Hello everyone. I am new here and new to the cnc world. I am looking for some input. I was wanting to know if this machine the R7 is worth buying or would I be better off getting a different machine ie. X carve, Shapeoko or Step craft?
This is for more of a hobby/add some flair to my carpentry business.
I was trying to find out what this kit comes with. When I look at the site it appears the the kit is complete minus a PC and software. Speaking of software I am looking to get V carve pro maybe Aspire. Will these programs work with this kit?
The R7 is definitely worth it, but then you’d probably expect that answer from people in this forum!
However, to elaborate a little. The Shapeoko 3 is probably the closest thing you can compare the R7 to, but it is in my opinion inferior to the R7 in a few respects.
Firstly it is belt driven, this might not be an issue if you intend to only ever cut wood, but when you move up to cutting aluminum a belt driven machine will have more issues with accuracy and speed than a screw driven machine, belts also stretch over time (though admittedly not by much and this takes a while).
Secondly the Shapeoko3 comes with the dewalt router as its tool head. This is not ideal, its far less controllable than the 800w liquid cooled spindle that comes with the R7. This will have in impact on the accuracy and finish quality of your cuts. With the R7 you will be able to tune your machine far more accurately. You can of course upgrade the Shapeoko3 to a similar spindle.
The output of tools like V Carve Pro and Aspire is usually in the form of a text file full of GCode commands. Pretty much any controller you get will accept GCode so there’s no issue there. A bunch of us in this group use Aspire and other Vectric products as well as Fusion 360, Solidworks, Cambam and many other tools I expect.
The Shapeoko3 does have one advantage in that it comes with the electronics all ready to go. With the R7 you have to collect together what controller you want to use, there’s many options out there, most of us here use the TinyG or the Smoothieware boards. I would say that the R7 is a little more DIY than the Shapeoko, but its a fun project in and of itself. I believe @Brandon_Satterfield may have an all-in-one controller box in the works too so it’ll be more plug and play if thats what you’re after.
@Bob_Steege How is that odd? I am trying to find out if the people like their machine or not. I owned a Ford F250 once and I was a member of the Ford community and I told many people to stay away from their 6.0 motor. I love Ford but not that motor and I wouldn’t want someone wasting their hard earned money on something that was not worth it.
Maybe the machine is great but the spindle is not and someone here might say get it with the upgraded spindle and not the stock one.
That’s what I am trying to find out. To me this seems like a better machine than most of this size. It has screws instead of belts and is made of aluminium verse some inferior material. But like I said I know very little about any cnc machines.
@Edward_Bigham the Shapeoko3 and the Stepcraft I think are both made from aluminum so no real advantage there. The Stepcraft do look like nice machines, and certainly more out of the box ready to go than the R7. I had a Shapeoko2 and I have to say the R7 is like night and day in terms of repeat-ability and capability, but the Shapeoko3 is a big step up over the 2 due to its new custom extrusions and beefier design. The R7 basically lives in a sweet spot between the hobbyist stuff, and the more pro machines. Its a little pricier than the other hobbyist machines, but you get a better machine for your money (500$ more than the Shapeoko3, similar price to the Stepcraft). And then there’s this yawning gulf to the next level up like the Laguna Swift 4x4 ($12k+).
Ben Delarre; Thank you. I don’t mind the extra work putting it together. I just don’t want to spend $2000 to find out I nee to invest another $2000 for parts that I need to get it up and working.
If you read the ad on their website it leads me to believe that everything is included with the kit because it states in the blue writing that it comes with a controller and the holes are drilled and tapped and it says it also says that it comes with something called a rasberry . Sorry just checked the site and they removed it. Well that answers several of my questions.
By the way your opinion means plenty to me and answers a few of my questions.
No problem, that’s another great thing about the R7, the community here is excellent and people are doing some very high quality work with their machines. Have a look back through previous posts, there’s some excellent craftsmen here.
As far as costs after the initial kit go, I would expect to spend maybe $200-300 on setting up and wiring up your controller box. Around $100 for the controller is probably a good budget, but then you need a box for the controller, and probably want to add connectors and plugs for your wires, and an estop etc. You’ll also want to build a table to put the thing on, that cost me around $60 or so for a simple 2x4 construction.
@Edward_Bigham Depends on your use case really. CamBam is a great tool for certain types of operations. CamBam has a relatively simple user interface that is quite highly technical, but this gives you a lot of control over your toolpaths. Its not very good for creating very complex designs. As such I think most here use it for doing aluminum work since you get more knobs to tweak so to speak.
V carve / Aspire are excellent for woodworking type work, the 2.5d profiling operations are excellent, and its great for doing more cabinetry style or sign carving work.
I tend to use a combination of Aspire, and Solidworks + HSMXpress plugin these days. Aspire for my simple ‘i just want to cut this shape into this piece of wood’ style work, and the Solidworks + HSMXpress combination for the more complex 3d mechanical design work since I can produce my whole 3d model in Solidworks and keep all my toolpathing within the same app and have it update automatically as I change my 3d designs. I believe you can do the same with Fusion360 + HSM and I think that combination is free for hobbyists.
@Ben_Delarre I will be working with wood most of the time. I would like to start off as simple as possible. I would like to use only one program for now then as I get to know that broaden my horizons and get into more complex stuff. Simple first to hold my attention then as that gets boring open up my learning.
@Edward_Bigham yes thats definitely the way to go, there is much to learn in the world of CNC. Aspire / VCarve Pro are probably what you want, there are some other folks here that work in wood as well so maybe they’ll chime in but I think they use these tools also.
@Ben_Delarre I plan on getting the tiny G. Are you saying that I would have to get other things for the controller to get it to work? I was planing on building a wooden enclosure for the enclosure and just run the wires for the stepper motors, power supply and water pump threw it. I have a table.
@Ben_Delarre Thank you Ben for all the help. I want to get the best machine I can and everything I need. I don’t want to end up spending all my money to find out I need to save up an additional $1000 to get it to work. Thats like getting a car and finding out you need a motor now.
You can certainly just wire everything direct to get going so no worries there. You can start with a basic enclosure and then upgrade it later. Maybe cut a fancy enclosure with the cnc!
@Edward_Bigham I love mine. I built it in June. I was on a very tight budget when I built mine and was able to build everything including a cabinet and table for $300 above the cost of the kit for all new materials. I use it so often that I have been marking modifications but I modify every tool I use. Out of the gate the design is solid and the kit is packaged so amazingly well the building was a joy.
I am also drawing projects for a friends X-Carve. I love how fast the belts scroll when not cutting but I have to take smaller and slower cuts in hardwoods with it. I have found the belts to be more solid than I expected but the machine only has about 10 hours on it. The X-Carve is also very limited in distance between the table and the gantry.
@Colin_Kaminski have a play with your acceleration and max speed settings sometime, you might be pleasantly surprised by how fast you can move those screws!