I do not really NEED a router. But i want one for just playing around with it and producing parts for house decoration and rc model aircrafts. This means: Mostly wood, maybe some acrylic and other plastic, rarely soft metal (sheets) should be worked on. Reliability of the machine is not critical. If something goes wrong i should be able to replace mechanical and/or electronic parts by myself as those chinese 6040 mainly use standard components that are widely available.
But: Which version should i buy?
I live in germany. Here on ebay are dozens of sellers (mostly belonging to a single chinese company) that have storage in germany (no vat on delivery). Mechanically the machines look identical. But they are delivered with different spindles and controllers. I think for my usage the 800W spindle should be strong enough.
I have read the huge 6040 thread in this forum but i am still confused about the controllers. Most links in older posts in this thread do not work anymore as "carving cnc" is not "omnio cnc" with a new website (and new and slightly different machines). Omnio routers are too expensive for my plan (as they are delivered from china and i have to add e.g. 19% vat to the price).
I know that the control boxes tend to fail. But maybe i have luck and it works "out of the box". If not i have to change the electronic. But if the delivered control box works i want to use it - at least for some time.
If i purchase a kit with a parallel port i should be able to add any motion controller (like smoothieboard) without problems. Directly attached to my computer (with parallel port) it should work with mach3 and emc2 (i do not know which software i want to use).
If i buy a set with usb control box i need a special driver - hopefully delivered by the seller - to enable mach3 to drive the machine. No chance to use EMC2 in this case. And no chance to add something like smothieboard.
I think the usb control boxes contain an arduino (or something simular) that generates the stepper pulse.
Question: Is it possible to change a chinese usb control box to parallel? Is it possible to directly access the stepper EN/DIR/PULSE pins? Maybe connectors/cables between the usb logic and the stepper drivers?
Second question: Are there differences in the quality of the control box that are "visible" from outside? I think usb control boxes are newer developments?
There is at least one box offered that has a connection to the inverter to drive the spindle. There is a knob that can be used to set the spindle speed "manually" or "pc".
Type A offer: https://www.ebay.de/itm/1500W-6040-C...cj9eAMIgY4kmRg
Yet another beige/grey box only has a power switch, emergency halt and a display with some switches for the spindle. And parallel port. Those seem to be the cheapest offers. I think to control the spindle from mach3 with this controllers i have to add some electronics and connect the parallel port with the inverter?
Type D offer: https://www.ebay.de/itm/1-5KW-CNC-Ro...IAAOSwR29ZECkB
i now have a 6040Z chinese router at home. Seems to work well. First thing i have added is ModBus to control the Nowforever E100 inverter and the spindle. I wrote a little instruction how i did this with Mach3. You can find it on my homepage ubit-rc.de. I hope i have written down everything correctly. For me it works perfectly well.
In the next step i want to add limit switches and a mdf spoilboard.
which cnc u buy on end ?
u only say 1.5kw but ,,on these links u have 2 and other 2 have option for 1.5kw spindle ...
and can u post a bit info ,,how is it ,any bugs etc
It is the type of machine made of plain, unlaquered alu extrusions. Seems to be exactly the same hardware that has been distributed by carving cnc aka omnio before they changed some details.
It has distinct stepper drivers, rated 4 A and set to 2,7 A. The tiny interface board has connectors for limit switches. A probe connector is connected with a socket on the controller box. A simple tool length sensor is in the package.
First i had problems with the z axis. I could move it nearly 1 mm. I found out that 2 screws were not tightened. I could turn them over 360° to fix them... After this everything works fine.
The machine is delivered without any software and with no documentation. Currently i am using the demo version of Mach 3. This weekend i started to connect homing switches to the machine. Not finished yet due to lack of time.
Planning to start with 6040
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