What to buy when starting out

[george uk]

I presume I could buy most of the bits from ebay and cobble it together with relatively few home made parts ?

You can, and you do get some use from the cheaper stuff, they just wont stay accurate for long, without adjustment.

What is your realistic budget for the total project, and what space do you have for the machine. what size do you want

Then, can you wield or know a mate that can.

if you can answer them, you will get some help within the budget your looking at. For £ 1000 to £ 1500, if you can get the welding done cheep, you can build a reasonable quality starter machine. ( 300 spindle+VDF+fittings, 400 to 500 motors,drivers,card £ 300 - 450 rails+barings screws+fixings ). 100*better and more reliable than the one you pointed to.

You could do it cheaper than that, or get better quality parts for more, but that gives you a general idea of what it costs to get a decent quality home machine.

[george uk]

to add to the above, i will try price the machine you pointed to in parts.

New CNC Standard 3Axis TB6560 Stepper Driver Full Kit & Motor/PSU/Keypad/Display | eBay £ 165, may find cheeper--- motors,drivers, card, dongle ----RUBBISH

New WATER-COOLED SPINDLE MOTOR 1.5KW & INVERTER DRIVE | eBay the same i presume spindle £ 200

will find the B/screw and bairings pack later, but am sure i see these for 160 the lot.

Then you only have the metal on the machine to price,

[longy]

I've got to agree those cheap Chinese CNC's on ebay would be ok for learning but like most things cheap you end up buying twice so you don't save in the long run. I know from my own experiences "buy cheap buy twice" but if your looking for bargains eBay's the place found this for £125 Nema 23 3Axis Kit Stepper Motors Power Supply TB6560 Driver Plus Electronics Pa | eBay if your looking to go the TB6560 way bigger motors than the link George uk posted and cheaper.
Mike

[JAZZCNC]

I know from my own experiences "buy cheap buy twice" but if your looking for bargains eBay's the place found this for £125 Nema 23 3Axis Kit Stepper Motors Power Supply TB6560 Driver Plus Electronics Pa | eBay if your looking to go the TB6560 way bigger motors than the link George uk posted and cheaper.

NO NO do not buy this rubbish you'll waste £125 nothing but only the E-stop and aviation connector bits n bobs are worth bothering with.!!

[longy]

NO NO do not buy this rubbish you'll waste £125 nothing but the E-stop and aviation connector bits n bobs are worth bothering with.!!

Jazz I have notice your not a fan of the TB6560 LOL but the motors should be ok for small machine, he could always change the driver board to better drivers & bob at a later date. Reading the problems on here with some of the cheap drivers it's very true you only get what you pay for.

[JAZZCNC]

Jazz I have notice your not a fan of the TB6560 LOL but the motors should be ok for small machine, he could always change the driver board to better drivers & bob at a later date. Reading the problems on here with some of the cheap drivers it's very true you only get what you pay for.

Yes I hate the bloody things far to fragile and underpowered, to me they are toys best left to kids to learn on.
Like you say the motors could be used for a small machine but why pay way over the odds for motors when for £75 you could have much stronger motors. The PSU isn't any use because to get any decent speed those motors want to be run with at least 36V and will happily take 48v which is much more like whats needed for router.
Limit switches are rubbish, Solid state relay is bad news for a CNC machine as they tend to fail on. That only leaves E-stop, Fan and connectors which are of any use and for those you'll be paying twice what they cost and that's if it stays at £125 because it doesn't have buy it now.!!

I see this all the time and sadly it's a classic mistake first time builders make.!!

[T0rnado69]

NO NO do not buy this rubbish you'll waste £125 nothing but only the E-stop and aviation connector bits n bobs are worth bothering with.!!

proberly not the place to ask this but.....

maybe it would be a great idea for all the experience cnc'er that are on here to contribute to a thread that lists what parts would be best to get for small, medium and large cnc's and where from for newcomers, so they dont buy rubbish and end up buying twice.

[JAZZCNC]

proberly not the place to ask this but.....

maybe it would be a great idea for all the experience cnc'er that are on here to contribute to a thread that lists what parts would be best to get for small, medium and large cnc's and where from for newcomers, so they dont buy rubbish and end up buying twice.

Too many variables to do this accurately and ensure info is accurate and relavent to there build.
Often the best thing new comers could do for them selfs instead of rushing out and buying is to read more build threads and identify a machine of approx size they want then either ask the builder what they used if not stated. Or If that doesn't yield results then post a thread stateing the size and design intent along with materials to be built from here someone will provide the info they need or direct them down the correct path.

Now the real problem why lots of new comers fail or get wrong stuff is they are not prepared to put the time into proper research, instead they flick thru a thread or two then go straight out and buy without any clue to if it's going to work for there design. This lazy approach is a sure fire recipey to waste money and poor performing machine.
If you ask any builder who as built a accurate and successful machine they will nearly all tell you they did shit loads of research before building. When research is done you don't need telling what to buy it will become obvious because you'll know from other machines similair to what you plan on building.
Where to buy changes from month to month and wallet size to wallet size so again not practical really.

Nothing good comes from haste and folks are all to inpatient to take the time to find out whats required but instead want it handed to them on a plate Which isn't always in there best interest to do so.!! . . . . . . The best machines come from patience and research.!!

[george uk]

I think the chinese boards that have motor drivers onboard are totally useless, problem after problem after problem. I would not fit one in a printer, never mind a cnc. But the new chinees boards ( rev 3 ) , with seporate motor drivers seem a cheap, reasonable starter board,