Originally Posted by merrittgene  ... so "go read all of them" isn't a very good answer.
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More info would allow more people to have better first-time experiences.
Thanks in advance. |
You are right, but to give any kind of 'suggestions', people need to know more about the 'mission' for the equipment to answer appropriately.
Questions like?
Do you want to make boats? guitars? parts for watches? Model or full size aricraft? Wood only? High relief 3D? 4x8' sheets of plywood/MDF for cabinets? Does it need to be really fast? What is your budget? Under $100 is hard to do, $2K to $3K has some nice 'kits' and DIY systems available, $20K has some real nice machines, $200K find a distributor for 'big iron', but thanks for asking. Do you want to make it from steel? 8020? MDF? plywood? How comfortable are you at soldering? Do you need a KIT or purchase 'ready made' components or are you a hard core DIYer and want to home-brew it all? (Hard core DIYers probably won't ask in a forum, but would go 'try something', is my guess, most of us are 'less than hard core' if we are asking for information
So yes, there are frustrations on the question asking AND answering side.
We are not trying to 'shoot the messenger', just trying to quantify parameters to provide reasonable ranges of suggestions.
Personally I would like a ShopBot ( shopbottools.com - their support is great and the forums and workshops is like group therapy) PRS9648 - but their price is out of my league, and drule over the idea of building a MechMate ( mechmate.com ) from their plans (a good support and helpful set of forums - plans are free and you get a great value for what you build), BuildYourCNC.com has good free plans online, but their 'purchased' gantry and electronics kits are priced within reason, the owner is really helpful and answers emails. MikeBeck.org has a great kit both electronics and mechanics at a reasonable price, and Mike is very helpful. As my 'beginner' rig, I purchased gantry plans, controller kit and stepper motors from HobbyCNC.com (a helpful but very focused forum, and their controllers are great, even fun soldering it together and I built the analog power supply that 'just works' without hacking up perfectly good PC power supplies - but they help with that too. I have gotten my 'hands slapped' a few times for asking 'off topic' questions by this private forums moderator). There are other great machines and controllers out there too.
Then there is the software. Like the Windows vs Linux vs Mac this can be a religious war. Below is my list of prejudices:
Machine controller software - takes in g-code (or similar) and drives the hardware - you typically want a dedicated desktop PC (not a laptop) with 'old fassion' printer port(s) for it to work right. I like EMC2 ( linuxcnc.org ) partly because I like Linux, and it is free. It takes a bit more mental grease to get it running, but it can drive just about anything. Mach3 seems to be the big winner for many folks in the Windows camp.
http://www.machsupport.com/ and costs about $130 or so ... There are more, DOS based, and some home-grown software. Google can be your friend and nemesis at the same time - the more you look, the more you find. If you use a ShopBot it comes with its own software, and can USB connect to a laptop or desktop.
CAM software - I like CAMBAM
http://www.cambam.co.uk/ really nice, about $150 and a free version is available. It is an entry level CAD/CAM software that can generate g-code directly. I haven't found a good 'free' alternative that fits my tastes. MasterCam is a commercial version and there are many others.
CAD software - QCAD works, SolidWorks, Rhino, AutoCad, Google Sketchup (Pro version is needed if you want to make DXF files to feed into CAM software), and there are plenty more, and they tend to address different audiences with different missions and budgets. Same comment about Google as above goes here. Vectric.com has some great and fancy carving software (Aspire can knock your socks off, but at $2K it does a KO on a bank account too! ... other packages may be fore affordable depending on your needs)
Some use 'drawing' software like Corel Draw to generate layouts, and other software to 'cut'. This is done for several 'sign' programs and laser cutters, but it is also used for some routers too.
Some of this and other software merges/blurs the line between the Machine Controller / CAM / CAD ... so making the distinctions sometimes makes sense, and sometimes does not.
.... So the question you asked is not a simple answer. So the answer is not simple either. That is why most folks will either ask for more information or not respond at all.
This is not trying to 'shoot the messenger' but trying to explain some reasoning as to why there is no one, and no simple answer! (Whether it is valid or not!)
IMHO, if money is no object and it fits your needs, buy a ShopBot, go to their 3-day training class in NC, and just use it and enjoy. Most of us have other comprises to make.