Yet another Chinese 3020 CNC upgrade thread!

[Pointy]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Ed,

Some good points.

As you say yourself why upgrade if it works ? it would probably make more sense to put the money into making a better machine from scratch but if you don't plan on any more demanding work why bother ?.

It does what I want it to at the moment. mechanically so no plans to replace it or do a scratch build.

Regarding the enclosure, gravity makes everything go down including lubricant and swarf so I'd say it was a bad idea putting the electronics underneath. It looks like a nice tidy solution but vibration would also transfer through the components, I would suggest a separate box something like a PC tower shape.

Good point about gravity, although I have never used any lubricant. Gave me an idea to turn it upside down! The controls would be more at my eye level, and I could fit some LED lights underneath the top part to light up the working area. Also as the enclosure would only be sitting over the CNC, and not physically attached, it would cut down on the vibration.

Instead of messing about with joysticks and buttons I got one of these and it works great, assuming you use Mach3 software.
New Wireless MPG Pendant Handwheel Mach3 For CNC Mac.Mach 3, 4 axis Controller | eBay

Sorry but I would rather make something, which is all part of the fun of it for me. Joysticks, keyboards are pretty easy and cheap to make. I like the idea of everything being built in to one unit.

links to other aluminium suppliers

http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/items-...-supplies.html
http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/market...html#post50642

I did find those links already, but I don't think any of them did everything that I wanted. My main concern is whether the 20mm x 20mm aluminum would be strong enough. Now it's not so much of an issue, as it's not going to take the weight of the CNC.

Regards,

Les