Originally Posted by
Cavnar
I'm trying to decide on a CNC to build or buy.
I've been thinking about this for years, reading these posts for years, etc. And I'm not any closer to actually getting a CNC machine than I was before.
I NEED to be able to handle 2ft across. I have one project that I just can't do by hand, and it has to be 2ft by 6ft. I can work the 6ft in sections, but there's no way I can join panels or anything to build up the 2ft after carving.
I WANT to replace all of the other tools in my half-car-garage-sized home shop. To do this, I have to be able to do all of my other projects on the CNC, which means that it basically has to be able to handle 4x8. It may even end up, depending on the size of the footprint, that the table saw will have to go just to fit even a 2x machine in the shop. If that's the case, all of my panel work will get real sloppy with my circular saw.
My budget is around 1900. First off, is it even possible?
I looked at Joes kits. They look nice, but the 4x4 is a lot of 8020 that isn't in the kit. So I can't even price it unless I pay for the plans first, because I don't know how many other parts I'm going to have to buy. And I don't trust that I can cut the 8020 to the exact right length or drill the holes in the exact right places. I thought the 2006, although small, would at least be better in the completeness regard, but the site says it is a mixture of MDF, HDPE, and aluminum and steel parts, but only MDF and HDPE come in the kit. So I'm still left having to pay for the kit before I can figure out what other parts I would have to buy. Someone give me a link to the rest if I'm wrong.
I started to buy the 3x3 machine (fla-400, I think) from frontlineautomation. Until I realized when looking at the 2x3 (fla-100) that electronics weren't included and would push it passed my budget.
In theory, I could afford the blue chick from BuildYourOwnCNC.com, but not once I take into account that I would only be buying it to cut parts for a bigger one.
Second, the problem I have with building from scratch is that I don't have precision tools. I have an old craftsman table saw that MIGHT be able to be calibrated square. But even then, I can only cut perfect 90's on short pieces. If anything's very long, the slop in my miter guage slots and such will prevent square cuts. The fence has been pretty beat up. I think I had it square once, and it might have stayed that way for one cut, but that's it. I have a Skill brand drill press. I can line up a hole on it, but it does have slop in the spindle. I don't know if it is enough to matter when building a CNC or not. And I can't currently get the table square. I don't have a machinists square, and the various other squares I have aren't perfect enough for me. I'll get a machinists square for setting up the CNC, but I haven't had to drill anything that takes that precision yet.
Basically, I may be able to upgrade my shop to give me enough precision to build a precision CNC machine. But that in itself will eat up most of my budget, what with better guages, better fences, etc. So if I build from scratch, I either need a set of plans designed in such a way as to have enough adjustments (basically, everywhere) that I can make up for bad cuts, or reassurance from the community that the cuts aren't as hard as I think they are in the first place.
If I had any confidence that I could actually start a business with this, I might be better able to justify an increase in the budget. But as it is, I'm getting it for hobby stuff, a couple of projects that MIGHT be able to be sold if they even work out, and to help me stop spending so much frustration fighting with my crappy tools every time I want to make a box. Not to mention that I would like to get down to just this one machine that will have to be moved when the kids get out of the house and I sell it off in 3 years, instead of having to move all of the tools I have now.
So basically, with all of that in mind, am I just screwed? Either I don't get one, or I settle for crappy precision because I made a crappy build?