Hello from Nottingham.

Hi all many thanks all at CNC UK for the invite to a forum for us UK CNC enthusiasts. I have yet to build mine but am gathering alot of info before my build as a project like this can be expensive and mistakes are what I want to avoid so this forum would be a grat place to post and get expert advice and also see what other fellow UK CNC'ers are using and what they are making.
I have many hobbies and guitar making is what I love doing but I love the hands on approach to this skilled craft so the CNC for guitar making is not what I would use it for although some of you might think its crazy but my guitars are totally handmade and have been for the last 23 years and I have no desire to change whatsoever no matter if it is easy to me its being just lazy. There are many things I would like to make with my CNC so once its built I'll show you my progress.
I have all the electronics side of the build ie stepper, driver, power supply etc,etc but have yet to tackle the build which for starters will be a MDF skate bearings approach as its cheap and also a good learning curve for the next machine so if I do make a mistake its no hardship as the parts are dirt cheap to replace.
I am thinking of using for leadscrews 8mm threaded rod as this fits nicely in the skate bearing and its easily available at most hardware stores, would this be a good idea or not ? has anyone else used this to greta affect.
I am currently building a workshop that is 16 feet X 9 feet so with all my stuff it has to be big and more importantly house my CNC.
Anyway guys I'll keep you posted of my progress and also would love to see some of you guys machines. :D

hiya kammo,

Welcome to the forums, i would love to see your hand made guitars my dad has been playing for about 15 years now.

You can view my build in the build logs if your intrested not much there right now just a few pics and where i'm at with my build, would be nice for you to share who you purchased your electronics from as i'm now at the point of sourcing these as well i'v got lots of links to look at but more is better ! i'm also compiling a links list for these forums so its alot easy for new people and so on.

You may do better posting your question in the right forums as well, the guys here will more then likly see your questions and answer them accordingly may just help to make sure they get seen.

Could you be so kind as to tell me who you got your "skate bearings" from as i'm also looking to use them for my leadscrews s.

Hi all, I got all my electronics from a seller on e-bay called cnczoner based in Scotland I bought the whole package for £168 +£10 postage although the item was a little slow in getting to me took abot 4 weeks!!!!!!!! crap service really but I couldn't find a better bargain anywhere. I still haven't tested it yet so I can't even say if its working or not as I am still new to this CNC stuff and need to download some software on my computer so I can see if its working or not. I have made a contact on the other CNC forum with a guy from Mansfield which is about a 1/2 hours drive from me and he seems to know how to set this all up so in a few weeks time when we both have some spare time we can test it and make sure its ok.
I also bought my bearings from e-bay as they were very cheap I can't recall offhand how much as it was sometime last year but can say it didn't break the bank ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!
Hope this helps :D

Great stuf kamo, funny its this cnczoner guy i'v been watching his items and been thinking about if or not to use him.

His stuff is from Aliencnc.com, maybe he had to order it in before he could send you it who knows, but now i know i wont be using him when i order the stuff i want it that week or it will just do my head in as i'm looking to get things done with my machine.

I'v been looking at a seller on ebay called cncsupply, this guy/gal sells Stepmasternc.com stuff and i think they maybe what im going to get. I think there about £10 more in price but they do have more features, i dont think ill be needing to use the features that these have but its always there if i need to kind of thing. i'm also working with one of the other mods here and may build my own controllers but not sure i will.

I did look at the all in one box's each of these offer, however i'm going to be using a laptop on my machine when its done and i'm going to be looking at building a shelf on the back of the machine that the laptop can sit on. Also hiding all of the controllers and what not on the back as well, space is somthing i dont really have much of in what i call my workshop lol, so i want a free standing machine thats like an "all in one" "pop it in the corner" "send it files over the wireless network from the office in the house" and off it go's kind of thing.

The other control pic is of the ones you get from stepmasternc (the blue one).

Welcome to the forums.

CNCUK

Just so you know, Aliencnc and Stepmaster is the same company, the reason you had a delay in getting your stuff is it had to come from Florida. I bought the Stepmaster 4 axis box, I waited an age for it, never got email replies, any technical questions were never answered. To be fair their driver board does run well.
I went and bought a Xylotex 4 axis driver as well and find this is a lot better as you adjust the current to suit each axis motor, ( in my case I ended up with 3 different motors :roll:)
But not only that.. I was also able to wire in my limit switches to the xylotex driver.
I see Xylotex now ship to Europe as they have their ROHS in place now.

Hi Kammo

Not too far away from you, Jnc 28 M1 Sutton-in-Ashfield. When we both start on our builds might beable to help each other out if we get stuck, two heads better than one ;)

Andy

Hello All!

It's good to be around UK builders. All the other CNC boards are US based and so finding chat about regional suppliers can be hard.

I'm about to start fabbing my machine - ahem albeit very slowly, family duties etc. - and I'm looking for advice and some companionship! I think I've found it

;)



Charlie

Im using the electronics from "motion Control Products" http://www.motioncontrolproducts.co.uk/ ... ducts_id=8

They also sell on ebay, they have been very helpful offering advice, you can phone them and it's not just one guy, Bit more expensive that some of the ones on ebay, but if you after something well made and reliable with nice accuracy then give these guys a call.

Ive read about a lot of problems with some of the cheaper ebay controllers overheating and not handling there specified ampage etc, similar problems have been reported about stepmasternc but have never tried one myself, just something for you to consider.

DJH