IMService Servo CNC Router review

[buscht]

I decided to go ahead and purchase this router.
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/
(It looks like the price just went up $200).

I bought the basic machine with the Dewalt router option. I did not buy the dust collector because this option takes away 2" from the 4" Z axis.

I ordered the machine on 12-11-05. It shipped on 12-29-05 and arrived today on 12-3-06.

If you have any questions about the router, just ask and I'll try to answer.

Its advertised as a 12" x 12" x 4" CNC servo controlled router. 90% of my work is smaller than this and I always wanted to try a servo based system so I thought, why not?

Packaging was very good, and everything seems to be in good shape.

[buscht]

The machine manual came as a downloadable PDF file. Manuals for the DESKCNC program seem to be limited to help files, and a subsection of the machine manuals.

3 seperate books came with the Vector CAD software, but I haven't had time to open them yet.

The control box looks easy to hookup.

I even received saftey glasses and ear plugs.

[buscht]

The Y axis came unassembled from the X axis (base). Its a matter of positioning the Y axis properly, inserting 4 dowels, tightening 4 screws, and hooking up one plug in.

It took about 5 minutes, once I located the proper allen wrenches.

You need a crescent wrench, 3 allen wrenches, and a hammer to put everything together.

[buscht]

The table base seems sturdy enough. Its aluminum with 1/4-20 threaded holes on a grid pattern. This will make adding work holding jigs a breeze.

The X axis runs on 4 Vee rollers. They are designed for a vertical downwards pressure load. There is just a light duty cam follower on the underside which takes up any play.

The Y axis seem to be loose to me. There are two Vee rollers on the top side with one eccentric Vee roller on the bottom. I'll have to adjust the bottom roller to see if that eliminates the slop.

The Z axis is on two round rods and seems pretty stiff.

There are limit switches on all axis(s), and thumbwheels for moving the axis manually.

[buscht]

Ok, After many false starts, I've got the machine to cut. Here are some pictures of it cutting through 1-1/4" hard Maple.

Notice that I've built a low cost bench out of 2 x 4's.

I built a simple Tee slot table out of a piece of baltic birch plywood and attached that to the aluminum table top.

[buscht]

I'm pretty happy with the mechanics of the router itself. I would consider it light duty, but the servo's seem to be way better than the steppers that I normally use.

You can cut very fast and not worry about lost steps.

I haven't been real impressed with the control software, DESKCNC. I'm used to professional CNC's at work and MACH 2 at home. This controller has quirks that cause it to work differently than I'm used to.

I can't say that its bad, its just different and that is causing me some learning curve problems. I hope to have it all settled out in a couple of weeks.

[Jason Marsha]

How about a video of those servos moving and the machine cutting.

Jason

[Jason Marsha]

How is the accuracy and rigidness of the machine.

Jason

[buscht]

Originally Posted by Jason Marsha How about a video of those servos moving and the machine cutting. Jason

I tried to take a movie with my digital camera. The file is an .AVI file and its huge. I zipped it and its still too big.

Its a movie of the router roughing out the maple block into a maple leaf.

I hand carved the original, made a 3D scan of the part, then programmed it with Meshcam. Its cutting a 75ipm, .34" deep, .02 stepover, .125" ball nose router bit. 3 passes to get to a total depth of 1".

Total cut time with final clean up pass, .008" stepover is 2-1/2 hours.

I'll try to upload to the video and download section.

[buscht]

Originally Posted by Jason Marsha How is the accuracy and rigidness of the machine. Jason

I haven't measured the accuracy yet, but on my sample leaf, everything was very smooth so that means that the machine is very repeatable.

Rigidness, I'll say again that this is a light duty machine. Its way better than the plywood machine that I first built and stiffer than my 8020 machine.

I can flex the router by grabbing it and applying some twist with just arm strength, but again I didn't notice any problems in my cutting.

[buscht]

It looks like my video is too large even in zip mode.

[buscht]

Ok, JFettig helped me shrink my movie file down small enough to upload. I zipped it because AVI isn't one of the acceptable file types

You will need the DIVX codec of at least 5.2.1 to view this file. If you don't have it, you can download it from the DIVX website.

The router has been working well. Its been very repeatable for my application so far.