Another beginner....

Hello, I'm Scott and have decided to take the plunge into getting a CNC router. I have had a 3D printer for a couple years and have became somewhat proficient with it. Now I wish to design Carbon Fibre parts for RC cars and Quads.
I have always wanted to design my own parts. While the 3D printer has helped, it doesn't do everything I need done.

I think a 3040 would be big enough to do all the parts I want to design.

My questions are.
1. What CNC machines should I be looking at for this sort of thing. (I feel like there is probably a separate thread for this already)
2. Are limit switches necessary for what I'm trying to do? After using them on the 3D printer it would seem I need them. But that's why I am here! To learn from you guys and girls.

Looking forward to learning in here and hopefully getting to the stage where I can help others?

Scott

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Hello, I'm Scott and have decided to take the plunge into getting a CNC router. I have had a 3D printer for a couple years and have became somewhat proficient with it. Now I wish to design Carbon Fibre parts for RC cars and Quads.
I have always wanted to design my own parts. While the 3D printer has helped, it doesn't do everything I need done.

I think a 3040 would be big enough to do all the parts I want to design.

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Hi Scott and welcome to the forum. I believe there are several people on here that build RC stuff and carbon fibre bits for quads etc. I have cut a few out myself for a friend.

Re the 3040 First it would be good to know a budget. But the 3040 style on machines generally get a bad press on here as they are not well made but are OK for learning (I feel you seem to know about gcode etc from the 3D printing scene) To get any sort of accuracy you really need to use Ball Screws and decent motors and drives etc.

Usually kits of part are never matched and are best avoided.

If you decide to build from scratch have a look through the build logs and then start your own to keep all the questions in one place. Good luck which ever route you take.

Thanks Clive,
I just found a 6040 that I will probably be purchasing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013JLD1...M5ATESIW&psc=1

Im pretty sure it will do what I need it to. I would like to build a bigger one for heavier milling, but want to learn on the smaller stuff that I can use now. Plus I may be moving to the states in a year or so.

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Originally Posted by AceofAxe

Thanks Clive,
I just found a 6040 that I will probably be purchasing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013JLD1...M5ATESIW&psc=1

Im pretty sure it will do what I need it to. I would like to build a bigger one for heavier milling, but want to learn on the smaller stuff that I can use now. Plus I may be moving to the states in a year or so.

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Ok but as you can see it is advertised as an engraving machine no ball screws etc. But if you are happy then!!

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Originally Posted by Clive S

Ok but as you can see it is advertised as an engraving machine no ball screws etc. But if you are happy then!!

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It will cut through 4mm Carbon Fibre though, correct?

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Originally Posted by AceofAxe

It will cut through 4mm Carbon Fibre though, correct?

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Yeah....sloooooooooowwwwllllyyyyyyy if you try to push it too fast the machines weak points will show themselves.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

Beware cutting carbon fibre... the dust is a freaking nightmare. It's abrasive to machinery, it messes with electronics and it stays in your lungs pretty much forever and is also too small to be completely trapped even by HEPA filters.

I always used to just make do with a dust shoe and my shop vac with hepa bag and secondary fine particle filter... a Company I worked with in Switzerland had a CNC that they used for prototyping drone stuff. Despite having a similar setup to me with the vac, they had some serious problems with the electronics they were prototyping for several months. Eventually they tracked it down to carbon fibre dust contamination of the entire lab from the cutting.

They had a massive clean up, and switched to cutting underwater. Ever since then no more issues.

So I would definitely recommend you cut that stuff underwater... at it's most simple, its just a shallow tray with some water and get cracking.

If you wanted a small machine just to play around with I have a small acme machine with nema 17's that you could fix up and make serviceable. It does actually work ok as is but could do with a better control board at least... if you wanted to pick it up from my parent's place near reading it's yours for a contribution to the beer fund as it's just occupying space at this point.