[rthorntn]

Hello,

Apologies if this is not the right place.

I am hoping you can all help.

I am based in Sydney and would love somebody to build me one of these:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5ESjVZ4vQI]DIY homebuilt 3 axis CNC router, CUTTING ALUMINUM - YouTube[/ame]

I don't have the skills to do it myself or the money to buy something off-the-shelf. But I am good with computers

I wouldn't be asking for favours, I would pay a decent price for the man-hours.

Kind Regards
Richard

[CrazyIvan]

Building a machine from scratch will take many, many hours.
If you had to pay for the man-hours, it may be cheaper to purchase off-the-shelf, or at least a kit (such as blueChick Version 4.2 CNC Machine Kit) I'm not sure about the availability of kits in Aus (or what shipping would cost)

There are a number of CNC routers on ebay out of Asia... I can't speak for the quality, or ease of use, but they may be a much cheaper option.

The video is of a build from Momus Design CNC plans - Momus Design CNC plans - CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net! which I believe is a build-from-scratch machine, based on buying the plans.

Maybe someone can suggest a assemble-it-yourself kit available in Aus?

[kiwichris]

What Crazy said... Or is that what Ivan said? Oh well...

If you were paying someone to build a one-off router I'd have thought it would be much more expensive than just buying a kit or built up unit.

The whole thing with DIY designs and kits is that you're trading off the cost against time, generally lots of it.

If you read through the DIY build threads here you'll see that designs like the Momus you linked to the video of can take even a skilled builder many weeks to finish.

Coming from another angle, do you have a budget in mind for total cost, ready to cut stuff?

Cheers, Chris H.

[rthorntn]

Thanks guys, as you probably guessed I am a novice.

Budget would be around $1200.

A kit from Aussie that I could build would be awesome, me cutting bits up is probably not going to happen.

Basically it will be indoors so it shouldn't be messy in regards to cutting fluids.

It would be cool if it could cut shapes in 2mm alu sheet at up to 50x50x50cm.

I'm probably dreaming :-)

Cheers
Richard

[rthorntn]

Wow looking at bluechick I am dreaming!

I need to look at ebay and downsize I think

The "3040" cnc caught my eye on Ebay, does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks.

Richard

[CrazyIvan]

It comes down to how much Speed, Accuracy & Power you need.
China has made some really cheap drive systems available - You can buy a 3 axes of stepper, interface & psu delivered for AU$180.
Bolt a Bunnings rotary tool to some cut up MDF, bearings, drawer-slides, threaded rod & hose clamps and you have a machine.
It won't be very fast, accurate, or powerful. But it will do a basic job.

Then there are plans people have published. Such as: How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily)
Unfortunately, it's all a bit Catch-22. You really need a CNC router to cut the pieces with the accuracy required.

I don't know what postage would cost from one of the overseas kit suppliers... it's bulky. :-(

[rthorntn]

Thanks CrazyIvan

Speed = not important
Accuracy = should be able to cut a circular hole correctly in 2mm alu
Power = just alu sheets

Cheers

Richard

[Zig]

Hello Richard,



What are you making?

It may be more cost effective to have it done by someone else rather than You going about building a machine.

I have a machine capable of processing sheet material 600mm x 500mm.

Zig

[rthorntn]

I just bought a 6040 CNC from Ebay, the price was right.

It restricts me to 380mm but I will live with that.

To be honest I dont have the space for anything bigger.

/Richard

[rthorntn]

Hi i'm back again,

I have been scouring the forums on modding the 6040, all this is new to me.

I have the computer I am going to use, its a fanless, dual-core atom with onboard serial, parallel and video ports (http://www.commell.com.tw/product/SBC/LV-67E.HTM).

Sounds like all of the below are worthy upgrades, some feedback would be awesome, there is also the question of software, Mach3 I presume, and perhaps Sketchup?:

Limit switches
Dust shoe
Estop
Homanns digispeed
Touchplate
Laser crosshair
MPG pendant

Is there anybody in Sydney I could pay to spec and install the upgrades above and help me get up and running?

Also I picked up on some discrepancy with ER11 or ER11a collet nuts on the stuff coming from Asia, I haven't really got any idea what I should be ordering from a site like http://www.ctctools.biz/ for cutting through 2mm alu, basically the bits used in the video linked to in my first post.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Richard

[kiwichris]

Hi..

Given that you're new to CNC you probably don't need to worry about some of those items.

Limit switches - Nice to have but I don't think the interface on the 6040's supports them? In any case I don't think the machine is strong enough to break itself anyway, it'll just hit the stops and buzz? The most common oops with CNC routers is crashing the tool, and limit switches wont stop that although they will stop the machine if you loose a pile of steps because you try to take a 20mm cut out of the bed of the machine! :-)

Dust shoe - Not sure what you intend to make but designing / making your own dust shoe using the router is a good first project for many hobby CNC folks. The other thing is you mention cutting 2mm Alloy? You'll probably be wanting to use some kind of coolant / lube for cutting alloy if you're doing a lot of it which would make the dust shoe pretty redundant.

Estop - the 6040 controllers come with an estop don't they? Or do you just want an additional one? Just get one from ebay / jaycar / etc and wire it in series with the one in the cabinet.

Homanns digispeed - Most of the 6040 routers come with a variable speed spindle anyway, so this is redundant.

Touchplate - Definitely nice to have, but the controller needs to support it otherwise you're up for some relatively serious hacking around of the controller. On small machines the paper touch option is pretty good, and some prefer to drop the tool inside the collet. Good stuff to learn anyway.

Laser crosshair - High gadget value, but not really a required item on any CNC router IMHO, unless you require accurate re-positioning of work pieces or you're doing double/multi sided work with no fixtures.

MPG pendant - Cool toy. :-) If you're using mach3 (which I assume you will, or EMC2?) you can use a USB game controller, or get one of the dedicated MPG pendants for Mach which will just plug in and go.

I might be way off as I have no idea what you intend to make with the machine, or what your skill level is... So consider it my my 2c worth. :-).

Cheers, Chris H.

[rbarnold]

Hi,
Have a look at Probotix in the USA, they have small CNC machines close to what you are looking for.
CNC Stepper Motor Driver Systems & Hobby CNC Routers:: PROBOTIX™
As said by others, dust extraction won't be needed for Ally as the chips would be to heavy for them to be picked up, and if you use a lube which is wise, the chips would hang around the cut (sticky) even with CRC or WD40.

I would think that the maximum bit size would be 6mm (1/4") but use solid carbide rather than HSS because the cut would be cleaner (it would also be an "end mill" spiral bit) Other than that Probotix would help you out they are very helpfull and they can also supply USB controlers with all software builtin to control the machine i.e. no learning Mach3 cause it ain't needed. Just feed it a DXF file and it does the rest.
Hope this helps
Roger