[MattyD]

Hey all,

I run a couple of c02 lasers and have a basic knowledge of CNCs, but as you'll find out if you keep reading it's not particularly in-depth knowledge of CNCs! But anyway...

Im considering buying a Workbee CNC, its a DIY kit that occasionally pops up on the used market. But it looks like the Workvee comes with a simple controller that has a 3-motor limit, and I need more than this as I wish to add an oscillating tangential Knife unit. The model that I'm looking at is the Stepcraft model (link below). It has two additional stepper motors (one deals with oscillation and the other with rotation I believe)

According to the manual the tangential knife unit can be fitted to other CNCs and it needs UCCNC to run

It's my understanding that the knife unit combined with the standard CNC will have a total of 5 stepper motors, so the controller needs to cover that.

that's the background. My question is two-fold

Which controller would you recommend? and...

The knife unit is connected via a D-Sub-15 connection cable - What would I need to buy to allow this cable to connect to the controller?


https://shop.stepcraft-systems.com/O...s-and-M-Series

the manual
https://www.stepcraft-systems.com/im...l-OTK-3-v1.pdf


For those interested as to why I wish to buy an oscillating knife rather than a drag knife - simply because I want better control over tight angles and depth of cut. This will be cutting simple foam board (not taxing), at a depth of 5mm -10mm. And I need crisp, tight angles and a perfectly clean cut. We did try the laser but the results where pretty terrible, not to mention toxic.

[Vlod]

Cool idea. Are you going to build it yourself ?
I would go with 6 axis just incase to run two motors on Y.
The rest depends on your budget…

[ger21]

I'd recommend either a UC400-ETH or UC300-ETH, with suitable breakout boards.

The knife unit is connected via a D-Sub-15 connection cable - What would I need to buy to allow this cable to connect to the controller?

I think the 15 pin cable is designed to plug into a Stepcraft control box.

I'd get a board like this:
https://www.winford.com/products/brksd15.php
Then you can just plug the knife into the board, and make the appropriate connections at the board. You'll need connections to a stepper power supply (±30V), as well as to the breakout board to your controller. THen you'll need to figure out the appropriate pins for UCCNC.