I am looking for a simple budget setup and some assistance getting this rolling. My interest is primarily in wood but the options are Limitless. Any of you guys have some directions or pointers
CNC machines help
- Thread starter BLIP
- Start date
I don't think I've ever heard or read "budget" and "cnc machine" in the same sentence. Are prices coming down? Just joshin with ya but I wanna see what you find out...
If it was me, I would start by taking a class or classes at a local technical school. Or at least talk to one of their instructors and ask for suggestions.
anything you want to learn is on youtube. I would start there and buy a G-Code for dummy's book or something.
A few years ago, I bought a 50 watt Chinese CO2 laser from one of the many eBay sellers who sell them. We use it for my wife's craft business, to cut parts out of wood and plywood, up to 1/2" thick. At the time, the equivalent American-branded and supported (but still Chinese made) machine was between 4 and 7 times as much cost, and we weren't sure if it would work for her business, so we couldn't justify investing that much. Support was non-existent and I had to self-help a lot. I replaced a few sub-standard parts with better aftermarket parts and spent a fair amount of time learning how to tune the machine. Some of those experiences were of the "kick it in the side and see if it works" frustrating.
Overall, turned out to be a great choice. The machine has been a real workhorse. My wife has mastered the software and it's opened up a world of possibilities for her craft business. She's become so dependent on it that we bought a second, more powerful, American-branded machine (they've all come down in price in the time since we bought the Chinese machine).
With the right knowledge, you can even build your own machine. If you are comfortable doing your own tech support, the unsupported Chinese machines are a great value. If you want to buy something that will just work, with support only a phone call away, be prepared to spend significantly more, but your frustrations will be less.
Lots of good info here:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/
Overall, turned out to be a great choice. The machine has been a real workhorse. My wife has mastered the software and it's opened up a world of possibilities for her craft business. She's become so dependent on it that we bought a second, more powerful, American-branded machine (they've all come down in price in the time since we bought the Chinese machine).
With the right knowledge, you can even build your own machine. If you are comfortable doing your own tech support, the unsupported Chinese machines are a great value. If you want to buy something that will just work, with support only a phone call away, be prepared to spend significantly more, but your frustrations will be less.
Lots of good info here:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/
Thank you very much although the other suggestions are appreciated I'm going into this small to start with and all education is going to do is put me in the in an environment where I'm waiting for everyone else to catch up
Have you looked into a CNC router? These are big in the sign making and cabinet business. I run one at work in between welding jobs. They can be used just like a mill with the proper setup and tooling. I've done everything from wood carving/craft projects to cutting keyways in stainless shafts. Most use vacuum to hold down the work piece so you can easily cut out pieces without the use of soft jaws or complicated setups. Check them out. People even make their own using regular hand-held routers and have good success. If you are not proficient at writing G-Code look into a good CAM software package or a conversational type machine. Either will allow you to be knocking out parts in no time. Here is a wrench for loosening up a suppressor that I made today on the router during lunch. From drawing the piece in the software to holding the finished product took about 20mins.
