My new toy....

[hobbybob]

Hello all,

Last week i bought a CNC style engraving machine which i will be retrofitting to be a "true" CNC machine. For now it's a serial controlled machine. Via a plugin in Autocad you can draw up a drawing and output using the plugin via the Serial port of the pc.
Very slowly and as an engraver you can only enter 1 depth and then engrave/cut that depth. When converting it to full CNC then i am able to cut stuff up really bad.

Since i only have a background in electronics (and lots of it faded in my memory....) i will have to learn new stuff (which i like) but don't know jack sh*t about right now.

Have ordered a new Kress Spindle (1050W FME-1) with a variable RPM of 5 - 25K and some drillbit stuff. I ordered 2 and 3 mm drillbit (3 flute endmill) , a special 3mm mill for aluminium and a 3mm one for plastic. It's a relatively small machine, fitting my wallet.
I will be able to do 30x30cm stuff and the Z-axis is around 10 to 15cms.

Picture of the machine:



Don't mention the funny spindle, it's a very cheap dremel clone, but was the only thing i had that i was able to fit in the 43mm tool holder, with some yellow plastic plates.
But i was able to somewhat engrave text onto a pcb copper layer... but the spindle was to weak to go deeper that 0,5mm hahaha.... the new spindle will solve that i am sure.

When the spindle is in, i will try to draw a retardo face or Photonlexicon in Autocad 2005 and try to engrave it in a block of HPME500 (very hard plastic stuff...like ABS or Nylon).
Another moneypit has entered my house....

[soforene]

Recession ?

What Recession !?!

Congrats Dmitri.
You can never have enough toys.

[hobbybob]

Recession ?

What Recession !?!

Congrats Dmitri.
You can never have enough toys.

Thanks Soforene, it was either the toys or a nice woman ;-(
Can't seem to have both for some silly reason hahaha...

[danielbriggs]

Thanks Soforene, it was either the toys or a nice woman ;-(
Can't seem to have both for some silly reason hahaha...

Naaa.... chicks *totally* dig a CNC


Looks nice Dimitri!
If/when you get some new drivers fitted; get Mach3
The free version lets you output up to 250 lines of G-code, but that's plenty for basic things.

[hobbybob]

Nice... i knew it was a good buy... now i know for sure ;-)
I will start the retrofit with a cheap 3axis cnc stepper driver board i just purchased in china an hour ago. It's all optocouplers and stuff so the parallel port is safe.

After that i will buy 3x Geckodrive 251 (50V, 3.5A each) to drive the motors which are relatively weak....
I was recommended cnc-usb by a lot of dutch mill freaks.
Together with the software cheaper than just the mach3 software.
And you can connect it to a USB port so i can use a laptop for the mill (have some lying around..) which isn't recommended.

On the other hand, i will however start with Mach3 and the cheap stepper board.
Nice thing i like about mach3 is that you can customize a lot.
Now i will have to learn a CAM program too as well as a CAD program.

I do have an older version of Autocad 2005, but i think that is overkill for what i do / plan on doing with it (make laser stuff).
Which software do you recommend ?

[dnar]

Chicks only dig CNC if they have lots of chick pulling LED's flashing randomly!

Nice toy.

[swamidog]

everybody dance now!

(with sincere apologies to cnc music factory)

Chicks only dig CNC if they have lots of chick pulling LED's flashing randomly!

Nice toy.

[danielbriggs]

Gecko - the best but expensive.
To be honest... a standard Chinese stepper driver is good enough and will cost 1/2-1/3 of the price of a single Gecko.
If I had the cash, I'd get Gecko's all over. If I was looking to save £££ -> Generic...

Brill stuff here; really good value:
http://www.diycnc.co.uk/

If you want a USB controller for Mach3, SmoothStep is mega, if a little pricey.
As you said, laptop parallel ports are out - 3.3V...

But: Mach3 Mach3 Mach3!

You can do more or less everything you need (simple shapes and holes and whatnot) from "wizards" or cycles from a Mach3 'workspace'.
If you ever want more info on that side of things, give me a ring

[hobbybob]

and for the more complex things, what do you use to draw ?
I can maybe buy a smoothstepper card, unused and new for 99 euros.

furthermore the geckos i can buy for 40 pounds each. which is not cheap, but also not that expensive. since they are really good.

[danielbriggs]

New Geckos for £40?
Bargain - get them.

What CAD software do I use?
ProEngineer WildFire 4.0
(Recently renamed to Creol or something daft)
But I only use that because I bought it for my studies... So perhaps not the best choice if you're using it fresh just for CNC work.

Stick with AutoCAD...