Avid CNC -> Any frame only buyers?

I am curious if there are many out there that have purchased an Avid CNC and supplied their own control system and spindle? If you have, do you feel like you received the full value of purchasing an Avid CNC? Based on what I have read from Avid and feedback shared online from their customers, it seems like a lot of the value in their system is obtaining the full CNC from them. Plus it seems like most people who do talk about their Avid CNC online did buy the full package.


I want a more precision CNC from a mechanical perspective, I am not that interested in migrating to a new variety controller setup and software. I am currently rocking a Joe's CNC, and am fond of my LinuxCNC and Mesa setup.

If you are capable of doing it yourself, and aren't concerned about the time it takes, frame only can be a much better value, as imo you can build a much better control for a lot less money. But it takes a lot of time.

I bought turnkey, but wouldn't do it again because I've now got the knowledge and experience to do it from scratch. It was worth it at the time though - I was up and running very quickly.

If there is even the remote thought of making money by producing "salable stuff" by purchasing "part" of an existing system that you will "supplement" with your add ons (control, etc.), then you will likely be shooting yourself in the foot. Big time! Unless, of course, you've done this before and you're beyond the head knocking stage.

Make no mistake, there is a lot to be learned by originating/upgrading certain parts of a system. And much can be refined beyond what is available in the market place for hobbyists. But if you are itching to "make stuff" on your machine, get a working system under your belt first and get the mistakes behind you. At least you'll have an idea of what might constitute a reasonably solid piece of engineering.

As a point of reference; I bought the mechanicals from Avid (then CNC Router Parts). A collapsible frame was a mandate because of limited access to my work space. I've had some exposure to the short comings of using stepper motors, so I purchased servos. This negated the option of purchasing the control from Avid. I also had other requirements for a spindle motor, so I didn't buy their spindle drive either. It seems the mechanicals may be the easy part. I spent the last part of a year designing and making my control. I'm in the final stage of "proving" the machine.

It was not my intention to make assembling my CNC my life's work. Particularly in my retirement. I am thankful to others on this forum for providing some clarity to the effort along the way. And just for reference, I've done control work as part of my professional past, so I thought figuring my control would be a breeze. Ah..... live and learn.

I bought just he mechanicals at the end of 2019 to pair with a centroid acorn and DMM servos and couldn't be happier. The mechanicals are as far as I can find the best do it yourself set up out there, and it would be hard to beat the value without having acess to a VMC to make your own parts with. Not to mention the time/expertise to design it yourself.

If you set up a Joe's CNC, them I'm pretty sure you can handle doing your own controller :) I am kind of doing what you are doing, except I am using a bunch of my "yard sale" stuff I have laying around from other projects and picked up some used Avid Nema 34 steppers on ebay. My controller will most likely look like a rats nest, but can get up and running for about half the money of doing plug and play. There really should be no difference in accuracy. I will be giving up some speed and power since I won't have the perfect match of drivers and power supply, but can swap those easy enough later on. Like others have said. I think as long as you are ok doing the work, its much better value!

I bought a BTP 2x2 Frame and supplied my own electronics, Avid electronics is overpriced for what it is but the frame is a good value. I got a UCCNC 300eth+ub1+nema 34 cloosed loop stepper+2.2kw watercool spindle+vfd, for half the price

i bought a Avid 2x4 Vcon machine from Avid several years ago - they now use linear rails and not the Vcon system. Mated it with Xylotech controller, nema 23 stepper motors, Makita 1.2 hp router, Mach 3 on an old pc running windows 10. It works very well but I only cut wood.

I also do 3d printing with Prusa printer and have made many parts the enhance the whole operation. The parts include end stops, vacuum system, cyclone and many small connectors and hose supports.

The vacuum is different in that it stays the same height from the work surface and only the router goes up and down. This greatly reduces drag and improves vaccine.

You can make up a machine but it took a few years and much to learn.

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Originally Posted by HuguesP

I bought a BTP 2x2 Frame and supplied my own electronics, Avid electronics is overpriced for what it is but the frame is a good value. I got a UCCNC 300eth+ub1+nema 34 cloosed loop stepper+2.2kw watercool spindle+vfd, for half the price

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I will say that while you can certainly save money by rolling your own electronics, the Avid plug and play setups are a pretty good deal for what they are, I know I wouldn't willingly put one of those boxes together for someone for what they charge over what I could buy the parts for. You have to remember it's all higher end, no cheap chinise spindle/vfd or anything like that. That makes a big difference in cost but also a big difference in reliability, the one thing I really learned on my first machine is that a few thousand dollars up front is utterly worth it when I don't have to worry about my next downtime, or next time the hobby control software wigs out.

I wanted to upgrade size and rigidity from my little Aussie kit, but wanted to stick with Masso and go with an ATC spindle. I bought the Avid Nema34 and Gecko drivers cheaper than locally. Also bought the rotary, sensors and cables. The kit saved time that I put into my control box. Currently building the controller using a new Masso G3 and pneumatics for the ATC. Never done pneumatics before. Time is short, so building something equivalent from scratch would take years. We’ll worth it for me.