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  1. #1
    Hi,
    I recently purchased a China CNC 6040z (2.2kW, 4 axis, usb version with extras) for £1800.
    I bought with FULL EXPECTATION AND ACCEPTANCE that it would require some upgrades and tweaks right off the bat. No problem.

    I'm starting this thread to post about the problems and solutions s as I do them, in case it might help others in future (the forum spirit :-)

    Here is the machine I purchased (attached).

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
    My immediate attention was the water pump- threw it in the bin and got a much better and silent pump for £20 off eBay. Old pump binned. Never seen such a crap pump in my life!

  3. #3
    Second (and probably the biggest of the lot)- SHIELDING- or lack of it!

    Absolutely nothing is shielded not even the VFD cable!

    I started with external cables to Spindle and Stepper motors.

    Supplied VFD cable looks nice flexible rubber 'pond flex' cable. It's plain unshielded 0.75mm2 3 core and earth. The earth wire IS connected to spindle (thank god), but no shielding.

    I replaced the entire cable with shielded 1.5mm2 CY control cable. To be extra careful, I also added external copper braid shield. It's now double screened.

    I didnt replace the stepper cable, I suply added a copper braid sleeving to the entire length. Obviously, the sleeve is connected to earth....

    Actually, no. The aviation connector barrel on the chassis is making contact with paint, not metal. NO EARTH CONNECTION! I had to scrape off paint inside the case to sort that.

    Next job is shielding the cables inside the control box, then probably moving VFD to its own enclosure.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by PaisleyPCdoctor; 06-12-2017 at 09:06 PM.

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  5. #4
    (X) Location, (Y) Location, (Z) Location!
    The rest is just window dressing if the first 3 are not worth the cardboard it was shipped in :D
    You think that's too expensive? You're not a Model Engineer are you? :D

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by magicniner View Post
    (X) Location, (Y) Location, (Z) Location!
    The rest is just window dressing if the first 3 are not worth the cardboard it was shipped in :D
    Eh?

  7. #6
    Hi Paisley.. where are you in the country mate?

  8. #7
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    I suspect Nick was on the sauce last night ;-)

    But his point was if the basic machine can't hold tight tolerances, then everything is else is superficial.

    Shielding is not as big a problem as people often think it is. None of my Denford machines came with anything shielded other than two sensors on the Triac mill. Everything else, including the spindles (VFD on the Cyclone lathe, and DC spindle on the Triac) used unshielded wiring, but then they're not using TTL level logic for inputs.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by pd110961 View Post
    Hi Paisley.. where are you in the country mate?
    I'm in Paisley. Scotland.
    Last edited by PaisleyPCdoctor; 07-12-2017 at 04:03 PM.

  10. #9
    I get that, however, as it's often repeated on this forum- not all China cnc are the same. Much of the reputation was for poor electronics was from early controller boards and VFD etc. I was very careful to get one with a newer controller (HC4-IV), decent steppers and a good spindle. There's nothing inherently wrong with the table and gantry design.

    I know my way around electronics, so I wasn't bothered about doing some extra work to improve it. Even without the improvements, it hasn't glitches on me yet. It's done everything I've asked of it perfectly well.

    At £1800 it's not the cheapest out there- I certainly wasn't going to spend £10k+

    Plenty of people making really cool stuff with 6040's.

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  12. #10
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 2 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    There is plenty wrong with the basic machine design.
    If you're only doing softer materials with light cuts, it's not a problem, but if you try pushing the spindle, you'll get resonance/poor cuts.

    If you have a DTI, try setting it up against the spindle noseat a typical cutting height, then apply some pressure against the spindle and see how much deflection you get. Having three sets of unsupported rails between the bed and the spindle does not produce good rigidity.
    Then try testing for backlash. The setup used for the ballscrew endfloat is a couple single row ball bearings (which are usually cheap rubbish), with preload controlled via a single nyloc nut. Then the stepper motor couplers will most likely be cheap aluminium bellow type, which will crack if driven hard.

    Plus the general tolerances will be questionable.

    And in case you're wondering why I know all this, is I bought a 3040z as the base for a digitizing machine, knowing full well it's shortcomings. It does it's job as digitiser, but I certainly wouldn't want to use it as a router and expect it to produce good quality cuts and not need continual fettling.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

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