Haas VR-11 (5 axis) -Travels 120" X - 36"Y - 35" Z - 32 deg. tilt

   Haas VF-4 -Travels 50" X - 25" Y - 18" Z

   Haas VF-5XT -Travels 60"X - 26" Y - 25"Z

   Motion Master (5 axis) -Travels 240" X - 120" Y - 48" Z  - 180 deg. tilt

   DMS (5 axis) - Travels 120" X - 60" Y -  48" Z - 180 deg. tilt

  Komo 512 - Travels 144" X - 60" Y - 18" Z

   DMS (3 axis) - Travels 240" X - 96" Y - 36" Z

Click here for example video of 5 axis motion

(“Video Courtesy dms-router.com”)

An Overview and Explanation of CNC Technology:

CNC technology was developed in the United States in the 1950's for the US Air Force by metalworking machine tool builders. It was a major advance in the ability of machines to faithfully reproduce complex part machining steps more accurately without human intervention or variability. CNC stands for Computer Numerically Controlled. CNC always refers to how a machine operates, that is, its basic method of controlling movement. Put another way, a CNC machine uses a stream of digital information (code) from a computer to move motors and other positioning systems in order to guide a spindle over raw material.

A CNC machine uses mathematics and coordinate systems to understand and process information about what to move, to where, and how fast. Most CNCs are able to move in three controlled directions at once. These directions are called axes (pronounced ax-ees). The axes are given simple names such as X, Y and Z (no reason, just tradition). The X axis is always the longest distance a machine or a part of a machine must travel. The "X" may be the movements front to back, "Y" the movements from left to right and the "Z" is almost always the movement from top to bottom (normally the spindle's positioning movement up and down).

A CNC machine must be able to communicate with itself to operate. A computer control unit sends position commands to motors. The motors must talk back to the command computer that, indeed, they have acted correctly to move the machine a given distance. CNC machines can move in three (or more) directions at once to create almost any desired pattern or shape. All of this processing happens very fast.

No human could hope to control the movements of a machine as precisely as a CNC. These machines work with very small units of measure. A CNC is able to drill a hole at one end of the worktable, move to the far corner and return to make the same hole again with only a few ten-thousandths of an inch error. The accuracy of a CNC can be explained this way: take a hair off your head and slice it the long way six times. The sliver you have left is about the margin of error with the machine's operation.

A CNC may also be programmed to allow for wood grain, material type and special cutter requirements. Humans are not able to balance all of these factors in a repeated way over extended periods of time. Machines may work two or three shifts per day without shut-down. The only limiting factors in CNC production relate to material availability and cutter wear.