Hello everyone!

I'm currently building a few keyboards for myself, and it's now time to start building the case and plate. The only problem is that I have limited hardware experience, so I'm hoping to draw on some collective knowledge here to see how best to proceed.

For the keyboard plate, the popular material choices are aluminum/steel, wood, or acrylic. I know that the laser cutter would be a good choice if I went with a wooden build, but I'd really prefer metal. My question is this: which machine would be the best choice for this type of build?

For the case, I want to build something out of aluminum, and I assume the CNC machine is the best choice. After building, I want to anodize the aluminum. It involves a good size tub of acid solution, and I don't recall the safety guidelines mentioning projects like this. Has anyone ever done something similar at the hub before, or should I do this part of the project elsewhere?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Justin

I see. I'll have to check out the manual mill then.

Thanks for the advice!

Right. I wanted to challenge myself and do something with metal, but if it means the difference between finishing the project or not, the choice is pretty easy. I'll have to give it some thought.

It's designed to cut wood, not metal. You might be able to cut aluminum, but all bets would be off and I'm not sure how Jeff or Dave would feel about doing that.

Jeff, if you are listening, can you comment?