[dharmic]

My gantry height off the bed is 160mm, yours may be different coz of the different bed types etc.

But the bottom of the X carriage hangs 18mm under the gantry, so the specced 140mm clearance will be to the low point of the carriage rather than the gantry.

[Mmpie]

Brill, cheers. Just enough to squeeze a 5" chunk of wood under it and engrave on the face then.


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[Mmpie]

Maybe an odd question, does anyone have a decent set of gloves for dealing with aluminium chips? The tiny chips our tiny tools make are evil, constantly hands on to change tools manually, after a bit of cutting my hands resemble a cactus. I've so far managed to ruin my vinyl 'heavy duty' mechanics gloves and a pair of leather gloves I nicked off her indoors.


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[RCaffin]

Gloves???
Toothbrush and shop-Vac

Cheers
Roger

[dharmic]

Toughen up, buttercup.



I give everything a good old blast with the air duster before I get my hands in there. Usually saves them, at the risk of me walking out of the shed looking like some Twilight vampire glitter gaylord from the stuff that's flicked up and floated around. I grab cheap (£1) mechanic gloves - the type with rubberised front and just elastic cloth on the back of the hand - and use them if I have to get in amongst it. I buy 10 pair at a time, and as soon as they start getting too holey I chuck 'em.

[markyparky]

Hi chaps,

this thread is probably best placed for my question. I am half decided to buy either X4L or X6L. Mostly for plastic, plywood, acrylic, FR4 and some Aluminium too (I am aware that this type of chassis has its limits...). Basically hobbyist to serious hobbyist level stuff I have two questions if you don't mind.
1) is it reasonable machine for my needs described above or you'd rather class it as a Chinese crap? (I am currently half way through this thread so I don't have a complete picture yet).
2) is there anybody who bought it (or anything from Omio CNC) recently? What was the paypal nickname you paid to? I will have to go for a custom order and buy just the frame only (as I have my own drivers and all stuff). Long story short I can't simply navigate to their eshop and click add to cart and process payment via paypal. I am only in touch with them via email. We agreed on the deal that I'll provide my details and they'll send me a paypal request. In fact I have no clue if I am talking with real Omio salesman or not.

Many thanks,
Jan

[Mmpie]

1) both. It's a reasonable set up that is capable of machining everything you wish, but the build is a pile of Chinese crap. Be prepared for lots of pulling things apart, redrilling and retapping holes where things don't line up and they've just been forced in, hammering everything into shape and lots of pulling your hair out wondering about why someone forced that tap in that hole not only off centre but also at a ridiculous angle. This part is far more painful than it sounds, believe me. But once you've dragged yourself through it it's done and good to go and you're better prepared to do it all again a week later when you find out there's something you missed and have to pull it all apart again.

2) not a direct answer, but make the most of your email correspondence while you still can and make sure any questions are asked now, because once that buy button has been pushed and the cash lands in their bank you will never hear from them again.

I don't regret buying it one bit, it's done everything I've asked of it and recently that's probably more than it's comfortable with (some big parts in ali). That said I am now looking at rebuilding the framework into something more sturdy, but without having this machine in the first place I would have neither the knowledge or the tools to accomplish that, so whichever way you look at it it's been a good buy for me.

Unless you go down the DIY route I don't think you can do any better for the price.


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[Mmpie]

Toughen up, buttercup.



I give everything a good old blast with the air duster before I get my hands in there. Usually saves them, at the risk of me walking out of the shed looking like some Twilight vampire glitter gaylord from the stuff that's flicked up and floated around. I grab cheap (£1) mechanic gloves - the type with rubberised front and just elastic cloth on the back of the hand - and use them if I have to get in amongst it. I buy 10 pair at a time, and as soon as they start getting too holey I chuck 'em.

They were the first ones I tried, I found them to be about as effective as a wet paper bag. It's changing fixtures that's the real killer, when you think you've got it all clean there's always one little needle waiting round the back. I've got that many shards of metal stuck in my hands I think getting through airport security could take awhile...


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[markyparky]

1) both. It's a reasonable set up that is capable of machining everything you wish, but the build is a pile of Chinese crap. Be prepared for lots of pulling things apart, redrilling and retapping holes where things don't line up and they've just been forced in, hammering everything into shape and lots of pulling your hair out wondering about why someone forced that tap in that hole not only off centre but also at a ridiculous angle. This part is far more painful than it sounds, believe me. But once you've dragged yourself through it it's done and good to go and you're better prepared to do it all again a week later when you find out there's something you missed and have to pull it all apart again.

2) not a direct answer, but make the most of your email correspondence while you still can and make sure any questions are asked now, because once that buy button has been pushed and the cash lands in their bank you will never hear from them again.

I don't regret buying it one bit, it's done everything I've asked of it and recently that's probably more than it's comfortable with (some big parts in ali). That said I am now looking at rebuilding the framework into something more sturdy, but without having this machine in the first place I would have neither the knowledge or the tools to accomplish that, so whichever way you look at it it's been a good buy for me.

Unless you go down the DIY route I don't think you can do any better for the price.


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Thanks for your honest and quick response. Like probably everything from china - it is pretty good make until a PRC worker touch it with hands. As you say drilled off center, funny angle tapped holes is a good example. So I probably know what to expect. I am sure that every single one they ship is original :-) But good to know that Omio is the case too. Maybe I won't be that disappointed when I eventually buy one. Or better say unbox one.

Your point re 2) is fair enough. Get as much as possible before buy is probably good idea. But to touch the topic once more again would you mind to have a look into your paypal account and confirm which account you transferred the money to? I can keep asking and they can keep replying for ages. What I an trying to avoid is the scenario that happened to some cnc hobbyists in my country. They were communicating with some seller for quite some time (someone would need to keep me honest here but I believe the seller was Omio) and the seller was responding with reasonable English, had some phone calls together. Guys sent the money and never got the goods. It ended up with unpleasant experience where somebody cracked in to sellers mailbox and was communicating with guys and provided their own invoice. the guys never got their money back. That sucks...

[Mmpie]

I paid via bank transfer, and credit where it's due it arrived pretty damn quickly. Although I have this idea that my machine was the one the new guy put together and was such a wreck it just sat in the corner until I came along.

There are a couple of sellers with similar names I think. It might have been another.

Mine shipped with a faulty PSU and a linear bearing carriage that was getting stuck. They never replied to me when I asked for support or replacement parts and left me to find and fix any errors by myself to the tune of around £100. One of my ballscrews is too big as well which has caused it to bend at one end, but that doesn't seem to be causing any issue.

That's about the extent of my experience with them.


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[extent]

if you're just trying to get the mechanicals and are going to do all your own electronics I don't know if it's really worth it. You're paying a bit of a premium for the Omio "turnkey" and their frame isn't really different from anyone elses. I think if I were doing that I'd have a look around at any other one with linear rails and see if I could find it for cheaper, unless you're already getting a great deal from them.

[markyparky]

I paid via bank transfer, and credit where it's due it arrived pretty damn quickly. Although I have this idea that my machine was the one the new guy put together and was such a wreck it just sat in the corner until I came along.

There are a couple of sellers with similar names I think. It might have been another.

Mine shipped with a faulty PSU and a linear bearing carriage that was getting stuck. They never replied to me when I asked for support or replacement parts and left me to find and fix any errors by myself to the tune of around £100. One of my ballscrews is too big as well which has caused it to bend at one end, but that doesn't seem to be causing any issue.

That's about the extent of my experience with them.


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Fair enough, thanks. What you mean by several sellers with similar name? I am only aware of https://www.omiocnc.com/. I already have a PSU, spindle, VFD and other stuff from my previous attempt for a DIY build which I canceled for now due to lack of time and machinery close enough to build my own router @ at least similar quality as Omio is. Realistically I'd end up with pretty much the same crap for same money. Maybe even more expensive. This way I can start making some chips, find where weaknesses are and think about improvements. Ie I don't like the way how the Y ball screw is installed. I'll probably replace that front and back plate with custom one where I'll fit 2 ball screws (driven by one motor) properly installed in FK/FF bearing houses. Well I have already tested all of my electronics and stuff on a different hobby machine I have and it's just fine after some decent tuning or finding a good Mach3 config. So there is only space for an error in mechanical assembly and rail blocks. I doubt it is real HIWIN but is it at least "hiwin like" rail and block(s)?

Also anyone else around who bought from them and paid via paypal? Sorry to bother with that but I kind of person that don't decide easily and would like to have at least some level of guarantee that I am not sending my $$ to some scam. Already bought tons of stuff from china and some packages never arrived (maybe never shipped even?) but this is first one for some noticeable money.

Cheers all.

[markyparky]

if you're just trying to get the mechanicals and are going to do all your own electronics I don't know if it's really worth it. You're paying a bit of a premium for the Omio "turnkey" and their frame isn't really different from anyone elses. I think if I were doing that I'd have a look around at any other one with linear rails and see if I could find it for cheaper, unless you're already getting a great deal from them.

Well I have all of the electronics and stuff already tuned in setup I like. I am not doing it to save some money. Honestly saying the electronics I have is fairly similar to what they offer. VFD and spindle is the same story. With all these components they offer as a "turnkey" you might or might not be lucky. Keep me honest but if it's the unlucky case you never get any proper support from them. Not even mention any warranty replacement. The price is some 1300 plus DHL shipping which I'd need to pay in either case.
Of course I was looking around and found only a frame for cheaper but it was always supported rod on Y axis and the rest on unsupported rods :-( They seems to be the only seller. Are you aware of different offering that has linear rails? Do do tell me please :-)

[Mmpie]

You're not going to be putting these ballscrews into fk/bk type bearing supports unless you have a lathe, they're not machined correctly for it. If you were gearing for a diy build I would absolutely recommend pushing ahead with it if you have the nous. Buy some aluminium extrusion, it won't be perfect, but once you have a machine you can buy some more extrusion and use it to mill keys in for your rails and then you will have a better machine. The framework on the OMIO is very flimsy, the gantry is 20mm t slot, the y rails are on similar, the gantry arms and z plates are 15mm. At this point having bought all your electronics the only thing you really have to gain from buying and OMIO is the fact it's already built and that it does have milled surfaces for the rails. Beyond that you are going to build a better frame for less cost.

It looks like the OMIO have moved to hiwin. Mine has 'THK' on it,but having replaced the faulty bearing with a genuine THL and holding both in my hands I can tell you without any shadow of a doubt it's not genuine THK gear. Edit: not to say that the copies are 'bad' (other than the faulty one obviously) I haven't had any problem at all from my linear guides, oh and apart from one that arrived a couple of ball bearings short, you can just tell in the refinement of the finished product.


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[RCaffin]

Blimey.
I knew some of the Chinese stuff was dodgy, but I did not realise it was THAT dodgy! I have been educated.

Cheers
Roger

[Mmpie]

Blimey.
I knew some of the Chinese stuff was dodgy, but I did not realise it was THAT dodgy! I have been educated.

Cheers
Roger

Ok, I've not actually measured the rails or bearings for run out, but I have milled flat faces on parts in most places along my bed, and those I've checked are flat to within 0.02mm and a part I made yesterday after checking and adjusting spindle tram was actually 0.00 swept with an indicator on a granite surface plate and 0.02 size wise in X and Y. I'm assuming this is how the errors in the rails would manifest themselves by introducing peaks and troughs in parts? And maybe/certainly they'll wear faster.

If nothing else, they're made to a better standard than the rest of the machine.

Assuming your reply was a jovial sarcastic reference to my post about the rails.

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[doogle]

Hi all, sorry to butt in... I posted elsewhere but this might be the best place to ask.
I'm looking at getting a X4-800L-USB... but I have the option of getting a 2-bearing 1500W water-cooled spindle. Is this a better option than going for the 4-bearing 800W water-cooled spindle? Does fewer bearings mean greater TIR? Is the extra power of the 1500W spindle not actually useful on a machine of this size?
Apparently the machine will cope with it fine, and it's not much more cost to go for the 1500W. I'm planning to use the machine for plastics, aluminium and hopefully a bit of steel. I'd go for the X6-2200L-USB, but I just don't have the room unfortunately.
Cheers!

[javanree]

You want more bearings, not less. And I personally on my X4 find the 800W more than enough. It's not rigid enough for steel and in aluminium with a 6mm cutter you'll never need the 800W. Mine is an aircooled, as I didn't like the idea of mixing chinese quality mechanics/electrics and conductive fluids...
So far with around 60-80 hours I'm still happy, the noise from the air cooling is nothing compared to the cutter noise, only minor downside of aircooled is that you get a little bit more dust being blown up.

The only advantage of a bigger spindle might be that you get ER16 or even ER20 collets instead of ER11...

[doogle]

Thanks for the response javanree.

Yeah it made sense that more bearings would be better... but I haven't really been able to find anything that states exactly 'why'. My guess is lifetime and TIR improvements, but that's just a guess.
But either way, once I found out that the 1500W has fewer bearings than the 800W it did make me reconsider... and then it came down to whether - on this machine - the extra power of the 1500W would be worth it. They're both ER11, so no advantage there.. I'd need the 2200W spindle for a bigger collet, which isn't an option.

That's a shame about steel... I think I'll still give it a go and see what happens though. They claim it'll manage on the website, but I don't know how much that means anything.

Cheers

[Mmpie]

Is there a difference in RPM between the 800w and 1500w? For aluminium and hard plastics the 800w might actually be a better choice if it spins slower, offering torque at lower speeds. I have the 2.2kw and it really doesn't like spinning below 10k rpm, which makes using some tools with aluminium more difficult, such as drills etc.

If they're the same rpm I would say go with the 1500kw. Others on here who understand the electrics will be able to give you a proper answer though, so hold on before pulling the trigger.


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