Mini CNC Milling Machines (Roland iModella)

A CNC (Com­puter Numer­ic­al Con­trol) milling machine works with an input of coded pro­grammed instruc­tions, also known as a CNC toolpath. The toolpath guides the machine’s rotat­ing multi-point cut­ting tools, which pro­gress­ively remove areas of a piece of mater­i­al from a work­piece. This com­pu­ter­ised milling action allows you to pro­duce an intric­ately machined object out of a sol­id block of mater­i­al, which is why the CNC is often used to make cus­tom-designed parts or products.

Mini CNC machines are par­tic­u­larly use­ful for small and del­ic­ate com­pon­ent parts that are dif­fi­cult to make by hand and require precision.

Our CNC machines have 3 axes.

CNC machines are ideal for pro­du­cing lots of dif­fer­ent objects that would be too com­plic­ated to machine by hand; from func­tion­al machine parts and design pro­to­types, to relief moulds, artist­ic sculp­tures, com­pos­ite mod­els and a lot more.

• Various - Woods, Plastics, Jesmonite, Foams, Some Soft Metals (sheet form only)

To use this tool, you will need to email members@​instituteofmaking.​org.​uk and arrange a train­ing ses­sion with a suit­ably exper­i­enced technician. 

Once you have com­pleted the train­ing, email members@​instituteofmaking.​org.​uk to request a time to come in and use the tool along­side a trained tech­ni­cian. Please note, if a trained tech­ni­cian is no longer avail­able on the day of your arranged vis­it, we may need to rearrange.