CNC machine - not looking for advice

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Talkiet

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#229227 13-Feb-2018 19:53

Because I just bought one! :-) Secondhand Chinese 6040 that's apparently got all the kinks worked out and has new good PSUs, a miniITX PC included with Mach3 and an enclosure with all the electronics / drivers / buttons / screen etc.

It's at the other end of the country but being put on a pallet shortly I hope. I expect to get it sometime next week and then the real learning curve starts!

Quite excited.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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#1956573 13-Feb-2018 20:07

That is so cool. Owning one is very much on my bucket list.

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wazzageek

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#1956629 13-Feb-2018 21:10

Ohhh! Shiny. Be good to see some pics of the first things you create!

Dratsab

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#1956705 14-Feb-2018 06:29

Nice! What will your first project be?

mrdrifter

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#1956729 14-Feb-2018 08:41

Oh that will be fun!

What CAM software are you using for design and creating toolpaths?

MACH3 is reasonably straight forward to figure out, just finding zero if you need to remount work pieces can be time consuming.

I picked up this late last year -

Talkiet

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#1956763 14-Feb-2018 09:12

Thanks people!

I have no idea what my first project will be. I expect a steep learning curve on the CAM side so my first project might be trying to find a cheap source of test stock that doesn't make too much mess (MDF would be awful!).

I'll probably start out with the Fusion360 CAM module unless there are better suggestions. I use/like F360 and it's free, plus has a huge following and lots of resources available so it seems like a good place to start.

First real project might be a way off but I have some sensor mounts of my race car made of 3d printed PLA at the moment and they have become bent after only a couple of events so that's likely to be the learning project.

The little mill/CNC above looks great. Where did you get it?

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

mrdrifter

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#1956766 14-Feb-2018 09:27

I've been using Fusion 360 (after some fun importing my Solidworks objects) and it's been working great for all standard operations and I've been slowly tuning it for better and better finish quality. The adaptive clearing toolpaths are really good for the rough cuts.

I've only been working in Nylon and aluminium at present and haven't had any issues, finding decent suppliers can be a real pain.

That machine is a direct import from the manufacturer, after some digging I found they supply one of the big chains in the EU with mills under a different colour scheme and naming convention. So far I've been really happy with it.

Journeyman

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#1958152 14-Feb-2018 17:00

Cool toy. So are you going to do cheap milling jobs for us?

Talkiet

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#1958153 14-Feb-2018 17:02

Journeyman:

Cool toy. So are you going to do cheap milling jobs for us?

I doubt it. I might do reasonably priced milling jobs though once I'm confident :-)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Journeyman

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#1958617 15-Feb-2018 14:14

Fair enough

hio77

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#1958618 15-Feb-2018 14:24

oh hey, more toys to play with.

Oh you tempt me for a visit :P

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Talkiet

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#1965983 28-Feb-2018 16:15

CNC has arrived. I have reassembled it to the point of being able to job all the axes around and control the spindle from the VFD. I haven't cut anything yet as I am building a dedicated bench for it with a full enclosure...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Goosey

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#1966018 28-Feb-2018 17:12

off topic, but how level is that level when its hanging like that?

:-)

Nice bench.

Talkiet

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#1966065 28-Feb-2018 19:21

Knocked up a dedicated bench for the unit after work tonight. It's a LOT stiffer than it looks plus I will screw some MDF to the back and sides to _really_ solidify it.

Then I'll put some adjustable feet on it and mount the controller box to the wall beside it.

If I wasn't getting a kitten tomorrow I'd probably have it up and running this weekend...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Talkiet

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#1972515 10-Mar-2018 19:38

First cut!!!

I needed a spacer for a rollcage so modeled something up to check dimensions and then milled them out of 6061.

Nice huh!!!!

I'm just kidding, that's mostly true. I did model it and I did print the plastic ones to check dimensions and fit, but I had those made by a friend on a real machine.

I did however just hack at 65% scale copy of the main shape out of a bit of pine last night using a single (but inappropriate) bit. It's only roughed (no finishing pass) and it twisted slightly (as I only had a single bolt holding it down) but it DOES WORK.

I think, given a bit of time to learn the feeds and speeds, and definitely a bit of time for the bits to arrive from China, I could probably replicate the professional ones pretty closely, albiet at MUCH lower speeds...

It's even more fun than the first 3d print. Man there is SO much to learn. 3d printing is childs play by comparison. I never knew what was involved in generating CAM toolpaths after the model was made. Great fun learning all about it.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Talkiet

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#2063208 26-Jul-2018 22:46

Well, the call of a larger machine has been strong for a while, and I was planning to build one, but I accidentally ran into someone that had a machine for sale for a bargain price so now I have 2 CNC machines in the garage :-)... The new one is much bigger and stronger, but has a horrible orphaned motion control system (with bad SW support) so I have ordered a new motion control card (and a bunch of shielded cables and NPN proximity switches)...

The steppers on the X and Y Axis are insane. 1600Oz inch Nema34s... Could probably winch a large car with them...

More updates as the new board arrives...

Cheers -N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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