Hello ANZ,

Apologies if this is not the right area.

Basically I want to post how I am getting on with my CNC and hopefully get some feedback, it's for hobby type activities and it will be indoors in the "man-lab".

I purchased a CNC 6040 a month ago from Ebay, it arrived in Sydney within a couple of days, the gantry table had a couple of the corners bashed but generally it looks pretty good (I subscribe to the "you couldn't even buy the parts at this price" school of thought).

The stepper controller and the cooling pump don't inspire confidence so I have ordered a Geckodrive G540 and a Aquacool Station II 230v.

The 6040 seems to have shipped with a 6mm collet and 3mm end mills, so an order into CNC tools for some nuts, collets and 6mm end mills (Carbide HRC50 - 3 Flute - Uncoated) was required.

In terms of cutting fluid, i'm thinking of spraying WD40 on the workpiece when it's milling.

The G540 will arrive assembled and wired in a case, this saves me attempting it (Thank you Peter Homann).

As most of what I want to do will be with aluminium sheet I settled on Cut2D software and I am liking the look of that, with this I may not even need CAD until I get more adventurous.

The PC I am using is an embedded type system I already owned (Commell LV-67) with an 8GB SSD running an installation from the EMC2 LiveCD, I like the idea of this because it's free and running with real-time extensions (and i'm a computer geek).

Total cost up to this point is approx $2600.

Things I need to do:

-Get an aussie AC plug on the VFD, wire the VFD to the spindle and the (fwd contacts to the) G540. Can anyone help with this, should I aim to use a 3 prong aussie plug and connect this earth to 'E' on the Huanyang HY01D523B?

-Solder the stepper cables to the G540 DB9 connectors.

-Figure out if I should be doing more about earthing.

Things I want to do:

-Design and build an enclosure for it, or have one built to spec, currently thinking wood with a couple of perspex doors, I am also thinking of having the CNC close to the floor.

-Install limits/home (happy to set soft limits in EMC2 for one end of each axis but I like the idea of calling the state where all three limits at the other end being switched on "home")

-Purchase a bunch of 3mm aluminium plate, I have asked Ullrich Aluminium for a quote.

As I said, feedback would be much appreciated. I will add stuff as it happens, hopefully it can help other newbies.

Cheers
Richard