the cheapest end mills known to man, that’s what clever people do. I respectfully disagree with this rule when it comes to a small CNC you put on a desktop inside your home, I mean, come on, you have a 130w spindle and you expect to mill aluminum with Qtips at 24K rpm and top speed feeds? Seriously?
Good end mills makes a HUGE difference when it comes to milling non-ferrous metals since they are way sharper and carbide is quite good at being better than HSS. Does it hurts when/if you break one? Oh yeah it does, but that’s an acceptable learning cost. Listen to your Nomad while milling, it will let you know when something is not right. I know everybody wants a Datron with the power of a Haas and the price of a hamburger but, that is not how things work. You need to have patience with a desktop mill if you want good parts with accuracy and good finish. Plus your CNC will last for longer if you understand, the Nomad is fantastic, but not a power house.
First, the Nomad’s footprint is is quite adequate, this is all the space I have for it:
I simply can’t afford to have a shop space. Don’t take me wrong, I’d love to and I enjoy looking at some of your amazing shop spaces in your Garages or anywhere else, I simply can’t have that luxury, at least not for now, so the only real candidate I have, is the Nomad, so I had to make it work.
As many others, my very first project, was the tool tray, I was over the moon milling this beauty:
Then, you can immediately upgrade to mill Mozzarella plastic (HDPE) which is very easy, quick, better than 3D-printed when you need the part to perform. Below a Jig for my fiber laser:
But then, you may start to wonder if your Nomad would be capable of successfully milling aluminum, and here’s where the struggle begins. You’ll find all sort of answers; Some people will be positive about successfully milling aluminum, like myself, and some others criticizing the low powered spindle and comparing the Nomad against a nuclear powered mill they know or say they know and use, but the reality is, yes you can, provided you understand, physics are physics. We study how physics works, we don’t really dictate how meaning, go slower, don’t go too deep and use a good sharp end mill. Carbide 3d’s end mills are very decent.
Let me show you what a beginner like me, was able to achieve with a little bit of patience. Let me emphasize this: I’m a newbie!!!
Design: For the design I used Alibre:
CAM Software: Ez-Cam’s Ez-Mill
Is the Nomad 3D capable of milling great quality aluminum parts? I’ll let you decide…
By the way, I also designed a couple of tops to keep the front door open during cleaning, zeroing and end mill changes… 
Cheers!