Will you please look it over and let me know what you think about the aluminum framing and mechanics then again what about the electronic components? I’ll ask if he sells just the machine framing if we want to get other electronic components. We want to add a 4th axis so our controller must be capable of that.
Do you have other suggestions?
My husband is unemployed right now. I want this for him to have fun putting it together “quickly” so he can start doing some creative things with it and give him something concrete to do something constructive again.
I’m in the midst of starting my own CNC build as well @Jean_Lotz . I looked at the XZeroCNC.com products, but decided on the standard CNCRouterParts.com kit (because I am building a big 4’x7’ table, and am on a tighter budget than you I think). The XZeroCNC machines look pretty nice… Which particular model are you considering?
Looks like two machine options on that site. Did you have one of them in mind?
Thet certainly look the part. But I would say it depends a lot on what your husband is likely to wind up making. A big part of what choice to make will be relevant to what you want to do with it. Is this to machine aluminium, or engrave wooden door signs? The machine recommendations would vary.
I’m no expert but based on what I’ve been told, cutting steel might be pushing it with a small machine… but it depends… wood and aluminum should be fine (might have to go slow on the aluminum). Don’t know about marble…
I’ve never really understood why you cannot use a small CNC for steel or sometimes Al. I mean, rigidity is an issue, so you may lose accuracy with harder materials, and you may need to cut WAY slower, but neither of those are showstoppers.
Steel and marble with a little alu-cnc? Hm, I don’t think this will work. Marble needs permanent water cooling (a lot of water), steel is way to strong for my spindle and frame construction. Soft metals - no problem. But steel? No. How much will u invest in tools to cut just one part? Steel is for the big machines.
@Richard_Betel - I have read that the issue with hard metals (like stainless) isn’t just rigidity, but mass. In my understanding, the little CNC’s lack enough mass to prevent harmonic vibration…? Also, they tend to have smaller (less powerful) spindles & steppers…? Again, I’m no expert, but that’s what I’ve read…
@Richard_Betel@Eric_Cha you also have to remember that many materials cut with a delicate balance of machine movement speed, spindle rpm, cut depth etc. For instance I struggle to cut plastic on mine because it trends to move too slowly and melt the plastic. So just going slower doesn’t necessarily help a small machine cut a given material.
@Richard_Betel oh, the other thing about going way slower is just how slow that is. Given you really need to be around to monitor it, going slow can mean several hours to perform a relatively simple program. The main reason I’m redesigning bits of mine is to enable it to run faster since I normally only have a couple of hour window in which to cut pieces out.