it is common practice on a mill / router to have 2 sets of coordinates Machine and Work Software controllers like Mach3 and EMC will have these functions built in, and I would lean towards a similar setup / routine which seems to work well Once the machine is homed, you can define or set the maximum travel allowed ( machine coordinates.) then it’s switched over to work coordinates. where yoby CNC - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
Mach3 will run on a new PC with Win7 using a parallel port card, so there is no need to use an outdated computer. I think one of the main reasons, is that Mach3 is very easy to interface and has been well established with handling motion commands, a cnc machine running Mach3 can 3D print and mill critical areas of a part perfect in one shot as seen here (video somewhere in there ) not sure anyby CNC - Mach3
Hi I have just started doing some prints using Slic3r, and yes indeed if your an "inch guy" it can be a real pain I am using Mach3 as my control, and what I have been doing is adding a G21 to the gcode which allows me to leave all Mach settings in imperial, and print a metric part, not a full solution but it does help I believe slic3r should add an option for imperial, but it seems everytimeby CNC - Slic3r
I cut vinyl and paper all the time on my cnc router with a drag knife, I use a holder from these guys Drag Knife holder works well, you will need a fairly straight / level table, as there is very little room for height error,by CNC - Mechanics
Delrin is the best plastic for machining, drilling and cutting,but even cutting it will give off toxic fumes, and you certainly do not want to melt it without some sort of ventilation. Not sure it could be extruded, as it really does not melt in a nice way like absby CNC - Polymer Working Group
These guys just bolt an extruder to a cnc router, nothing fancy, no hot table, they are also able to machine the plastic, they can extrude and cut with one operation print and cutby CNC - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping