Was about to get a toy- then I did some research...

[NeoMorph]

...
Other than that, cheers to all of you who actively and constructively share your views with us less experienced- I’ve already learnt a ton!

I’ve been operating my machine for a couple of years and if there is one thing I would tell anyone who is designing a CNC... think scenarios where things go wrong. How easy will it be to fix or adjust your machine.

For instance my Ox is great when it works... but when the belts come loose I have to disassemble a lot of the carriage if the Y axis comes loose and don’t get me stared on the holes for the tension adjust on the long rails.

You see you actually have to remove two inner wheel stacks just to get to the bolts that hold the stepper motor in place. It’s just bad design imho. Maintenance tasks like belt tensioning should be simple to do.

So imaging you crash your machine (don’t worry, we all do it). Your carriage is now skewed... how would you realign it to the frame.... I solved that for me by hitting the emergency stop, moving the carriage to one end where I have aligned two end stops... I push the carriage gently against the stops and the release the E-Stop... the motors come online and all I have to do then is run a homing cycle.

Oh yeah, you will need to install limit switches so you can run homing cycles. Definitely makes life easier.

Oh and these are just suggestions from CNC noob... I’m still learning every day... but loving every minute.

[Clive S]

Oh yeah, you will need to install limit switches so you can run homing cycles. Definitely makes life easier.

Just to be clear for the benefit of new users.

limit switches and homing switches do two different things. Although a homing switch can be setup at one end to act as both. ie it is a homing switch when first run (homed) then the software changes it to a limit switch.

Limit switches are nearly at the end of travel on each axis to stop the machine from hitting the hard stops