CNC Router
Investing in a good CNC router is probably the best idea i've ever had. This is a tool to make other tools and i simply could not do without it anymore. A CNC router
is a robot that can carve & cut in wood, plastics, soft metals etc. in a top-down style, making it a 2.5D (almost 3d) manufacturing device that is completely
automatic given the right files.
I looked at a bunch of machines before i settled with a
KRMx02, this is a partial kit machine that requires
that you machine a lot of the parts yourself before assembly. It's quite an undertaking to build one of these but you get a seriously solid machine in the end.
There are a lot of cheaper machines out there, but since i wanted to be able to do aluminium combined with a decent sized cutting envelope this was the best option
i could find. I feel like i cannot overstate how excellent this machine is, and the build manual is written extremely well - i knew next to nothing about mechanical
design when starting building this thing and i feel that i've learned tons from doing it.
I am continuously making upgrades for the machine (with the machine itself!) adding things like vision, coolant ejector, vacuum table etc.