Good inexpensive cnc router?

General CNC CNC Routers
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not seeing anything posted recently …
Any advice on a good, solid, works well and might hold up to reasonable (say daily, a few hours at least a day) usage for some reasonable number of months CNC router?

If it includes software or works with free/low cost major plus! (particularly if that software is awesome, like lightburn for lasers!! something that works with generic SVG great also :slight_smile: )

What is out there for sale that people recomend as an intro system?

many thanks,
dvc

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I do not know what is current I built mine from openbuilds.

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Are you interested in a kit or something that is shipped more or less fully assembled?

Your desired work area and material are key to a recommendation here.

This thread is looking for something more expensive but points out many of the variables in play. You’ll probably want something different but this might help you figure out what questions you might want answers for to choose a unit. :smiling_face:

In general, you can choose software separately from hardware. There’s awesome CAM and hardware control software available as open source, as well as proprietary.

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Thanks for the link. This is just curiosity at this point. I need to figure out my new laser first :slight_smile:

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Ah, it’s totally OK to not know what you want to do yet. At least, that is how I’ve started with lots of what I’ve done.

At the very low end, if you are interested in what you can do with a really cheap 3018-class router, read this thread, in which @Nigel_Taylor described all the fun things he’s done with his to improve it.

It’s nice to know what the cheapest option is; then you express what you want based on what that doesn’t give you. Talk here through things you are interested in and we are more than happy to help you figure things out! :smiling_face:

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Thanks Michael, the improvements are still happening…

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If you are looking to start something from the ground up, and learn a lot in the process, I recommend V1Engineering’s Primo CNC platform. It’s a DIY setup, easily scalable, and has an excellent community. You can order kits from them, or print and source everything yourself.

Website here…

Forums here…

Oh yeah, and cost about $500.

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The subreddit /r/hobbycnc has a wiki page which lists machines:

I work for Carbide3D, so naturally think a Shapeoko would be the best choice, since it punches all your checkboxes:

  • durable — we’ve been making machines for a long while now (the Shapeoko 1 design was over a decade ago, and the SO3 was launched December 2014
  • bundled software — Carbide 3D is the only inexpensive CNC manufacturer to make all the software above the firmware level (and we donate to Grbl’s funding)

Carbide Create is now up to v7 (currently in beta testing):

and w/ a new file format, a lot of new features are now feasible.

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4 posts were split to a new topic: Would it be possible to bring back the shapeoko wiki?

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Hi New guy here ,great site , cnc hobby for 10 years ,now I have 2 laser machines all kit/self built.

When starting out it is best to have something small and common . That way most of your issues will have been addressed by others and you can learn your own way and not make too many expensive mistakes . That said your first machine may not be your last but if so you wont be bankrupt in the trial.

I dont recommend building your first machine from nothing ,but a kit is