Hello all,

after a very very long period of being undecided and some approaches to design and build my own CNC router ( one is here ... http://www.cnczone.com/forums/t-slot...70963-cnc.html) I had to admit that I have not enough time to go through all the trial and error of a DIY build. Therefore I checked lots of companies here in the US and in Europe. The US based companies have some nice machines but unfortunately more often than not they are subject to a very strong Chinese influence.
The European companies have also some very interesting machines (CNC-Fr and Sorotec - CNC-Mills) but I had to find out that almost none of these companies shipping to the US because of liability reasons. One guy told me that his insurance company would double or triple the premium if he would ship his machines to the US or Canada.

Finally I looked at the XZero CNC again and while the design is pretty close to what I was thinking about I pulled the trigger on one of those. I chose the Raptor 36 x 48 because I need minimum 40 cutting area lengthwise.

The ordering process was very smooth. I payed via PayPal on 10/27 and the main portion of the machine arrived yesterday. One shipment via FedEx is still enroute and expected to arrive next Tuesday. The ball screws and the rails coming from Taiwan and also expected to arrive next week.

I tried to use the wait time to setup the electronic components. Initially on my list was the Gecko drive and Triple Beast, the latter is more common in Europe but well documented. George mentioned the MX3660 from Leadshine as a good option and since I couldn't get the Triple Beast from Europe I decided to go with Leadshine, but with the MX4660 which can drive four motors.
The wiring is extremely easy and since I don't have a Windows PC with a parallel port I followed Georges recommendation and got the UC100 USB CNC drive. While the setup could be done in almost no time I struggled a little bit with Mach3 but finally could figure it out and everything works nice while bench testing.

https://youtu.be/QdmFUDxmPFE

I already unpacked all the parts for inspection, unfortunately there is no parts list, which makes it almost impossible to check if everything is complete. I guess I will figure this out during the buildup.

Attachment 298014

And last not least I still need to buy some stuff, like cable and plugs for the engines, a housing for the electronic, E-Stop, machine feet etc.

Is there a good online shop out there where I can buy these things?

More to come
Thanks

Chris