Advice on RoboCutters EagleIII CNC Machine 400x600mm

[Phizell]

Hi John,

I had read the info as a 800 watt with RPM of 8000 - 24000 but could be wrong ( Redsail,Cutting Plotter,Vinyl plotter,Vinyl cutter).

I have no idea what board is fitted inside and will have to ask, but I did make it clear to the guy it would have 6 hours use a day every day and he assures me that it will cope with the job and tells me the spindle has a 6 month guarantee however after reading Philly's comment its hard to say how good that guarantee would be.

Really not sure which way to go, as I could do with an "out of the box" complete system that works and needs little or no modification.

When I looked at the 6040 I was also a bit put of by the fact some people said they suddenly got import duty to pay on top. If I did go down this route, what control box and where from? I take it the control box works the x,y,z motors and if so are the ones that come with the 6040's that bad and why? (sorry as I say I have no experience).

I have at the most a week to sort this out because in about a two weeks I need to be using a cnc (I have experience of cad so hopefully not to steep a learning curve)

Many Thanks

Phillip

[John S]

If you buy from one of the Portsmouth mob there is no duty to pay. their high shipping charges are to cover VAT and import duty and they don't see why they should have to pay ebay fees on this, tax on tax. If they say it ship in 2 to 3 days it does.
I have bought a laser cutter off them. They do have support but it China based and useless, all they want to do is give you the run around so you sort your own problems out.

Control box you have to build or get someone to build it, not saying the original one is going to blow up straight away but they don't have a good track record. You could always start off with what they send , stuff a big fan on the box and see how it goes.
Not sure if the spindle comes pre wired or they leave that to you ?

If you wnat out the box the original choice might be better but again support looks an issue and you are not close to any other members are you ?

[martin54]

Can't help with the machine as I don't know the Company but how easy it is to use will depend on what you are doing with the machine.
Once you have a vector drawing done in what ever cad/design software you will be using you will then need to produce the toolpaths so the machine can cut it & for this you will need cam software. The cam software produces the gcode which is what actually drives the machine & for that you will need software to control the actual CNC machine.
Looking at their website they bundle mach3 & lazycam with the machines. Mach3 is the software that controls the machine, lazycam is the cam software.
What ever you decide to do about the machine itself you would do well to start looking at software now, both mach3 & lazycam can be downloaded from the artsoft website free so you could download them & familiarise yourself with them prior to getting the machine. Personally I didn't find lazycam that easy to learn & there isn't a lot of support for it which didn't help. There are other cam packages about both free & paid for which will work fine with mach3.

[Phizell]

Hi Martin54,

I have been told a fully licensed copy of mach 3 is part of the package and that I should invest in cut 2 d as that is what the personal preference is for the guy that owns Premier sign (Colin) but it seems quiet expensive so good freeware alternatives that people can recommend would be appreciated.

I have checked with premier sign and they are VAT registered

I think that Johns suggestion of a 6040 might be more hassle than its worth especially if I cant get support from the company and I have this nagging feeling that if it goes wrong I will be stuck with a large paper weight.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be many people selling CNC machines within my price range in this country so I think my choices are limited.

Any help and advice taken gladly,

Phillip

[John S]

but it seems quiet expensive so good freeware alternatives that people can recommend would be appreciated.



Phillip

It's not expensive, how much is your time worth, sounds like you want it for business, Cut2D has the fastest learning curve I have seen.
Problem with these freeware things is they were developed mainly as a hobby project by people with more time and money and it shows.

Download the Cut2D demo it will output code for the examples shown so you do at least get a chance to try it, Spend one night watching video's and another night using it and you are ready to go, it literally will be that easy.

[JayPunchbuggy]

Control box you have to build or get someone to build it, not saying the original one is going to blow up straight away but they don't have a good track record. You could always start off with what they send , stuff a big fan on the box and see how it goes.
Not sure if the spindle comes pre wired or they leave that to you ?

I got one of the 6040 machines out of Portsmouth a few weeks ago... It worked right out of the box, I may have been very lucky.

I agree that the quality of the electronics and its enclosure is really not that good. But that said, it is working well for now. Without replacing anything major, I was able to upgrade the wiring quite easily. My spindle is now completely controlled by Mach3, cooling pump, speed, on/off etc... Will be adding a probe and limit switches at some point.

I may have been lucky, you may too, and not have to replace electronics.

Cheers,
Jay

[Phizell]

Thank you Jay,

Looks like I have a lot to think about....what I did like from the 6040 was that the spindle is water cooled which I think may be a bonus with the amount of work I can see it doing.

Where did you find out what parts to replace and where did you buy them from?

Thanks for your input and help

Phillip

[martin54]

It's not expensive, how much is your time worth, sounds like you want it for business, Cut2D has the fastest learning curve I have seen.
Problem with these freeware things is they were developed mainly as a hobby project by people with more time and money and it shows.

Download the Cut2D demo it will output code for the examples shown so you do at least get a chance to try it, Spend one night watching video's and another night using it and you are ready to go, it literally will be that easy.

I couldn't agree more John, cut2d was under £100 so not a lot for business software at all. Watched the tutorial videos & I was all set to go, some people have said it's a bit flashy but it really is easy to use & I don't have the time to sit trying to figure out how something is done or searching the net trying to find answers. The vetric forum is quite well supported as well so easy to find answers to questions if you have any.

I know the machine comes bundled with mach3 but if you were to download the latest version you would be able to get familiar with it before the machine arrived, least that would be one less thing you would have to do once the machine arrived.
If Jay has had to upgrade the wiring on his machine already then that's not really working straight out the box in my view, plus has he been running it 6 hours a day 5 days a week?

[Fivetide]

I have the baby Blackcat (older version of eagle) from Colin, all i can say is he will bend over backwards to help you in anyway he can..

[JayPunchbuggy]

Hi Phillip,

Didn't replace any parts, except for the IEC power cables. It came with euro ones, that wouldn't have connected the earth. Apart from that, I put it together as sent and it worked. No mods were needed.

However, I didn't like how the inverter was connected, and manually controlled. So I rewired the inverter to take its power from the main controller through the pump switch. This saved me from powering the inverter from the wall switch. I then wired the cooling pump to switch on only when the spindle was turning using the inverter's built in relay. Finally, I got a cheap RS-232 to RS-485 converter and used that to connect the pc to inverter. This, with a MACH3 add in driver, let me completely control the spindle on the PC.

So, I didn't have to mod anything, I just improved the set up by doing so.

Some day, I would like to replace the controller, so that I can drive the steppers with more than 24volts. This would give greater speed or torque if I need it... But it can wait.

I should write up the details rewiring I did, just haven't had a chance.

Hope this helps, and good luck with whatever you decide to get.

Cheers,
Jay