The Advantage and Disadvantage of Roland CNC Machine

The lab is equipped with several different CNC mills. To help you choose the right machine for your needs, it lists the advantages and disadvantages of the Roland machines. PRL currently has three 2-axis CNC mills and three 3-axis CNC mills. All of these machines require code to be generated from a CAM program (Virtual Gibbs or Surf cam) and CAD (Vellum, AutoCAD or Solid Works) drawing. You can program at the machine consoles, although this is impractical for complex shapes. Some of the machines have “canned cycles” or preprogrammed shapes such as circles, ellipses, etc. that are very simple to program at the console.

Roland
The Roland Camm-3 Mini Mill is a full 3-axis portable mill. It is very simple and quick to learn.

Advantages•Spindle speed up to 10,000 rpm, accurate to within +-.01mm. Very simple, easy and quick to learn.
•Sees very little student use, so it is easy to secure time on the Roland

Disadvantages
•Only plastics may be machined on the Roland.
•Only holds one tool. To use separate tools you must send separate programs. Always runs DNC - it has no brains onboard.
•The Roland is metric, so finding specific end mills can be problematic. Small bed for machining ( roughly 7x20” ).