any small CNC machine owners here?

[giantbeat]

Hi Guys,

been seriously considering getting a small CNC machine for making my, moulds, jigs & templates, however i have absolutely 0 experience with CNC's ...

so far out of all the ones i have looked at via google, i have found and seem to lean towards the OX by ooznest, this seem to offer the whole package at a reasonable cost & am currently reading up on the general basics of CNC's, as a mac user for the last 15 years im expecting i will have to pick up a Pc to run it & have been looking round for machines with an approx size of 1m x 1m.

anyone on here have experience with these things?

thanks.

 

[Walney Col]

You don't mention a price bracket but Stepmore machines appear to be amongst the best "cheap" ones and they'll build one to your own specifications if you like.

http://www.stepmores.com/index.php?m=co ... s&catid=31

http://www.stepmores.com/index.php?m=co ... s&catid=38

Col.

 

[giantbeat]

You don't mention a price bracket but Stepmore machines appear to be amongst the best "cheap" ones and they'll build one to your own specifications if you like.

http://www.stepmores.com/index.php?m=co ... s&catid=31

http://www.stepmores.com/index.php?m=co ... s&catid=38

Col.

not got a price bracket at this stage, but the ones i have been looking at such as the OX come in at under £2k with softwear.

i will check them out, thanks.

 

[MikeJhn]

If you have the latest OS, and it runs an Intel processor you can install windows onto your mac from Boot Camp: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201468

Mike

 

[flh801978]

Giant beat
If you fancy a trip to sheffield come and have alook and play with my home made machine
ian

 

[giantbeat]

If you have the latest OS, and it runs an Intel processor you can install windows onto your mac from Boot Camp: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201468

Mike

yeah i'm aware of Bootcamp, but id rather not use it, PC's are cheap as chips so it would probably be better off getting a dedicated cheap PC just for the setup.... my biggest hurdle is remembering how to use the PC & where stuff is v's the mac.

 

[giantbeat]

Giant beat
If you fancy a trip to sheffield come and have alook and play with my home made machine
ian

HI Ian

thats very kind of you, im only up the road in W yorks, horbury to be precise.

would be good to see one running.

G

 

[garethharvey]

I have just finished building my OX, it's 1.5 mts X 1mtr. So far, it's pretty impressive. I have been using Sketchup with Sketchucam plug in.

Still getting to grips with it, but would happily recommend the OX

 

[acewoodturner]

I picked a Denford Microrouter from ebay last year for 700 quid. Its a totally enclosed router and uses a Porter Cable router with up to 1/2 bits. It is a very solidly made bit of kit with a working are of A3 size. Lots of schools get them and use them for a little while and then the teacher who knows how to use it either retires or moves on. Although mine is a 2002 model it has had very little use, and was serviced every year regardless of whether it was used or not. I recently took it down to Denford in Halifax to have the boards upgraded and got the latest milling software. Just have to get an aluminium t slot table now and in a few months get the 3d milling software.
They have very good support and a good online forum as well

Mike

 

[giantbeat]

I picked a Denford Microrouter from ebay last year for 700 quid. Its a totally enclosed router and uses a Porter Cable router with up to 1/2 bits. It is a very solidly made bit of kit with a working are of A3 size. Lots of schools get them and use them for a little while and then the teacher who knows how to use it either retires or moves on. Although mine is a 2002 model it has had very little use, and was serviced every year regardless of whether it was used or not. I recently took it down to Denford in Halifax to have the boards upgraded and got the latest milling software. Just have to get an aluminium t slot table now and in a few months get the 3d milling software.
They have very good support and a good online forum as well

Mike

thanks Mike, will have a look at them

 

[sploo]

I have a K2 KG3925. The company is now sadly defunct, but it's a decent machine.

I've recently moved to Yorkshire (north of Leeds) so the machine is mothballed at the moment. I could probably prioritise getting it going again if you wanted to have a nose.

Definitely go for a dedicated PC btw.

For control software, Mach is very good. For CAM I use a good but budget tool called SheetCAM, but I've been pointed at Fusion as a good CAD and CAM solution.

 

[RobCee]

I have an old ShapeOko2 (original cost was about £500), which has been heavily upgraded since then (great fun to learn some new things). The latest versions of this style of machine are sold through Inventables or Carbide3D in the USA. They have come on since I started with mine, but I would not start with one of them if I had to begin again.
Relatively inexpensive machines (like my ShapeOko) are a great learning tool, but most need a lot work to make them even passably accurate.
You also have the impressive learning curve for the complete software stack (Idea -> CAD -> CAM -> PostProcessing -> Machine Controller -> Machine -> Scrap/Part). Don't underestimate how challenging this part can be for the unwary! CNC is not as simple as 3D printing.

The next fun part to factor in to your thought process relates to the materials you plan to work with. Most router style machines will happily cut wood and plastic, but if you want to cut brass or aluminium you may need to be a bit fussy about your choice. To cut steel you probably need a heavy duty machine with a far slower spindle than a router.

For the CAD/CAM, I would go for Fusion360 - the price is right (free for non-commercial use) and the output (gcode) is awesome compared to many. It is worth persevering with and getting to know how it works. There are lots of online tutorials. Just don't try using it for 2D Drawings, stick to Draftsight or something else that is more capable.

If you want to do a lot of letter work, the best software I have found for that is V-Carve. Fusion is ok, but not as well optimised for this process. Another decent free carving tool is F-Engrave.

Good luck with your process.