cnc router for novices

[Richardtweed]

hi everyone, im sure this has been covered plenty of times but i cant find anything in the forum. i am complete beginner but have been eager to learn about cnc machines for a few years now,i first got a manual mill a year ago and now i have got to grips with that im now looking for a small cnc router/mini mill that is capable of cutting the odd peice of alluminium but i am now realising that a cheap and good cnc machines do not come cheap :confusion:

can any one point me in the right direction of a cnc router or mini mill and possibly a company that allows you to finance them?

thanks in advance guys

[Richardtweed]

anyone?

[Doddy]

Why not look to convert your existing mill to CNC?

[Richardtweed]

I started to look into that but there is no kits for my machine and piecing one together is far behind my skill set at the moment. Maybe in the future when I get to grips with the workings of them

[Doddy]

I started to look into that but there is no kits for my machine and piecing one together is far behind my skill set at the moment. Maybe in the future when I get to grips with the workings of them

I'm not going to labour the point and this is likely my last reply on this thread because I cannot answer your specific questions. But, if you want to learn then adapting a mill to CNC will help you learn an awful lot about how it works. Of interest what mill do you have?

[Richardtweed]

Thanks for your help, my mill is only a Clarke cmd300

[Doddy]

Thanks for your help, my mill is only a Clarke cmd300

Search for Sieg X2 conversion kits.

My own experience is that you can convert similar (e.g my SX2.7) for a lot less than the kits

[Richardtweed]

Thanks for the info, do you think it would be worth buying a chinese cnc router and upgrading the spindle motor and stiffening up the frame?

[Doddy]

Thanks for the info, do you think it would be worth buying a chinese cnc router and upgrading the spindle motor and stiffening up the frame?

My first entry into this as a hobby was with a Marchant Dice router - a small affair of some 50x30 cm footprint and a bed similar to a 3016 (maybe a little less - it's been a while!). Although of English build, I'd equate it largely to a cheap Chinese router.

As part of my dabblings, and due in no small part to the original spindle motor burning out I did replace the spindle with a 800W water-cooled spindle motor.

It was next-to-useless, apart from a vehicle to learn about the weakness of the design.

My intent at the time was to do things that are intrinsically difficult - engraving, isolation routing, small aluminium cutting - not of which tolerate a sloppy frame, and all of which presented frustration rather than pleasure.

I replaced that with a Starmill, and later supplemented that with the SX2.7.

If you want to go the router-route then don't look to buy something that yourself recognises as being unsuitable with the view to redressing the design flaws - either buy a suitable machine outright or build from scratch. Having the Clarke manual mill you can do a lot of the work yourself.

[Richardtweed]

You have a good point there, maybe I will look into getting some plans and try figuring something out for my mill, it just seems very daunting because I'm not good at electrics and I don't really know how they work. Do plans and instructions exist on the net?

[Richardtweed]

Would it be possible to use the electrics and stepper motors from the chinese router? And I machine all the brackets to make it fit?

[Doddy]

Would it be possible to use the electrics and stepper motors from the chinese router? And I machine all the brackets to make it fit?

Have you bought a Chinese router already? If not, don't - it is relatively straight forward to buy the necessary stepper motors, stepper drivers, PSU and break-out boards for a lot less than robbing bits from a router. And the Chinese electronics are often considered inferior to alternatives.

[Richardtweed]

No not bought one. I will take your advice and not buy one though, all the parts you just mentioned are they the only electric parts I need?

[Doddy]

At this point I'm going to advise reading and researching the build logs on this site and getting an understanding of what is needed to convert to CNC or build a router from scratch. You need an understanding and that can't be spoon-fed.

[Richardtweed]

Ok, thank you so much for the advice mate

[magicniner]

Would it be possible to use the electrics and stepper motors from the chinese router? And I machine all the brackets to make it fit?

No, the steppers may be OK, the rest would be some of the first stuff to go in the bin when getting one to function properly.