Advice on RoboCutters EagleIII CNC Machine 400x600mm

[Phizell]

There is another alternative that I might be able to get hold of a Elu Model CNC 860 Type A1 CNC Routing machine (well used) but I have no idea what else I would need to have to make this work as it only has a Elu CNC 860 Control unit which I am not sure can be connected to cad software. The upside of this unit is that I can mount conventional routers to the unit.

If anyone has any ideas or any suggestions on what to buy, I could really do with as much help as possible as I have limited time in which to sort this out as I have imminent work pending.

Thanks

[John S]

Have you thought about getting one of the 6040 routers off Ebay that come from Portsmouth for about £1200 and ditching the control box.

220V CNC 6040Z-S65J upgrade from 6040Z+S Engraver with 800W 24000RPM spindle | eBay

Just as an example.
A new control box will cost you around £250 to £300 with quality components.

[Phizell]

Hi John,

I had thought about the 6040 but all I can find is mixed reviews and people saying you take a chance with them (also the Eagle has a years guarantee and 6 months on spindle) and not knowing really anything about CNC I am lost!!!! Hence why I thought the Eagle might be a good choice as its in the UK and the guy that sells them seems to know what he is doing.

I really could do with someone just pointing me in the right direction telling me if the Eagle machine is any good and as I get used to things I can progress, as I am lucky as I have a knowledge of electrics, engineering and machining, just not in this field at all.

I am really willing to learn and also help people as I move forward and learn myself.

Absolute maximum budget before VAT (It is for my VAT business so need an invoice) is £1650 but I could really only do with spending £1000 or less until this new line takes off and at which point I can invest and possibly build a larger machine myself.

[Philly]

I bought my machine(a different machine) from premier signs, it was about £250 more than if I imported myself but I liked the idea of UK support. It was a waste of time, every problem with the machine I had to fix my self.

[John S]

Sorry don't have a name to post to ? Phil ?

The 6040's are a mixed bag and as you say mixed results but basically a router is made up of two main modules, the mechanical part and the electronics.
Leaving the motors out of this which are usually good the electronics on the 6040 are shìte, hence the new box needed.

Mechanically they are decent, supported rails on the X axis, unsupported on Y and Z but these are not that long anyway.
where they do fall down sometimes is the mounting of the ballscrew bearings which may / may not need seeing to.

Hard decision because by the time the Chinese 6040 is speced up it's close to the price of the Robocutter and given that this is serviced in the UK.

I'd like to know more on the robocutter though before spending especially the spindle.
in one lump of blurb it says 800w air cooled , later on it says 8,000 to 24,000 . Also no mention of what is fitted inside the box, does it have the crap Toshiba board fitted ?

[Phizell]

Hi John,

I had read the info as a 800 watt with RPM of 8000 - 24000 but could be wrong ( Redsail,Cutting Plotter,Vinyl plotter,Vinyl cutter).

I have no idea what board is fitted inside and will have to ask, but I did make it clear to the guy it would have 6 hours use a day every day and he assures me that it will cope with the job and tells me the spindle has a 6 month guarantee however after reading Philly's comment its hard to say how good that guarantee would be.

Really not sure which way to go, as I could do with an "out of the box" complete system that works and needs little or no modification.

When I looked at the 6040 I was also a bit put of by the fact some people said they suddenly got import duty to pay on top. If I did go down this route, what control box and where from? I take it the control box works the x,y,z motors and if so are the ones that come with the 6040's that bad and why? (sorry as I say I have no experience).

I have at the most a week to sort this out because in about a two weeks I need to be using a cnc (I have experience of cad so hopefully not to steep a learning curve)

Many Thanks

Phillip

[John S]

If you buy from one of the Portsmouth mob there is no duty to pay. their high shipping charges are to cover VAT and import duty and they don't see why they should have to pay ebay fees on this, tax on tax. If they say it ship in 2 to 3 days it does.
I have bought a laser cutter off them. They do have support but it China based and useless, all they want to do is give you the run around so you sort your own problems out.

Control box you have to build or get someone to build it, not saying the original one is going to blow up straight away but they don't have a good track record. You could always start off with what they send , stuff a big fan on the box and see how it goes.
Not sure if the spindle comes pre wired or they leave that to you ?

If you wnat out the box the original choice might be better but again support looks an issue and you are not close to any other members are you ?

[martin54]

Can't help with the machine as I don't know the Company but how easy it is to use will depend on what you are doing with the machine.
Once you have a vector drawing done in what ever cad/design software you will be using you will then need to produce the toolpaths so the machine can cut it & for this you will need cam software. The cam software produces the gcode which is what actually drives the machine & for that you will need software to control the actual CNC machine.
Looking at their website they bundle mach3 & lazycam with the machines. Mach3 is the software that controls the machine, lazycam is the cam software.
What ever you decide to do about the machine itself you would do well to start looking at software now, both mach3 & lazycam can be downloaded from the artsoft website free so you could download them & familiarise yourself with them prior to getting the machine. Personally I didn't find lazycam that easy to learn & there isn't a lot of support for it which didn't help. There are other cam packages about both free & paid for which will work fine with mach3.

[JayPunchbuggy]

Control box you have to build or get someone to build it, not saying the original one is going to blow up straight away but they don't have a good track record. You could always start off with what they send , stuff a big fan on the box and see how it goes.
Not sure if the spindle comes pre wired or they leave that to you ?

I got one of the 6040 machines out of Portsmouth a few weeks ago... It worked right out of the box, I may have been very lucky.

I agree that the quality of the electronics and its enclosure is really not that good. But that said, it is working well for now. Without replacing anything major, I was able to upgrade the wiring quite easily. My spindle is now completely controlled by Mach3, cooling pump, speed, on/off etc... Will be adding a probe and limit switches at some point.

I may have been lucky, you may too, and not have to replace electronics.

Cheers,
Jay