Strike CNC (My first CNC router)

[JAZZCNC]

It does look like alu plate that forms the gantry but its alu extrusion. I'm not sure about the exact dimensions but it looked like about 160mm x 30mm or possibly 160x20mm.

Ah ok slightly better than feared thou at this width extra bracing would be my prefered choice.

This was a concern of mine in recent days since I started looking at some of the DIY builds on here - much more substantial beds. I can't see an easy way of bracing it more thoroughly though, especially in the direction parallel to the gantry, because the ball screws are in the way make a decent and useful cross section of bracing impossible to fit in there.

I would run 2 piece's parallel with the screws close as possible, positioned vertical like the side rails. I would also change the centre one to the same position then take staggered cross supports between each. If your not sure what I mean just ask and I'll draw it for you.

The enclosure was £600 extra so nearly an 1/8th of the price.

They're selling the same machine with hiwin rails all around (mine is only on the Y) and possibly some more upgrades including the electronics for £6999.

£600 is very cheap for the enclosure like as been said but to be honest for 7K I'd want far more for my money than this machine offers. I'm self employed so know exactly how hard times are at the moment but to be honest at 7K there making VERY good profit.!!

[Shinobiwan]

I would run 2 piece's parallel with the screws close as possible, positioned vertical like the side rails. I would also change the centre one to the same position then take staggered cross supports between each. If your not sure what I mean just ask and I'll draw it for you.

A good suggestion and this is something I will very likely do.

[Strike CNC]

[QUOTE=JAZZCNC;27824]Ah ok slightly better than feared thou at this width extra bracing would be my prefered choice.

Hi the gantry back support on this model is 30x180mm heavy gauge we have several gantry options available for the customer to choose from
30x180mm
30x200mm
30x300mm
40x200mm
40x300mm
60x320mm

we also have a range of gantry uprights available
40x120mm
40x160mm
40x320mm
60x320mm
80x320mm

Our machines do weigh a great deal even our standard models are very heavy which is why they are so rigid no additional bracing is needed on this model they really are solid, but i do understand your concern as you just cannot see from the pictures but once you see them in the flesh "so to speak" its only then you get some idea of how rigid they are customers are always surprised by the weight of the machines.
As the customer you can virtually design your own custom CNC we us by choosing from our range of components to get a truly customised CNC router to your own spec. We have supplied a customised M series of the PRO 660x660 CNC to 2 engineering firms to replace there small CNC mills once they seen what our metal range of CNC routers can produce & for a fraction of the price of a CNC mill there sold ,our 3 phase 5HP & 7HP water cooled spindles chew through aluminium like butter & you can high speed machine with them too cutting production runs down significantly ,one client has been running his older one for the past 26 months machining aluminium all day 6 days a week & its still going strong the customer has since purchased another unit this time with full enclosure i do have permission from the company to use pictures of the components they machine with the CNC if anyone's interested seeing them we are currently archiving a selection of customers work to be placed on our new website the only draw back with the M series of machines is they are incredibly heavy even the small models are obscenely heavy to give you a idea 4 people cannot even pick up the small STK M series & this only has a 660x660 cutting bed & stands 1700mm tall
best wishes
all the best
best wishes

[JAZZCNC]

[QUOTE=Strike CNC;27874]

Our machines do weigh a great deal even our standard models are very heavy which is why they are so rigid no additional bracing is needed on this model they really are solid, but i do understand your concern as you just cannot see from the pictures but once you see them in the flesh "so to speak" its only then you get some idea of how rigid they are customers are always surprised by the weight of the machines.

Ok first off PLEASE PLEASE don't under estimate the knowledge and expereince of some of the people you are speaking to here on the forum. I know exactly the weight and strength of the materials you use because I use them also.! . . BUT . . . There's a difference between material weight and mechanical stength.!
My reference to bracing had nothing to do with the material weight or choice and everything to do with the structural bracing.! . . . Which IMO at this size and proportions it's lacking.!

I agree 110% regards building the machine to do an intended job. . BUT . . in this case while YES it will fullfill the "Brief" it could have been so much better for so little more.!! . . Or better put you spoilt the broth to save a pinch more salt.!!

Given the full picture regards componets then with a bit more bracing (Esp the BED) and a REAL Z Axis then this machine could handle most jobs and materials upto Aluminium with good usable DOC.! . . .As it is now it will always be lacking.!!

My view and feelings regards machines built in this manner with these materials is that they are built purely with ease of build to extract maximum profit using off the shelf products. This often leads to comprimise, whether that be finacial or strength, they generaly lack in one or the other.!

IMO given the fact that at £3860(taking away the £600 for the enclosure) and the very fact that building this machine how you do requires very little equipment other than a decent drill press and could be built in just a few days then you are still making very good profit. Certainly enough to give a better Z axis using at least supported round rails and couple more piece's of profile for the bed.!!. . . . This would make the machine capable of so much more.!!

I wish you every success and please don't take my comments as a personal attack,.they are observations and MY OPINOINS gained from my experience building machines for my self and others and which I was invited to give (And feel should be said for the sake of others). I fully understand the need for profit being in business 0ver 25 years my self but some times saving that "Pinch of salt" really does spoil the soup IMO..!!!

[Robin Hewitt]

Personally I like a lot of dead weight, but that's just me. It looks wonderful, if I needed a router I'd buy one

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Do we get a movie?

[JAZZCNC]

Personally I like a lot of dead weight, but that's just me.

Yep me too Robin if it's used correctly. . . . As we know Mass can be your friend. It also weddles the weak bits out pritty quick.!!

Also forgot to say LOVE THE SPEAKERS. .

[Shinobiwan]

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Do we get a movie?

That's the plan once I get it up and running. There's a couple of jobs to do before that can happen:

• Dust extraction. Gotta cut a hole the top of the enclosure and plumb this in.
• The doors at the rear need modifying as I changed where the machine was going at the last minute and didn't want to hold up the machine any longer. Without the mod its difficult to open the doors because of limited space.
• I bought one of the 3HP Chinese water cooled spindle & vfd packages off ebay and it arrived yesterday so now I have the dilemma of choosing whether to get up and running quickly with the Kress or wait for some mounts and install the spindle/vfd combo.

[Shinobiwan]

Hi Jazz

Its would have been nice to have even more for my money but I already got a lot for £4.5k.

Commercially I couldn't find a better deal. Even shipping a Chinese machine would have been more expensive after shipping and taxes.

Here's a couple of examples I looked at:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leasing-De...ht_1330wt_1396
Marchant Dice were wanting £5.5k for this desktop model with no base or enclosure, no hiwin on the X, no Dual steppers on the X, smaller alu profiles, smaller cutting area.

http://cnc-step.de/en/products-cnc-r...lling-machines
The closest spec Heiz machine is the S-1400/T at around £8k once you add the base but its still not as well specified. It has awkward bed size that doesn't accept 4x4ft, there's unsupported rails on the Z and Y, no enclosure, and I'd say its generally of a lighter construction.

Did I mention that £4.5k also included delivery on the back of a HGV? That had to have cost around £200-300. The old man is HGV driver and they don't work for nothing. I consider your comments very useful and food for thought. Maybe strike will integrate the suggestions as standard but there's no denying the price would go up.

As for my machine I consider it a starting point. Looking at the Z axis its relatively easy to replace the unsupported rails with hiwin. Its a matter of carefully measuring, marking and then drilling and tapping a few dozen holes. So its not like I'm stuck with this forever. You suggestions to firm up the table are good one's and could be done easily too. For now I'm going to use what I have and as I start to feel the need to upgrade things I've got that option, especially with folks like yourself who have a lot of knowledge in this area.

Would it possible to visit you Jazz? Or someone else near Chesterfield to chat about these things and look at your setup? I know very little and that would be a huge boost for me.

EDIT: Thanks for the comment on the speakers :)

[JAZZCNC]

Would it possible to visit you Jazz? Or someone else near Chesterfield to chat about these things and look at your setup? I know very little and that would be a huge boost for me.

Ah ah if you seen my machine you'd say WTF how dare you speak.! . . . Thou It's more a case of judge me on what I do not what I do it on. . LoL . . It's not pritty but it's built very very strong and accurate.

To be honest I'm not keen on visitors(got my reasons which I won't go into on here.) but I'm more than happy to visit you and discuss or help things with your machine.

Regards the WC spindle you have obvisously felt the weight difference from the Kress and I'm sure this will have an impact on the Z axis the way it's setup at the minute.
I honestly feel that you'll end up wanting to change this sooner rather than later when you get more into CNC and all the wonderful opertunity's it presents.

By the way I'd go for the WC straight away, they difference in noise alone is worth the trouble. The fact it makes the kress look like a toy is just a bonus.!!

[Strike CNC]

Hi i do invite constructive criticism

As said this was a custom machine for the customers design brief we did offer the customer supported rails as they said in previous posts we can only supply the customer with what they can afford & this machines fits the design brief for the job in hand for the customers budget & please remember the 600.00 for the enclosure included the materials for the much lager base needed to house the enclosure
& i really do not think you can make this machine in a couple of days with only a drill press & if you could i for one would not want a machine made with a drill press in a garden shed even in a tool room that was rushed to be built in a few days our machines are manufactured with a range of heavy duty equipment including CNC mills , manual bridgeport mills ,large colchester lathes to mention but a few & these are only the tool room machines not the manufacturing area we are engineering company by trade with a fully equipped manufacturing facility as well as the tool room we also have the display unit , there are also a lot of other factors in price including the free delivery for this machine at a cost of £290.00 incl VAT

QUOTE
"Given the full picture regards components then with a bit more bracing (Esp the BED) and a REAL Z Axis then this machine could handle most jobs and materials up to Aluminium with good usable DOC.! . . .As it is now it will always be lacking.!!"


We did expect to receive some comments from others & some competition & i do welcome it but this & please JAZZ i do not want to seem confrontational this machine was not supposed to be used for a wide range of materials as it was made to the customers design brief for his amazing speakers & budget
as i said we are currently manufacturing x5 machines at present with one of them a 8x4" 4 axis CNC router with this customer we did not offer them the upgrade but only gave then the choice of 20-25mm hiwin rails as a machine of this size in our opinion can only run on the profile rails one of these these machines are nearly ready & i will post pics & yes you will see this one has a heavier duty bed for the job it is designed for

Please i do not want to offend & i am not underestimating your knowledge as you use extrusion regularly then you also know all suppliers of extrusion have different grades one company's heavy grade is another company's standard grade or even light grade we have tried 7 companies from the UK & know ours come from Germany

We have many upgrades available & the customers have the choice to upgrade or not it is ultimately down to the customers budget so please bear this in mind but i do welcome your comments
best wishes