[Yozhik]

I've been wanting to build a small CNC machine for awhile. After looking at a bunch of different designs, I went with the Solsylva 10x9 DIY plan. It looked well constructed and met my limited space requirements. My plan is use it to do modelling of parts for RC aircraft components. Eventually, when I live in a place where I can afford more space for a router, I will likely upgrade to something bigger.

I'm leaning toward's buying a Gecko G540 kit. Since I plan to upgrade the CNC platform at some point, I'd like to have stepper motors powerful enough to handle a larger CNC, such as the Momus Design. If anyone has any recommendations (including manufacturers) I'd appreciate hearing them. Also, any opinions on USB-to-Parallel adapters for Mach3 would interest me. I'll be running this off an iMac running Windows.

[louieatienza]

Anyone that uses a Mac to run Windows is cool in my book! You could get a Warp9 SmoothStepper that will allow you to run Mach3 off a USB; though I don't know if you'll run into issues with the Mac... Not sure...

Guys are using the cheap Chinese eBay drives with success on the Momus machines. You could check out xylotex, and get the complete kit aliong with steppers and it's as plug-and-play as you can get. Probotix also sells a turnkey kit. CNC Router Parts I believe sells the Gecko and pre-wired steppers. Also can check out DeepGroove1 on eBay...

[louieatienza]

I've been wanting to build a small CNC machine for awhile. After looking at a bunch of different designs, I went with the Solsylva 10x9 DIY plan. It looked well constructed and met my limited space requirements. My plan is use it to do modelling of parts for RC aircraft components. Eventually, when I live in a place where I can afford more space for a router, I will likely upgrade to something bigger.

I'm leaning toward's buying a Gecko G540 kit. Since I plan to upgrade the CNC platform at some point, I'd like to have stepper motors powerful enough to handle a larger CNC, such as the Momus Design. If anyone has any recommendations (including manufacturers) I'd appreciate hearing them. Also, any opinions on USB-to-Parallel adapters for Mach3 would interest me. I'll be running this off an iMac running Windows.

BTW my first was also a Solsylva (25 x 36) and I learned a lot just by building the machine... Good luck!

[brtech]

It's gonna be tough to get Mach to work on the iMac. It supplies it's own driver which directly talks to the parallel port, and it depends on high accuracy timing at the driver level to work.

Get a cheap old PC from, say, Goodwill, or ebay, or Craigslist. If it runs Windows it will do.

The G540 kit from cncrouterparts is a good choice. Keling also has a kit that others have used with success.

[ger21]

It's gonna be tough to get Mach to work on the iMac. It supplies it's own driver which directly talks to the parallel port, and it depends on high accuracy timing at the driver level to work.

If you use a Smoothstepper or other external motion controller with Mach3, the parallel port driver doesn't need to be installed, so this shouldn't be an issue.

As for motors and drives, a G540 kit with 380 oz motors will easily offer twice the performance of the other options mentioned. It's way overkill for what you're building, though.

[Yozhik]

Thanks all for the advice. Smoothstepper looks like the way to go on the USB/Mac issue. As for the Gecko kits, is there much of a difference between Kelig and CNCrouterparts? The Kelig G540 kit (which is also confusing for the number of similar motors they offer) seems to be about the same performance at considerably less cost, but maybe I'm missing something? Or is there a difference in reputation of quality and service between the two?

Also, I understand how money can be saved with overseas parts. The same thing applies to RC parts and electronics. However, I'm sure that the same quality and lack-of-support issues also carry over. As a result, rather than trying to score a deal, I'm happier with buying something with known reliability and support. Maybe when I build my next router I'll be willing to buy some ebay deals for the Solsylva, but at that point the risk for me will be tolerable since I'll have another CNC machine to rely on if something doesn't work.

[ger21]

There's no difference in quality imo. CNC Routerparts supplies cables in their kits, Keling does not. The 381 oz motors are the best all around choice.

[tjskcnc]

After looking at a bunch of different designs, I went with the Solsylva 10x9 DIY plan. . .

I'm leaning toward's buying a Gecko G540 kit. . .

I also purchased the Solsylva 10x9 plans, but have yet to build one. Please start a build thread when you get going on this project. I like Solsylva's designs and they are reflected in my machine.

As far as the G540 - any system you choose with a G540 is a good buy. As long as it is from a reputable and/or authorized dealer, the support available is unmatched by any other company in the industry. Mariss promised me I could not fry the driver board, and when I did, Gecko replaced my G540 for free. How can you beat that?