What machine?

[Skip01]

Hi.
IÂ’m looking at getting into cnc as a hobby, what table top machines are available that will run on windows 10. 64 bit?

[Doddy]

I think you should think first about what you're trying to build. The controlling PC is likely to be less than 10% of the cost/value of the end system so don't allow that to be your discriminator.

[JAZZCNC]

Hi.
IÂ’m looking at getting into cnc as a hobby, what table top machines are available that will run on windows 10. 64 bit?

There are lots of machines that will run on Win10 64 bit and will fit on a desktop but how good will depend on your budget. So what's your Budget.?

[Skip01]

There are lots of machines that will run on Win10 64 bit and will fit on a desktop but how good will depend on your budget. So what's your Budget.?

Not sure, don’t wanna spend too much on first one, maybe around £350-400

[Andrewg]

Hi Skip,
You might want to do a bit more reading before you jump in to this hobby, as you are typically looking at spending thousands of pounds minimum.

However that does not mean you cannot dip your toe in the water for your budget. You can get a small CNC engraver off eBay for not much more than £100. Now you should not expect to get much cut successfully with such a machine, but it will introduce you to all the steps from concept to cutting, plus from building, troubleshooting and trying to improve the machine you will learn what you want from a proper machine. By the time you are ready to throw the machine in the bin in frustration, you will at least know if the hobby is indeed for you.

Good luck

[Skip01]

[QUOTE=Andrewg;116788]Hi Skip,
You might want to do a bit more reading before you jump in to this hobby, as you are typically looking at spending thousands of pounds minimum.

However that does not mean you cannot dip your toe in the water for your budget. You can get a small CNC engraver off eBay for not much more than £100. Now you should not expect to get much cut successfully with such a machine, but it will introduce you to all the steps from concept to cutting, plus from building, troubleshooting and trying to improve the machine you will learn what you want from a proper machine. By the time you are ready to throw the machine in the bin in frustration, you will at least know if the hobby is indeed for you.

Good luck.

I’ve been practicing. I have fusion 360 free download and mach3 full version installed. I don’t know if mach3 runs properly on windows 10 though.

[JAZZCNC]

I’ve been practicing. I have fusion 360 free download and mach3 full version installed. I don’t know if mach3 runs properly on windows 10 though.

Mach3 won't work with Win10 using the parallel port, or even Win7 or 8 if 64bit OS. So any machine you buy will need a motion control card, these come in USB or Ethernet flavors.

However, your budget would only just about cover a good quality Motion control card. You need to seriously look around and see what's available and how much a good machine costs. A very basic machine that will be reliable and cut correctly even if you built it your self would require £1000 minimum.
Any off the shelf machine at this price or even a little higher priced will be compromised in some way. As someone who builds machines, I can tell you it's impossible to build a good machine with reliable electronics, etc, that work properly and make any profit which every business requires.

Don't waste your money on rubbish, save up build your own or save more and have one built from someone like me. If not you will regret it long term and it will cost you more money or worse still turn you off CNC altogether.

[Skip01]

I’m now told that mach3 will work on windows 10 if I get a Pokeys 57CNCd25. Would I need anything else to go with this?

[JAZZCNC]

I’m now told that mach3 will work on windows 10 if I get a Pokeys 57CNCd25. Would I need anything else to go with this?

If your talking about building a machine then yes. You will effectively have one piece of thousand piece Jigsaw.!!

Basicly to work any machine needs some form of pulse generator, the parallel port is used by Mach3 Driver to generate and send the pulses through. But the Pulse driver won't work with 64Bit OS so your screwed and can't use mach3 with win10 because it's 64bit only.
So your next choice is to use an external pulse generator (motion control card) which connects to mach3 via USB or Ethernet using a special piece of software called a plug-in which is written exclusively for that particular motion control card so it can talk the same language as mach3. Every motion card as it's own plug-in which is provided by the manufacturer.

Pokeys is just one of many but the ONLY thing it does is generate Pulses and provide I/O (inputs & outputs) path to what ever else is used on the machine, ie Stepper drives, limit switches, relays etc etc so it's just one part of a system, it's a very important part but it's still useless without the many other components that make up a whole working machine.

However all this said, if your looking to buy a machine then all you really need to know is if it uses the parallel port or not. If it does then you cannot use it with Mach3 and win10. If it doesn't then chances are it will be USB or Ethernet and will require the plug-in to go with it.
If you haven't got the plug-in it still won't work with mach3 because they can't speak the same language.!

Hope this makes sense.

[Skip01]

Yeah and thanks for taking the time to help, it’s much appreciated. Thank you once again.