Cnc Kit In The Uk?

[MikeUK]

Hello everyone nice place you have here,

I have been visiting this site for quite some time; but now it’s time for me to get stuck in.
It’s like this I have no problem with the electronics but when it comes to building the mechanical side of things I do not have a hope. So I have been searching the web for a kit to get me started. As anybody who lives this side of the pond knows anything CNC is extremely limited or way over priced.

I have found a kit on Ebay and would like other people’s opinions on it. The cutting area is ample for what I need. I would like to know what others think, is it good value for money? The way I look at it is I would probably make more doing overtime than spend the hours struggling to build myself.

I have emailed the seller and he tells me assembling the kit is simple and one buyer had it together in 40 minuets but a weekend is more usual.

Has anybody else bought this kit and if so what do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...4641&rd=1&rd=1

Thanks for looking,

Mike

[rally.sport]

hi mike
im in the uk too but i run a professional 2.4m by1.5m by 220mm 3d (now ive converted it) router.
i used this forum to find out problems with:
pacer router, mach3, edgecam, and a few other things in sorting my machine out. i found two good suppliers of parts and help these are:
http://www.marchantdice.com/linear/ youll find all the parts you need here. and this place was a real diamond for help and service i cannot recomend them enough http://motioncontrolproducts.co.uk/

the ebay kit as i see it is a sensible investment, you can view it either way but i would say buy it (i would like to point out i do not know them)
my reasons to say buy it are: working out all the correct bits to work with each other is hard, asssemble this into a balanced machine that actually works takes time and experiance. then add on a control system, and a interface and youve got a nightmare. buy this kit and 1 part is done and it is a balanced machine, look at it once you own it and have built it and make your own later but get all the bits working and move on.

personally and rationally i think the construction is a bit feebale,(but then i do commercial work) and the parts could be bought for aunder a £100 but the experiance to asseble it all (and remeber half of the kit is pre built) is worth far more than the £200 premium the seller is charging i know my experiance cost in the region of £15,000 before we got it right and the raw cost in the end of what we used is around £200. about £3500 was spent on the wrong bits £2000 on professional fees (and that was a waste we are suing over) and the rest in lost time instead of buying someone else pre made kit.


so in summary its well worth the asking price and its in the uk so you have a local number to call for advice! it will do all you need it to do and help you in your progression.
hope this helps my company is www.purpleq.co.uk if youre interested

[stone1925]

The kit is a good way to go and the person who supplies the kit is brilliant for email support (the best bit if you are new to cnc). I would recommend the kit just for the support to get you started in CNC (software, building and electronics). I have one of these kits and the finish is excellent and best of all for you is that it is not difficult to put together.

These links are useful...........
http://www.cnckitsandbits.co.uk/ (router site under construction)
http://www.cnc-plus.de/ (kress routers)

[rgammage]

Hello Mike

There are two of us in the Lancashire area about to make our own router tables. Ideas fairly fluid at the moment. Both to use steppers probably using LinuxCNC and homebrew electronics which we will publish if reliable.

It seems to me that the comments of the other contributors are valid but remember there are no steppers nor means of driving them in the kit and that could be an issue ...... unless you are an electronics engineer!

Regards

Richard

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Hi Mike,

I’m not suggesting you buy the kit but I would like to comment on rgammage’s comment about needing to be an electronics’ engineer. I see no problems with the electronics’ side of a project and am not an EE as I would imagine 99% here whom have built a machine are not. Even if you got no support from the kit seller I am sure with the help of the zone members it would be a breeze as it was for me when I built my first machine.
As for the kit; if it were available when I first started and I know what I know now about building cnc machines I would have bought it like a shot. It took an age to build my first machine by hand and I’m a wood machinist by trade. I would have bought the kit and had it build me a larger machine. These machines make building anything from wood an absolute dodle, no hand skills needed and are very accurate.

What ever you decide to do best of luck and if you get stuck with anything just remember this excellent site for all the help you could need.

John

[soundman]

Those are some great links posted above - I'd not come across them before.

The discovery of this kit puts me in a slight quandry. I was originally going to build a JGRO machine, but the price of this one is very tempting - the main draw back I can see between the two is that the kit has a slightly smaller cutting area.

Has anyone here built one before? I'm wondering if there's any flex in the bed & guide pipes. I was also wondering what the linear bearings were like as there are no photos of them....anyone have any info here?

I have to say that I'm very tempted now!

[MikeUK]

Hey All,

I’ve been away for a few days so just got back to this. Thanks all who have posted and for information you have given.

So from what I’ve read and giving more thought to the kit I have decided to buy a kit. Just in case anyone is interested the price on the website is £10 less than the Ebay listing (even better for me ;o)).

Hey Soundman I too did think about having a go at the JGRO machine but decided for the price of the kit and the email support that comes with it (could be worth the price of the kit if what Stone1925 says still applies) and my time building from scratch this kit is being sold for a snip.

I will go and email the seller and order a kit. If anyone is interested I will post back here and let people know what I think.

Mike

[soundman]

I would appreciate any feedback that you can give as I am seriously considering getting one later this year.

[MikeUK]

Originally Posted by soundman I would appreciate any feedback that you can give as I am seriously considering getting one later this year.

Will do

[MikeUK]

Hi again,

Well I am a VERY happy chap .

I emailed and ordered a kit on Wednesday; I was told it was the last one they had in stock (I’m lucky like that). It arrived Friday morning well packed; I opened it that evening after work.

I have to say I am very pleased I bought this kit as the quality of the parts is very high and most of the assembly is already done. There is no way I could have made part to this standard. Anyway I started the assembly Saturday morning and I have to say it was a piece of pish to put together even for me. Painted the parts and left them over night for final assembly the next day. Sunday afternoon after a well deserved sleep in I fitted the bearings, did the final assembly and set every thing up for square ness blar blar blar. So I had a machine frame all built and ready for stepper motors and electronics in less than a day and a half WOW.

I have done about half the electronic over the last couple of evenings and just need to wait for my stepper motors (out of stock ( ahh not so lucky). While I’m waiting on the stepper it will give me time to go through the software and I hope to be milling PCB within a couple of weeks.

Thank you to all who chipped in on this thread and helped me decide to buy the kit. I have to say it is probably the best money I have spent for a long time and when I think of the time it would have taken me and the headaches it would have coursed if I had tried to build myself. I haven’t milled anything yet but I would recommend buying this kit especially if you aren’t that good with your hand like me.

As for support I can’t say because I haven’t needed any so far.

Mike

[soundman]

Any chance of some photos Mike?

I'm interested in the rails & the linear bearings as there is no mention of those on the manufacturers site, nor are they shown in any of the photos.

How solid does the whole assembly feel? Any give or play anywhere?

Sounds good so far!