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What's a good cnc router

9K views 39 replies 15 participants last post by  joebob1611 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi guys I'm looking to buy a cnc router and was wondering if anybody has any ideas on a good brand and not to expensive. And I would like to be able to cut about a 4' by 4' sheet or smaller. Any ideas?
 
#2 ·
High production? Carving? Cabinets? Signs?

What are you planning to do with it?

If you want high production or rock solid reliability, then go with something like CAMaster or Onsrud.

If you just need it for weekends or light production, then ShopBot would be good, but I know folks who do production work with one.
 
#4 ·
That Handibot is interesting, but it has an incredibly small work area for the price. I've been drooling over the BuildYourCnc machines for a while, and think they are the best bang for the buck in a hobbyist machine. Really want the BlackToe 2×4 for my shop. I build a lot of R/C airplanes and all of the sheet stock is a max of 4' ong and 1' wide so the work area would be perfect for it. Wish I had the room for the BlackFoot 4×8 setup but that would be hard to shoehorn into the shop/garage. They also have a new machine that you place the sheet stock in vertically. Not sure how you would go about clamping things though…
 
#6 ·
Expensive is relative. A bigger machine (more initial expense) could produce individual components for far less cost than a smaller, less expensive, but less capable machine.

Decide your application first, then find the optimal machine for that application.
 
#8 ·
The Shark has some drawbacks - I have the Pro Plus model - but so far we've been pleased with it. Any problems (not including some table fussing) have been operator error. ;)
I think it really depends on what you want to do with it. If I were doing heavy production work or needed .001" precision, I wouldn't go with the Shark but it does make about half my income right now and I have it running 4-5 days a week.

As I said - it has some drawbacks (read: weaknesses) but as with anything, you learn the work-arounds. Count on making a modification right off the bat-the front and back table braces need replacing and beefing up. Price IS a consideration for most people and we can't all drop $10k or more on a tool, no matter how many bells and whistles or rave reviews. My top end budget was $5000. Period. No leeway. We were able to get the Shark plus put in a new dust collection system and build a lumber storage room onto the shop for that money.
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
>>>I've been drooling over the BuildYourCnc machines for a while, and think they are the best bang for the buck in a hobbyist machine.<<<

I think they offer the least bang for you buck.
CNC Router Parts sells kits that are many times stronger and more rigid, and capable of making heavier cuts, at 4-5x faster speeds. All Steel and aluminum, much superior rack and pinion drive system. For pretty close to the same prices.
 
#10 ·
A Machine Tool Camp 4×8 machine can be built for less than $10,000 with software and computer included. The only thing is that I don't recommend the machine as designed in the plans. We've got a heavily modified version that is much stronger.

I've been able to process cabinet parts from a sheet of plywood in 15 minutes which isn't bad for a home-made machine. It'll go faster once I get better bits and get better at getting the settings right. If on a low budget, don't underestimate the ability of the home made units.

Given a larger budget, I'd look at the Camaster Stinger.
 
#11 ·
Machine Tool Camp…
I thought they stopped selling plans years ago. If you go to their website, there are no links to get to the plans, but Google can get you there. Looks like a completely different machine than their old plans, but they don't give you much info until you give them the money.
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
I bought a plan from MTC around April 2013 so if they're gone, it's happened since then. The X-Axis drive axle has a weak setup. They put one bearing on either end which permits the axle to flex a lot in the middle and that leads to whiplash as the gantry reverses at high acceleration. We added a third bearing in the middle. The Y-axis doesn't quite travel 48" so that needed a little tweaking. The Z-axis on our machine is completely different and I can't even remember what the original looked like.

The instructions are also a bit vague. I bought the plans but the machine was built in a classroom setting with the help of the instructor so I stored the plans and never referenced them. The rest of the class built from kits supplied by CNC Router Parts but they all opted for the ball bearings and not lineal guides. Our machine was the best one for that reason alone.

If going with the plans from Router Parts, I'd heavily suggest forking over the extra cash for the lineal guide rails and bearings upgrade. I've seen how much work goes into adjusting the ball bearing version. It's not easy and they aren't as strong.
 
#15 ·
Well, I may be getting my machine a little sooner than I thought. I found a guy that has a partially assembled BuildYourCNC Blue Chick that is willing to sell me everything but the wooden structure (he glued it together and it is too big to ship) for a killer price. It is the older model with the timing belt, but hopefully that will work well enough to allow me to use it to cut parts for a roller chain version later on. I also got a set of plans from Sidewinder CNC and plan on modifying those to build my own hybrid between the two.
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have to say, I built my machine from joescnc. Ended up settling on a 5×9 foot table evo machine. Nice thing about the joes machine is its easy to scale up at a later date. Ive been using it in my business for the last year and have cut no less then 500 different signs and projects with it. It runs about 6 days a week. I have only had to replace brushes and bearings in the router a couple times. IMHO buy the best electronics and drive systems you can afford, they will pay off in reliability in the long run. I considered the wood framed cnc but was worried about losing tolerances due to wood movement and the tension of the drive chain/belts over time. Just my two cents.

Gerald
 
#18 ·
I understand what you are saying about the wooden structure, and agree that it may not be the best option for longevity. However, I want to use the machine to get my feet wet and gain experience with the technology, and for what I'm going to do with it (cutting balsa and thin ply) I believe it will be rigid enough to handle the load. And once I get use to how things work I plan on building a new one.

Just can't wait to get started!
 
#19 ·
Well, things didn't work out so it's going to be a while before I get a machine. After doing a lot more reading on CNCZone, I decided a wooden machine wasn't really the best option. And a metal one is going to cost a little more than I can afford right now. I learned my lesson a while back about buying cheap, and don't want to make that mistake here.
 
#20 ·
Joe Andrews, do you mean constructed out of wood or metal as opposed to be able to cut wood and metal?
The reason I ask is that most of the CNC's on the market today can also machine metal, typically limited to softer metals.
A home built one, solidly built, can also machine metal with some obvious limitations.
 
#22 ·
I was talking about construction, not cutting capability. But I may be overthinking what I actually need. When getting advice from forums, a lot of time you don't know what the person offering the advice does with their machine. For me, I plan to use it to cut RC airplane parts and 99% of my cutting will be in balsa up to 1/2" thick, 1/8" lite ply and up to 1/2" birch ply. Possibly in the future I might like to get into V-bit carving. Maybe a wood machine would hold up fine to those tasks? The bits I would use will need to be pretty small, either 1/16" or 3/32" because the inside corners in wing spar slots need to be as sharp as possible.
 
#23 ·
I took a look at the OX open build machine and it looks really interesting and simple. With some beefing up I think one could build it relatively cheap. Thinking about possibly a chain drive and larger extrusions for starters. The rollers look interesting. Hadn't seen that style of bearing before.
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
The ox appears to be a good machine, I'm not too fond of the belt system and direct drive though, I'll probably redesign the plates and go with a rack and pinion system and drives from cncrouterparts. My large machine runs them with nema 34 steppers and they work perfectly, plus they're reduction drives for better stepper resolution. I'll use the nema 23 models for this ox build. Chain just isnt as accurate as a rack and pinion system or even the belt drive. I built a few rc planes in my time and if your going to be using small bits such as 1/16th and 3/32, you'll want a machine with very little backlash in the drives. I use 1/16 downcut end mills all the time, they're not forgiving. I originally designed my cnc to cut out wing ribs for ultra lights using aircraft ply but now I'm creating signs and such.

Btw to get a wing spar to fit tightly in the rib on a cnc just use a 1/16 bit and create dogbone or tbone fillets, youll have a nice strong joint..
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Joe Andrews, after reading what you are planning to use the CNC for, in my opinion you would have no problem with a desktop unit made out of wood or metal. However, you did not specify the overall cutting envelope, the length, width, and height you need to cut these parts as that, for the most part, determines what size CNC you will need.

If you are going use bits that small you might want to consider using a Dremel or the motor/collect system from Sherline or similar because routers are typically 1/4" and/or 1/2" unless you use adapters. A spindle with collects in those sizes will add considerable cost the the CNC.

Or, if your working envelope is available, how about a Sherline CNC capable mill?
 
#26 ·
Depends also upon the materials being cut. I couldn't much see a dremel powering through some 3/8 or 1/2 ply. You can get a nice compact router or trim router for about 100. I use a Porter Cable 7518 3 1/4 hp router on my large cnc because a spindle was out of my price range at the time. I paid another 100 for precision collets in quarter and eighth inch. In hind sight I could have used a 2 hp and just bought an eighth inch collect to save some $. Better to be over powered in my experience then not have enough.
 
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