Chinese 3040T Arrives

Hi
Well my cnc 3040 which i order at the weekend has arrived,it was posted on Monday and i was told it would be with me in two to three days so 10 out off 10 for delivery as I live in Belfast it usually takes an extra day but not this time
.Attachment 11202Attachment 11203Attachment 11204 Attachment 11205
I would have to give it 10 out off 10 for packing
Attachment 11206motors and controller in this box plus leadsAttachment 11207Attachment 11208Attachment 11209Attachment 11210Attachment 11211Attachment 11212Attachment 11213Attachment 11214
Now the fun starts setting it up(fingers crossed)

The service has certainly started well - super quick delivery and well packed. I look forward to finding out how it works. good luck. G.

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Originally Posted by GEOFFREY

I look forward to finding out how it works

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It'll be brilliant :hysterical:

Here is the video

http://youtu.be/BkZJ0DfNTtI

I have fitted the stepper motors but haven't switched it on yet. is there anything i should cheack before i switch it on??

Read the manual then get her fired up. Used within it's capabilities it might work fine, it will be interesting to find out.

What sort of thing do you hope to make with it?

I know poeple will be looking at the unsupported rails, the leadscrews (not ballscrews), and assumed low performance drivers in the controller, but I'm sure for engraving and light wood cuts it will be lots of fun and it get you into the hobby.

In terms of setup I would expect it to be fairly plug and play.

I hope it will work on 3mm thick oak and 3mm phenolic board nothing to heavy but i might try some aluminium but iam not bothered if it didn't work on the aluminium

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Originally Posted by Gregor

I hope it will work on 3mm thick oak and 3mm phenolic board nothing to heavy but i might try some aluminium but iam not bothered if it didn't work on the aluminium

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Absolutely Don't try cutting aluminium with this machine has you'll kill the spindle within hours not days.!! . . . . The spindle is the weak link on this machine by far.!
The rest is So so Ok for light duty engraving etc but if pushed remotely hard it's life will shorten quite quickly.! . . . . . Good starter machine to get you going but must be run well within it's limits to avoid dissapointment and premature failure.!

Edit: Very light engraving on aluminium will be ok but would only do this for short periods and keep the cut depth low.!

Thanks for the advice jazzcnc I don't really do Any aluminium work, I have it all hook up and I have an old dell laptop I have had from 2002 loaded with mach3 , I might switch it on tomorrow night but might be away working for a couple off weeks waiting on phone call .

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Originally Posted by Gregor

Thanks for the advice jazzcnc I don't really do Any aluminium work, I have it all hook up and I have an old dell laptop I have had from 2002 loaded with mach3 , I might switch it on tomorrow night but might be away working for a couple off weeks waiting on phone call .

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It's not recommended to use a Laptop with Mach3 and you may very well run into problems. The energy saving features built into laptops processors interfear with mach3's Parallel port driver and you could get all sorts of strange happenings. It's for this reason Artsoft state Laptops not supported.!!

It may work but most likely not and could be very unstable so if it does and you get Odd things happening or Locking up then it will be this not the machine.!

Jazzcnc you were right about the laptop the stepper motors were moving about 10mm then stopping and starting but I managed to do a fix on the laptop by disabling the ACPI driver in the laptop and everything seems to be working fine.I just followed the manual and inputted the settings that came with the machine
Here is a video off the first test

http://youtu.be/u7RIzgwtghI

Gregor,

Well done on getting this far, I look forward to seeing how the machine performs and your progress.

Jonathan posted some gcode before that you can use to test your motor tuning: Random G-code for testing motor tuning. Have you put a dial indicator over the machine to check everything is true yet?, just somthing you may like to do at this early stage as part of "setting it up".

.Me

No Lee Roberts I haven't put a dial over the machine as off yet but hope to get a chance later tonight, everything has gone better than I thought it would, I have heard allot off horror stories about these machines but so far so good.I think I will rewire the cables going to the stepper motors as it doesn't seem to be of good quality.Thanks for the G-code Test

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Originally Posted by Gregor

No Lee Roberts I haven't put a dial over the machine as off yet but hope to get a chance later tonight, everything has gone better than I thought it would, I have heard allot off horror stories about these machines but so far so good.I think I will rewire the cables going to the stepper motors as it doesn't seem to be of good quality.Thanks for the G-code Test

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Ok cool, me too that is why I would like to see you be successful with it and give the unit a chance. The clue is in the writing on the spindle control box "Engraving Machine", I think some people forget at times that not everyone is trying to replicate a £10k+ milling machine!

Good luck, I look forward to seeing the first cuts, keep the pics and vids coming :thumsup:

.Me

I was having a look in the control Box and noticed that were they had grounded the earth wire to the bottom off the box wasn't actually grounded because off the paint so I undid the nut and scraped away the paint and now the Control box is earth so if you have one off these boxes you should check just to be on the safe side.

Lee here is a quick video off the cnc machine using the G-code test
http://youtu.be/3o3_vEqH7Wg
I will try cutting something with it when I get back in about 3 weeks.

All sounds like it is running smoothly, nothing bent or highspots.

Out of interest do these type of kits come with limits/home switches? Or are they saving a bit of money and relying on soft stops / end stalls.

It seems to be ok so far but I haven't cut anything with it yet,No there is no limits or home switches fitted to the machine, I hope to fit some but I am not to smart when it comes to pcb boards and haven't a clue if they can be fitted to this machine I know the spindle board is called a yoocnc pw3024
Attachment 11246

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Originally Posted by Gregor

No there is no limits or home switches fitted to the machine, I hope to fit some but I am not to smart when it comes to pcb boards and haven't a clue if they can be fitted to this machine I know the spindle board is called a yoocnc pw3024

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This might be useful

Experience with carving-cnc.com 6040 router - Page 3

Hi
I am going to change the cables going to the motors as I have been reading that the cables fitted are not very good,could anybody give me some advice on what cable to use and were to buy them,
thanks

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Originally Posted by Gregor

Hi
I am going to change the cables going to the motors as I have been reading that the cables fitted are not very good,could anybody give me some advice on what cable to use and were to buy them,
thanks

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If it ain't broke don't fix it. Have some fun with the machine first. If you really want to change them I would use either 0.75 or 1mm^2 CY 4 core cable for this machine. here is one place Cy Cable Per Meter 4 core (0.75mm CY Cable) ONLY £0.48.. ..Clive

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Originally Posted by Clive S

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Have some fun with the machine first. If you really want to change them I would use either 0.75 or 1mm^2 CY 4 core cable for this machine. here is one place Cy Cable Per Meter 4 core (0.75mm CY Cable) ONLY £0.48.. ..Clive

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Good advise because it's not just the cable being rubbish thats the problem there's the connectors has well plus often the Cable chain is too small so you'll end up replacing has well. Only do it if needed and then do the Lot.

Most (including me use 4 wire CY shielded cable) on their machines - I think I got mine from RS Components, but that's likely the expensive route.....you'll need to make sure all your shielding is grounded to a single point to mains ground (a star point is the term iirc) and make sure the far end of the cables at the motors etc. is not contacting anything to avoid ground loops (these are bad). I used bits of heat shrink to ensure isolation for the far ends.

Hope that helps......

Thanks for the advice,Think I will order cable and connectors so I have them but won't fit until there is a fault.

In this instance what is the difference between 'good cables' and 'not very good cables' ? also will your proposed 'good cables' fit inside the energy chain ?

Good point EddyCurrent. There is a local electrical wholesalers close who I am friendly with so I will check with him I hope he would be able to get 4 wire CY shielded cable the same size,

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Originally Posted by EddyCurrent

In this instance what is the difference between 'good cables' and 'not very good cables' ? also will your proposed 'good cables' fit inside the energy chain ?

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My experience with these machines is that standard cy cable from like of CSE cables etc is far superior. The stuff on these is brittle horrible stuff and the connectors are nasty so need hacking off. . . . . The cable chains on the one's I've dealt with where to tight and caused rubbing. . .. . . That's why I said what I said further down.!!

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

That's why I said what I said further down.!!

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That's right, I couldn't agree more, I just wanted to know the difference between 'good' cable and 'not so good' cable in regard to why 'not so good' cable could not perform it's function in this instance.

Back from a couple off weeks work I had a play with the cnc and took the table off it just for a nosey
http://youtu.be/s4iQmSsas7U
Hopefully I will get to put table back on and cut something tomorrow .

I think it's looking quite good.

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Originally Posted by EddyCurrent

I think it's looking quite good.

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Well should have gone to spec savers.!!. .:hysterical:

hi
Does anyone have a Gcode I code use to make my first cut on this machine. I have tried to do my own design using Sketchup and then using Cambam but I seem to balls it up. (Still Learning)

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Originally Posted by Gregor

hi
Does anyone have a Gcode I code use to make my first cut on this machine. I have tried to do my own design using Sketchup and then using Cambam but I seem to balls it up. (Still Learning)

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Ok here you go a cut down version of the Aztec calendar I knocked up to test a machine, takes about 45-50mins depending on how machines setup.

You'll need 90deg V bit or Spot drill cutter that must go to a sharp point.
100mm square of material. To get the best detail from it use some thing hard has the material so it holds the detail better.

The X0 Y0 is the bottom left hand corner of the square. The code only cuts the Aztec engraving and doesn't cut out the square so you'll need to do this your self.

Should look like the picture when finished.Attachment 11317

Thanks JAZZCNC
will give it a try later

Here is the video of first cut..I nearly smashed up the laptop, I couldn't get the G-code to work five hours later I remembered that I hadn't installed my G-code license ..... I had the spindle speed set to slow at the start but turned it up halfway through,,, must off the video is in Benny Hill style,,,It took about 1hour 30 minutes to run G-code.
http://youtu.be/zsVSTGrNzJE

And are you pleased with the results ?

Yes seems to be ok .if I had had the spindle at the right speed at the start I think it would have been better. I am happy with the machine and it will do everything I need it for and it cost under £500,I couldn't afford to spend thousands on a machine.But time will tell to see if it develops any faults...

They say the first cut is the deepist.!!. . . . But here it doesn't look like it's cut deep enough. .Lol

Did you have the Z height set to top of material.? Also I see the tool is not 90deg it's more like 30deg and thats why it doesn't look quite like right with fat lines etc.

The differance in speed is the accelleration in motor tuning on your machine will be set lower than what I had machine set on machine I was testing, which I think was around 1100s/s. Has you have seen this code has 1000's of tiny moves so the time to accellerate from one to other really adds up and for jobs like this the motor tuning biased towards Accel can really make big differance to cycle times.

I'd be having the spindle going much faster than 8000 rpm
The best method for wood anyway is to start at a fairly high speed and keep reducing it until the cut is visibly
worse, turn it back up slightly and you have reached the best speed with regard to quality of cut vs tool wear.

Thanks JAZZCNC
its the only tool I had that went to a point lol.I have only set the machine up to what the manual said so I think it will need a few changes.I set the z axis by using a piece of paper is that the wrong way to do it? This is the first cnc I have used so I am just doing what I see on YouTube .