Well I bought one off ebay..

I’m not much of an engineer but I have been in IT for over 20 years, and I can use auto cad and 3dmax so I thought I would buy a pre-built CNC Miller instead. I would really love the time to make my own but I just don’t have enough.

I opted for this one,
Black Cat CNC Machine 300x200mm cut area. UK Support / Warranty | eBay

I have been browsing the internet and forums researching as much as I can, and it seems that this was just the right size for the room I have to work and also for what I need it for, which is mainly small headphone amplifier enclosure’s although I do want to make some high quality desktop speakers with it as well. A new one was well over a grand and I didn’t want to buy from China. They also have 12 months warranty on everything but the spindle. This one as it says has a fault, in the bed is slightly out; I will have to work with the forum to get that corrected. Now I have to start to learn.

I think there was an earlier post on these machines maybe around last week sometime and it was thought that these might be re-badged chinese machines.
Any way I would say that the "slightly out" bed is rather a lot out. It looks like several mm side to side and possibly running out front to back from the photo. This could be a pain to fix depending on the way the table is built but you will need to get it home first and have a good look at it.

Personally I think you have a bargain.

The total cost is less than the sum of all the parts plus at least it's together and working after a fashion.
Worse scenario is mill a sacrificial bed flat and then anything that goes on that bed will be flat.

Simples.

jesus! you dont mess about!

im not familiar with NCStudio CNC software... iv no idea how embeded in your hardware it is or if you would have the option to use mach3 as your machine driver should the need arise?

it looks to be an all in one type software and may well cover all the ground you wish to cover... i guess we will find out soon enough
when are you expecting it to land at yours?

I'll be very interested to hear what the electronic are like. Please keep us informed; good, bad or ugly.

Well I'm hoping ( fingers crossed) that I can convert the parralel to USB with one of these

CPC

Attachment 6639

Then I can use other software as well as the one supplied, of course I may need another controller box ,I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Mark I hope it will be here by next week they quote 2-4 working days. Hopefully when I get the machine I can strip out the table and try to find out why its offset and if I can do that I might be able to fix it, if not at the back of house is an massive engineering shop for BAe systems and I have a friend who works there.. maybe a skim job? as you said or it may turn out to be something simple.. who knows , I'll let you know as thing progress :)
My dad was a tool maker many moons ago ( when computers filled rooms not watches) , dont think he can help me with the computer side but might help me with the engineering.. bugger he will want to use it all the time now I bet lol !

Just as a query .. I take it that being liquid cooled means the spindle and not gushing water over the tool ? Also if anyone can answer this, and yes it may be a silly question but how do they put the letting on the face plates .. i was thinking of etching them then filling with paint but is there a tool for the miller ? BTW theres money to be made making these custom plates for people, one of the reasons I invested in a miller, to do the one below as a "one off" would have cost me close to £100.. now they sell for less than £6 plus postage .. but back before mass production to get one made so I could mould it would have been very expensive.

example :

Attachment 6640

iv had a quick scan and it looks like some people are using some form of fanuc with your setup so im optomistic that you should be able to use other cad/cam packages to create your code if the need arises (without the need for the usb... i dont think the one you have linked would work for cnc...it takes an exotic bit of hardware/sofware to cnc through usb)
you need a Parallel Port/printer port (old computer that has one or add a pci Parallel Port card to your pc if its not got one)

if your dad gets to use it you can twist his arm to cough up for some tooling :)
(ebay/china)pack of 3.175mm carbide single flutes and a couple of 6mm carbide single flute cutters will see you through most general machining adventures

yes, the spindle is water cooled.

Quote:

---

and yes it may be a silly question but how do they put the letting on the face plates

---

im guessing that plate has been etched, mayber with a lazor?
it would take quite a bit of effort to machine it with the diffrent size/thickness of fonts

if you tacticaly designed a line drawing decal you could easily drag engrave your plates add a touch of paint then burnish it clean?
a simple spring loaded drag engraver it pretty easy to make if you can get to a lathe?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fivetide

Just as a query .. I take it that being liquid cooled means the spindle and not gushing water over the tool ? Also if anyone can answer this, and yes it may be a silly question but how do they put the letting on the face plates .. i was thinking of etching them then filling with paint but is there a tool for the miller ? BTW theres money to be made making these custom plates for people, one of the reasons I invested in a miller, to do the one below as a "one off" would have cost me close to £100.. now they sell for less than £6 plus postage .. but back before mass production to get one made so I could mould it would have been very expensive.

example :

Attachment 6640

---

Yes, its the spindle thats water cooled. there's no option for coolant on that machine, but when cutting ali a garden spray bottle filling with cutting fluid and the occassional squirt is all thats needed... or a compressed air blast works too. Depends on cutting speed/material/etc.

When I used to do faceplates like that in the past we had these approaches...

prototypes: letraset and lacquer

short/medium run: Screen printed or photostencil, etch and paint-fill. For ali panels, photoresist, etch and anodize was also an option.

medium/large run: screen printed or die punched. Tho milled/paint-filled was used on occassion for equipment that would take a battering or where the panel was too thick for die punching - usually military stuff where cost was less an issue and the paint-fill could be redone in the field.

You can now buy metallic layered perspex that when engraved shows the rear colour thru. You can also get reverse laminate where the front stays clean and you engrave in reverse on the back then fill in with paint, so you get all the engraving on the back and a clear front so it can't mark or rub off.

http://www.stevenson-engineers.co.uk...%20Merlin1.jpg


http://www.stevenson-engineers.co.uk...g%20chart1.jpg

These were done with a laser but no reason why they could not have been done with a CNC router, in fact that's all i had until I got the laser.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blackburn mark

iv had a quick scan and it looks like some people are using some form of fanuc with your setup so im optomistic that you should be able to use other cad/cam packages to create your code if the need arises (without the need for the usb... i dont think the one you have linked would work for cnc...it takes an exotic bit of hardware/sofware to cnc through usb)
you need a Parallel Port/printer port (old computer that has one or add a pci Parallel Port card to your pc if its not got one)

if your dad gets to use it you can twist his arm to cough up for some tooling :)
(ebay/china)pack of 3.175mm carbide single flutes and a couple of 6mm carbide single flute cutters will see you through most general machining adventures

---

Thanks for the info mark that’s good news I do have an old PC and I can put the PCI card in it. My plan is to let my Dad loose on it (I’ve found him a video tutorial package on Auto-Cad) and he can do his own projects and of course buy the tooling for it :) I'm going to have to look into cutting methods as I want to cut out shapes in the case and then back fill them with resins, but there will need to be an undercut or grove so the cured resin won’t fall out lol ... I have all sorts of ideas running through my mind at the moment.. Except the one where I explain to my accountant what I spent nearly £800 on and why I spent it, and how that’s somehow related to IT.. Another bridge.. lol I’m even considering glass , but for sound instruments glass has a problem with resonance, but I will at least attempt to make one. Also one of the reasons I want to skill up on the CNC is to make PCB’s because I’m thinking of exotic shapes for the enclosures and I could.. Hopefully re-engineer the PCB to fit that idea.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blackburn mark

yes, the spindle is water cooled.

im guessing that plate has been etched, mayber with a lazor?
it would take quite a bit of effort to machine it with the diffrent size/thickness of fonts

if you tacticaly designed a line drawing decal you could easily drag engrave your plates add a touch of paint then burnish it clean?
a simple spring loaded drag engraver it pretty easy to make if you can get to a lathe?

---

Seems Like a lot of work Mark .. I think Irving’s idea of printable decals could be more my skill level lol I have seen dry decal kits advertised, I’m looking into that..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by irving2008

Yes, its the spindle thats water cooled. there's no option for coolant on that machine, but when cutting ali a garden spray bottle filling with cutting fluid and the occassional squirt is all thats needed... or a compressed air blast works too. Depends on cutting speed/material/etc.

---

Thanks for that , I have a compressor I’ll find a 2^nd hand air gun and buy some cutting fluid, and I think decals will be the safest and probably easiest method.

Printed circuit boards area higher level or at least equal to engraving.
End of the day it's just practice

Love that perspex John do you have a supplier ?
Oh and Mark who do you get supplies from In Lancs ? i.e materials

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fivetide

Love that perspex John do you have a supplier ?
Oh and Mark who do you get supplies from In Lancs ? i.e materials

---

i get 99% of my tooling etc through ebay(china for carbides... you have to patient)

davis industrial plastics(online) for my plastic stock
acetal machines really nice and may make half decent molds as you cant bond it without some serious pissing around with posh chemicals (or scorching it with a flame in an emergency....but it will lose its shape really easily and the fumes make your head bang)

theres a local plastics supplier that i keep meaning to pop into but never get around to :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blackburn mark

i get 99% of my tooling etc through ebay(china for carbides... you have to patient)

davis industrial plastics(online) for my plastic stock
acetal machines really nice and may make half decent molds as you cant bond it without some serious pissing around with posh chemicals (or scorching it with a flame in an emergency....but it will lose its shape really easily and the fumes make your head bang)

theres a local plastics supplier that i keep meaning to pop into but never get around to :)

---

LOL sounds good I'll get some samples from them .. i'll ask my mate about soft metal suppliers in this area .. I also like the sound of this "Corian" looking at it on the tinterweb and it can do alot of different things ..:) and I just found a supplier not to far away in preston .. http://www.solidsurfaces-northwest.co.uk/materials