800 x 600 machine for £1500 - Is it possible?

As titled,

Got a limited budget of £1500 to build a machine.

Ideally i'd like 800 x 600 cut area, but slightly larger is not an issue (But not too much due to space)

Mainly cutting MDF (12mm and 18mm) and plexi occasionally.

Already have a Kress 1050 spindle, Mach 3 with Licence, and the required PC

Whats the best way forward on this?

Thanks in advance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chillimonster

As titled,

Got a limited budget of £1500 to build a machine.

Ideally i'd like 800 x 600 cut area, but slightly larger is not an issue (But not too much due to space)

Mainly cutting MDF (12mm and 18mm) and plexi occasionally.

Already have a Kress 1050 spindle, Mach 3 with Licence, and the required PC

Whats the best way forward on this?

Thanks in advance.

---

Hi and welcome to the forum. If you are careful and plan properly it is doable so first start by having a look through the build logs on here and then submit some drawings for people to comment on.

Whatever you do do not go out and buy any electronics (kits of electronics are really bad) until you have the main machine designed.

Also when you are ready start a build log to keep all the info in one place and ask as many questions as you like even if at first you might think they are dumb. They all have been asked before.

Good luck with the build.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chillimonster

As titled,

Got a limited budget of £1500 to build a machine.

Ideally i'd like 800 x 600 cut area, but slightly larger is not an issue (But not too much due to space)

Mainly cutting MDF (12mm and 18mm) and plexi occasionally.

Already have a Kress 1050 spindle, Mach 3 with Licence, and the required PC

Whats the best way forward on this?

Thanks in advance.

---

Hi, welcome to the forum!!

Yes it is possible is the short answer!! How good are your DIY skills? What equipment do you have or have access to?

take a look at this site.... i'm waiting for my bits to turn up so I can build one :) The one I'm building has an area of 700x800 for cutting and Its going to cost me about £1200 to build all in.

http://www.rawcnc.com and http://www.cncmaskiner.org

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dcrowder

take a look at this site.... i'm waiting for my bits to turn up so I can build one :) The one I'm building has an area of 700x800 for cutting and Its going to cost me about £1200 to build all in.

http://www.rawcnc.com and http://www.cncmaskiner.org

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I doubt you will be cutting much ali with that but good luck with the build

thanks :) If I can do what is done in this video then I'll be a happy bunny!

Bearing in mind this is the aluminium plate belt drive version with a 1.5kw spindle and weaker motors. I'm building with rack and pinion drive, steel plates, steel reinforced beam and stronger motors :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4iV1VyXAuA

That's fine if you are happy with 0.5mm DOC as you can see they say only use a 3.2mm EM at .5mtr/min to cut that ali you should be able to do it in one pass. I am only saying this because for £1500 - £1800 you could build a machine that could cut ali properly at a decent feed rate and DOC.

tell me more :)