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Thread: Mini cnc

  1. #1
    I keep seeing these come up for sale recently,

    I dunno, but with a 300watt spindle and separate PSU, It looks like it might work out to be a tidy little desktop machine.

    They've put an acrylic version up on kickstarter, which looks a little better.

    For £300 including the uprated spindle. surely that cant be beaten?



    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-Laser-...sAAOSwRgJXjdLDClick image for larger version. 

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    Tiny envelope but depends what you want to make I guess!

  2. #2
    They are an entry level machine designed to get you started with CNC.
    They are very good at this as the makers have cut so many corners that from day one, nay, minute one you will be pissing about with this trying to get it running and stop the magic smoke leaking out.

    By the time you have replace most of the components you will be time served and fully proficient at repairing CNC or at least know enough for your second build / buy not to fall into the same trap.

    Regard it as a £300 correspondent course but one where the maker won't talk to you.
    John S -

  3. #3
    It runs off a GRbl shield so barely that much to go wrong, the spindle looks pretty awful but as I say with it replaced I cant see that much wrong with it, small enough to be fairly solid. Minimal cable runs. Ive seen all the 3040's and with them I would agree with your comment, but I think this might be in a slightly different bracket.

    My point was it might not be actually quite as shit as it first appears.

    Just for arguments sake, lets take all of the electronics off it. if someone wasnt a beginner they could make it a half decent machine. I like the design of it, and as a precut package, I havent seen anything quite as good value.
    Last edited by Benja; 16-08-2016 at 10:01 PM.

  4. #4
    Didn't say it was shit, said it was a starter package.
    Take the electronics off it and you have plastic sides that warp and flex, leadscrews with bearing that are just hammered into holes in the plastic. Probably the all in one Toshiba drives, the early cheap ones so no other than electronics and the rest there isn't much to go wrong with it.

    If you look at it as a project to learn you have lost nothing, that experience is invaluable. If you are expecting a working machine with just a few tweaks then I think you will be disappointed.

    It really depends on your expectations.
    John S -

  5. #5
    I'm not sure about something that's supposed to mill which has fibre board and/or plastic main chassis components, best ditch those too and replace with Steel and Aluminium, probably OK with unsupported rails that short but I'd like them at least twice the diameter.
    Add a bottom plate for triangulation and vibration reduction and a controller which takes an Industry Standard flavour of G-Code,

    - Nick
    You think that's too expensive? You're not a Model Engineer are you? :D

  6. #6
    Take the electronics away and you have very poor fired wood but on the up side the lead screw will make decent poker.!

    Won't even be good learning experience because it will show you nothing but how to make Crap design from Crap materials using crap software. You'll Still be none the wiser.
    Save the Cash read the Forum, ask some questions, read some more throw design thread up and away you go. We'll teach you everything needed for Free.!

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by John S View Post
    Didn't say it was shit, said it was a starter package.
    Take the electronics off it and you have plastic sides that warp and flex, leadscrews with bearing that are just hammered into holes in the plastic. Probably the all in one Toshiba drives, the early cheap ones so no other than electronics and the rest there isn't much to go wrong with it.

    If you look at it as a project to learn you have lost nothing, that experience is invaluable. If you are expecting a working machine with just a few tweaks then I think you will be disappointed.

    It really depends on your expectations.
    Thanks for the advice. In fact I wasnt looking at a project to learn anything from, not that I woudnt, everydays a school day and all that.
    I came across this machine while looking for another benchtop machine to run alongside the one I already have, a small mill running very well on Linuxcnc.
    I was just surprised at what I thought might be the potential of such a small machine. I have noted the above advice though. :)

    Personally I'm looking for something else which is why I havent come on here saying Ive just bought this And..
    . Ive posted another thread in General in regards to that, not sure if I posted it in the right place though.
    Last edited by Benja; 17-08-2016 at 12:09 AM.

  8. #8
    Mehh... Absolute rip off. In the fire, as Dean said. Even from acrylic, you will be surprised how bad it will be. Its like buying a cardboard car for the price of the 4 wheels of a real car. Where this will drive you to? And you will learn absolutely nothing in the process, except to listen to advice maybe
    project 1 , 2, Dust Shoe ...

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