Newbie looking at 6040 (China CNC) for polypropylene 15mm sheet

[jono5axe]

Hello Jack, you've obviously done your homework on that stuff, and your part/design/method sounds to be even quite elegant.

Re injection molding, tooling should fit in a $5k envelope I would have thought, especially if your 'half shells' can be a mirror of each other, i.e. a single part.

Regards, Jono

[JOGARA]

Is it worth paying £735 more for the X8?

X6
(X)355×(Y)510×(Z)85mm
57BYGH76-3A steppers


X8
(X)565×(Y)770×(Z)85mm
60BYGH86-4.2A steppers

Controller wise, the X6 uses Mach3. The X8 has an embedded system.
Does it still have usb input for Mach3?

The nearly double workspace is tempting...
Just don't fancy only using their hardware controller.

Thinking about it, £735 is a lot... Never mind

[Zeeflyboy]

Bigger is good, if you need the space...

Bigger also however means less rigid for the same given design (as is the case here), so if that space isn't going to be used then it does have a negative aspect to consider.

I'm sure they could supply the X8 with the black control box if requested.

[JOGARA]

Bigger is good, if you need the space...

Bigger also however means less rigid for the same given design (as is the case here), so if that space isn't going to be used then it does have a negative aspect to consider.

I'm sure they could supply the X8 with the black control box if requested.

Went with the X6.
Don't really need the size of the X8, yet :p

Ordered a full set of collects and some 1mm and 3mm bits.

Looking at vices, got 2 cheapo ones from Ali, they look okay but not proper strong.
Will see if they work okay or not. If not, can use them for lighter material at least.

[JOGARA]

Not fully set up yet. Wish the cables were longer so I could have the controller elsewhere.
Done some tests and it looks to work well.

Just got to get some distilled water and some bits for my air compressor and we should be good to go!


The whole rig feels super strong. Not like steel strong but nothing moves if you push against any faces.


The only thing that came broke was the infamous pump...

[Zeeflyboy]

interesting, few design tweaks from mine - they are using a different kind of alu for the side arms (mine doesn't have that channel in the front edge) and looks to be using HIWIN, or HIWIN copy I suppose, carriages where mine was using something else.

Glad it all arrived safely, have fun!

Monster thread on CNCzone about that machine, has some good info in it.

[JOGARA]

interesting, few design tweaks from mine - they are using a different kind of alu for the side arms (mine doesn't have that channel in the front edge) and looks to be using HIWIN, or HIWIN copy I suppose, carriages where mine was using something else.

Glad it all arrived safely, have fun!

Monster thread on CNCzone about that machine, has some good info in it.

Not read threw that thread yet. On my todo list :p



Cut some wood this evening to test it all out.

(Obviously not cleaned it up or used a 2nd op to chamfer it. "Dog Shed" is what we call my workshop fyi, because the dogs live in it)

Worked really well. Went from Fusion 360 to this in no time.

Water got a bit warm. Using 15L of Halfords de-ionised battery topup water.
What temp should I be concerned at? A few places are saying 30-35C max. I have another 15L worth but I need some for my laser (obviously can go get more).

Thinking I might make a single 60L system with 2 pumps (one for each tool) and also a radiator with fans on to circulate the 60L tank with air cooled water.
Wont really be using both at the same time, but rather have one large tank of water than the two if it is okay to do so.


My Ecocast from Aliwarehouse also arrived. Had some concern about these guys from reading a few threads on here but this lot came in 2 days without a blemish on them.

[JOGARA]

The only place I found that does larger single flute end mills int he UK is this eBay seller, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-0mm-Soli...YAAOSw5cNYTbtV
(looking at it, they are not from the UK, yet they put their location as UK...)
Know of any more?

Quite pricey though and around the same shipping time as e-EMS on Ali.

Tempted to buy a dozen or so bits from Ali and pay for the faster shipping.


[edit]
Can find a load of 2 flute on there. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-FLUTE-CA...DARtSupNGbvLLw

Ordered a 4 flue 6mm and 3mm off Amazon to experiment and compare with.
Just want to see the difference.

[JOGARA]

Desperately need a way to set offsets on X and Y.

Looked at the Haimer stuff again but even their smallest one is over 100mm long.
The X6 has 85mm of travel in Z so really pushing it I think if I was to get one of those.

Any other options out there?
That TPA2 is still not in stock.

[Zeeflyboy]

if machining metals then all you really need is a rod of known diameter (e.g. 6mm), then you can use probing to find the edges just like the Z-height probe does.

The downside is that it only works with conductive materials, that's one area where a proper touch probe has an advantage.