Hello

[NathanS]

I am a senior wrinkly and was a self-employed toolmaker/design engineer for many years.
I am getting interested by what I see on youtube with stuff being done on very cheap little machines.
My only experience related to CNC is that I used to write the G-code programmes to operate Hardinge HNC lathes- the old punched tape system, many moons back!
All of my computer experience is with Mac machines and that's what I have currently, and my first question will be can you run a cheap Chinese router from a Mac.

[mekanik]

Hi Nathan
Welcome to the forum, others will better advise regarding your Mac question but all the years i have been on the forum i can't remember anyone using a mac. a lot use Mach3 and that is windows based, also Linux is a popular system.
Regarding cheap Chinese machines, they may look OK on youtube but they do tend to be not well built and nasty electronics.
Do you have an intended use for the machine or are you just getting a feel for CNC, the thing is once you get your head round it and you realise what is possible a Chinese machine is going to disapoint.
Also need to know what your intending to cut, your working area and your budget.
Enjoy the Forum there's a wealth of information available on this site and the guys are extreemly helpfull.
Regards
Mike

[NathanS]

Thanks for the reply Mike
I would want to cut brass, and only need a relatively small working area of about 100mm square and enough room for clamps.
I make clocks and currently cross out wheels on a rotary table on a universal mill with 2-axis DRO, (my manual workshop is pretty comprehensive) I also have a universal dividing head a 2BS and cut wheel teeth on that with a Division Master to rotate it easily. Crossing out wheels does not require great accuracy. I just thought that even at my age it would be good to use a new method.
You can teach an old dog new tricks with lots of time and patience!
The budget needs to be modest as this work does not generate income.
I now recall we had to find an old PC to run the "printer" that punched the NC tapes for the Hardinge lathes I once owned.

[Kitwn]

Nathan,
Welcome to the forum. I also make clocks but with wooden wheels rather than brass and probably a bit larger than yours. You'll find all the help you need for building a suitable machine available here.
For designing clocks and producing the code needed to drive the CNC router I can strongly recommend the 'gearotic' software by Art Fennerty available from the link below.
The main difficulty you will have with using a CNC router for cutting clock wheels is the very small diameter of tool you will need for small teeth. Sub millimetre cutters are available but you will need to build a very rigid machine with low backlash and runout to keep from breaking them within seconds. A cheap OTS machine may not be good enough. The gearotic software tells you the maximum diameter of tool you can use for a given design. If you download the trial version you can see if your intended sizes are practical for cutting in this way.

https://www.gear2motion.com/

Kit

[NathanS]

Thanks for that. I did say that I only want to do the crossing out of the wheels as I ma well set up to cut gears.
It seems like my impressions from Youtube are a bit misleading and I will not be able to just buy a cheap machine, especially as it seems I will need a different computer to run stuff.
My mill and rotary table will have to suffice it seems. Ah, well...



I didn't get where I am today by being sensible.
Me

[Kitwn]

Aha! I now have a better idea of what 'crossing out' means.

Don't give up. You obviously enjoy making things and a CNC router of the size you describe is entirely feasible to build and get running. The biggest problem is you then keep finding more and more things you can make with it and set off down rabbit holes you'd never thought of.

Kit

Which reminds me: The West Australian Ballet Company did a wonderful job of 'Alice In Wonderland' at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth on Friday.