6040 CNC anyone bought one and recommened sellers :)

[Fivetide]

Yeah so I need a bit more length and the little desktop is lacking lol :nightmare:

Anyone bought a fleabay 6040 CNC ? Theres a couple of different ones and so I wouldn't mind some recommendations feedback etc.. only cutting loads of random some shapes out of 12 - 18 mm MDF and Baltic Birch ply. Fitting out a couple of VW campers and some wired ass art stuff for this girl I know, then I''l probably flog it again..

And for this one I'm buying a bloody shoe ! pissed off with standing there with the shop vac for hours on end lol :calm: .. I have all the kit for the water pumps etc and PC on the other so I'll just swap over. Should have about £900 by the end of month to spend.

Was thinking about something like this fleaybay CNC ? (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6040-CNC-ROUTER-ENGRAVER-ENGRAVING-MACHINE-3-AXIS-WOODWORKING-DRILLING-MILLING-/331833628382?hash=item4d42d356de:g:4gwAAOSwbYZXdln f)

[Fred]

I've got one secondhand and I'm happy with it. It sounds like your expectations of it are reasonable so you probably will be too.

I replaced the junk stepper drivers with a Gecko 540 straight away. You might find they work OK for a while, but don't expect much. Everything else seems good for the price.

[nirmal]

I bought one a few months back but I haven't been able to set it up yet as I've had a number of home maintenance disasters to sort out. I bought a bare bones 6040 without any of the electronics from ebay (RATTM Motor). The kit comes semi assembled and all the critically aligned stuff comes already pre-assembled. It looks fairly decently finished but the overall impression is that it has been designed to be just about adequate to cut soft materials like wood and plastics routinely and aluminium at a push on the odd occasion.

Professionals and serious enthusiasts here quite rightly point out that it is not an adequate machine for serious work, but for a complete noob like me seeking to teach myself CAD, CAM and CNC machining from scratch, the 6040 looks like unbeatable value. I can always flog it off on ebay for not too big a loss if I outgrow it.

I've bought good stepper motors (3.1NM) and drivers (AM822) and I am going to build the electrics from scratch with a view to retaining them for a machine upgrade in future should the CNC bug bite. I decided to go this route as the biggest cause of dissatisfaction and problems with these machines by a large margin is the electrics. I would suggest looking at this option seriously rather than buying one with the OEM control box. You will be able to sell it off easier and recover your costs even if it means spending a little bit more.

The vendor sent the item fairly promptly and it came well packaged. I haven't needed any after sales support but I doubt you would get any apart from a replacement for obvious damage.

[Fivetide]

I bought one a few months back but I haven't been able to set it up yet as I've had a number of home maintenance disasters to sort out. I bought a bare bones 6040 without any of the electronics from ebay (RATTM Motor). The kit comes semi assembled and all the critically aligned stuff comes already pre-assembled. It looks fairly decently finished but the overall impression is that it has been designed to be just about adequate to cut soft materials like wood and plastics routinely and aluminium at a push on the odd occasion.

Professionals and serious enthusiasts here quite rightly point out that it is not an adequate machine for serious work, but for a complete noob like me seeking to teach myself CAD, CAM and CNC machining from scratch, the 6040 looks like unbeatable value. I can always flog it off on ebay for not too big a loss if I outgrow it.

I've bought good stepper motors (3.1NM) and drivers (AM822) and I am going to build the electrics from scratch with a view to retaining them for a machine upgrade in future should the CNC bug bite. I decided to go this route as the biggest cause of dissatisfaction and problems with these machines by a large margin is the electrics. I would suggest looking at this option seriously rather than buying one with the OEM control box. You will be able to sell it off easier and recover your costs even if it means spending a little bit more.

The vendor sent the item fairly promptly and it came well packaged. I haven't needed any after sales support but I doubt you would get any apart from a replacement for obvious damage.

Yeah I'm not doing serious work, besides I know what the guys say about them I've been around long enough lol But if you manage your expectations then you can get very close to want yo want :) Thanks for the info

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[Rye]

I bought a 6040 with a 1.5k ER11 spindle, black box (not the blue one) with a SMC 4-4-16a16b fitted(no need to connect to a PC.) It cuts plastics and both soft and hardwood easily. It also cuts aluminium reasonably well. That said, I've had a few problems with mine: limit switches breaking, limit switch wires breaking, a screeching y axis(caused by bolts under the bed coming loose) and bits n pieces coming loose on the z gantry. The pump switch in the box has also stopped working. And the pump that came with the machine could wake the dead.

If I knew what I know now, and if it wasn't for my poor health and money problems(something always crops up making me dip into my savings), I'd replace the machine in a snap. All that aside though, I do enjoy using the machine. It's not that bad TBH (it's like a bridge camera pretending to be a DSLR). If you do buy one, I'd look around. For that sort of money you may get one with a 1.5k WC spindle.

[Fivetide]

(it's like a bridge camera pretending to be a DSLR). If you do buy one, I'd look around. For that sort of money you may get one with a 1.5k WC spindle.

Totally agree , I don't do serious stuff. Though if I can make enough money with things that its capable of making (with a little post work) and save up enough money, I would buy a decent one in a heart beat.

[davies46]

I bought one over Christmas, 6040 with:

old-style (blue box) parallel port controller (24v PSU and TB5650s on a card)
800w air cooled motor
Huanyang 1.5kW VFD spindle controller

It was the bare minimum that you could call a CNC router, no limit switches and kept missing steps on anything faster than a crawl. I replace the controller with

GRBL on Arduino Uno
TB6600s
36v PSU
Some limit switches NO and series wired as pairs for X, Y, Z

Which I would call a marginal upgrade - I wanted the 6600s to take the extra voltage of the 36v PSU. I used bCNC to pump the G-Codes.

Than I milled some stuff: first some air, then some polystyrene, then some MDF (a spoilboard then a dust boot), then some phenol plastic.

Not bad results, quite impressed with what you got for the money TBF.

I was building up to milling aluminium (I also have a 1.5kW spindle waiting in the wings) but accidentally milled the top off a steel bolt (holding down my spoilboard) and by the time I hit the Big Red it had made a pretty good job of carving a slot in the bolt head. So now I'm not so scared of trying that aluminium :biggrin:

So yeah, with perhaps a few cheap mods (TB660s @ £6.50 a pop etc.) I'd say I'm well pleased with it so far!

-Phil