Just read that thread on cnczone my friend is after a VMC and it really makes you think about importing a new one vs a 2nd hand one they do seem very good value for the price.
Sad the guy who ran the thread hasn't got it working yet
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Just read that thread on cnczone my friend is after a VMC and it really makes you think about importing a new one vs a 2nd hand one they do seem very good value for the price.
Sad the guy who ran the thread hasn't got it working yet
OK, so I'm going to hijack this thread now...
So I had been eyeing up the same chinese mill, and not withstanding that "it ain't been seen running" (which I think is a fixable problem), it does seem like a lot of iron for the price. So my question is:
- There are a couple of Hurco VSX24 machines on auction sites at the moment (2001 era machines), for similar money
- I am a complete novice in this area
- What hidden costs/benefits are there from buying classical big name CNC machine?
- When it goes wrong, what kind of costs am I going to have on these old machines (assume I don't have another one to make parts for the first one...)
- Use is hobby/light-production (I can outsource my parts if I needed to, eg it broke, but nice to be able to do them in-house).
- Are these old machines going to be useable from day 1 or will I be hunting down manuals and learning to use the interface (only experience up to now is Mach3)
The main "vs" would be buying one of these nice looking chinese mills with a view to getting them working with LinuxCNC
Thanks for your thoughts/wake-up calls...
There was a guy in some forum / may be Practical machinist/ that explained very well when deciding on a machine and its price.
Simply said you should really need it. Then a good machine will have 10 years x 24h non stop life. So even if not the case here, price has to be divided on 520 weeks so you see what it will cost you per week to own it/ or day or month, etc../ Then Calculate how much will cost you any downtime, missed job, etc. Then see whats the week cost of ownership of a crappy machine and a good machine and how down time goes into that calculation...
So that said, the Chinese machines for me always would be an unknown with a potential of a disaster. Remember the " large router thread" i started where it turned that the large Chinese routers have a crap bed?
Old brand machines if in not working state should be very cheap, or if in working, that state must be demonstrated. or you will find how much a brand company charges for a mother board, computer or similar. But mechanically my bet will be on a brand machine. Later in worse case scenario retrofit with Chinese offline controller 600-1500 euro.
Hi there Boyan how are you?
I have a Chinese 3 axis cnc6040z with the black box I bought a while ago,I have removed the motion controller drive board that came with the machine it has no proper documentation it is in Chinese and it is crap, comes with USB CNC software v2.10 with activation key on cd including driver file.I would like to run Mach3 or 4 and would like to know if the NX-USB 4 axis USB motion card is a full plug and play type no extra cards needed and also on the mach3 plugin site they have a plugin driver,would this plugin be good for my cnc6040 machine or do i need to do other things?? sorry for all the questions, Im a newbie and need information ? Thank you
!sorry if it is posted in the wrong place
My advice is DDCSV1 offline controller for your machine. No MAch3 and stuff.No stupid USB connection. No computers. Solid working as a rock.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schematicsman
Or go the UCCNC way, board and software, which i have not tried but others say is good and better than Mach3
If you insist on MACH3/4 buy a reputable board from a reputable seller with a well tested plugin that works well. PMDX and similar. I will not buy a chinese board with a chinese plugin that 100% is not working properly or has a flaw.
There is also the original USB CNC from Germany, that all Chinese copied. It also is a good option for your machine.
In that order.
It would not hurt to see what are your motor drives, if they are not integrated in your original board so now you need some cheap new drives too when changing to a new board. And a PSU upgrade may be? Not sure, check that. Maybe make a thread about that?
Hi there thanks Boyan, I think I will go with pmdx-422 board and Mach4
But would like to ask is that the only board I need
To run 4 axis on my 6040 or do I need to get extra boards
Because I would like for simplicity one board does all??
Please help
It has no sense to use 6040 with expensive controllers.
LINUX CNC runs RT , it is much more reliable than any USB solution...
Professional solution for ca 250 EUR:
Galil
MYRIO - student (national instrument)
...
I am proposing to use MYRIO, + Labview (5 axis driver is open free...)
Depends on your goal:
- do you wish to start machining or
- do you wish to learn how to do CNC
regards
ok thank you for the reply ,I dont want to spend a fortune on this machine just want to get it moving with mach 4 and start milling Aluminium and pcb blanks and plastics ect, the motors that come with the machine are 57HD5401-14S 1.8 deg 3.0A N1605 : I just want to know if the PMDX controller i mentioned is good for this machine with standard motors and or the Nema 23 Bipolar (Holding Torque 3Nm) (425oz.in) 4.2A 57x57x114mm 4 Wires better for cnc6040 with the PMDX to move fast and do I need a switching psu of 36v~40vdc for the Nema 23 or can I use the same 24v dc that is in the blackbox already?
Hi there Boyan.
I just want to know if the PMDX controller is good for mycnc6040 with standard motors and or the Nema 23 Bipolar (Holding Torque 3Nm) (425oz.in) 4.2A 57x57x114mm 4 Wires better for it with the PMDX to move fast and do I need a switching psu of 36v~40vdc for the Nema 23 or can I use the same 24v dc that is in the blackbox already?
No, i havent buy it.