Good kit price

[Indy]

So, having parked my DIY about 70% done 2 years ago I'm taking a renewed interest, but something on a smaller and easier scale. We got the gantry and table put together last time but never could get it to align properly. So now I'm looking for more of a kit. I found one that comes pretty much ready to assemble and includes used stepper motors and is more desktop sized than what we were doing before. It also looks to be better slides etc. than the roller skate bearings we were using. Main construction is PVC sheet and doesn't include controller etc. But I happen to have a hobbyCNC controller/stepper kit somewhere from my last go round.

Is $250 a good price to pay for something like this?

[bkboggy]

What is all that's included in the kit? What are the dimensions?

[Indy]

It includes the physical assembly, to get it to this point.



And he says he has a power supply and motor driver that he can add for $100.

I just got the specs, says it has a working area of 180mm x 180mm x 50mm. If my math is right, that's only 7" square isn't it? It looks bigger in the pics, but that's not a lot of room.

For what I *need* it would work fine, I'm just planning on using it to cut out knife handles to save me some time. But I'm not sure if that much area could even cut the parts to build a bigger machine if I decide to move up.

[bkboggy]

Yes, it's 7 square inch. If you decide to move up that machine would probably not be able to cut parts that are wider than 7 inches. Length wise... doesn't matter (I think, hard to tell), since once it's done with one section, you can move it down, do the other section and so on (that's of course without it being in the box). 7 square inches is.... incredibly small.

Then again, it's pretty cheap. If you think it can save you time and increase your productivity.... and eventually pay itself off... why not, ey?

[FandZ]

You have a link for this kit? Any size for 250 is a good deal.

[Indy]

It was an ebay, I'm swapping emails with him now to get some more info. I'd like at least a 12x12 for a desktop, but right now I've got nothing. Not sure how picky I"m being. His offer right now is the kit + used motors + power supply + 3 axis driver for $360+shipping. Picky wise it's <400 for up and running, looks big enough to at least make it's own copy, but versatility is going to be pretty low. If it was $100 I probably wouldn't even be asking :laugh: Can I build a decent desktop for a better price? I think I've got motors and controller that never got soldered together somewhere in the basement, but it would have to be a black pipe design.

And I still have to learn how to run one of these, cad etc.

[Hirudin]

$250 is a pretty good price, but honestly the machine looks pretty flimsy. What is it made out of? If it's MDF I probably wouldn't buy it myself. MDF isn't exactly what I would call strong and without reinforcements it's not particularly rigid. Also, I think it would probably make using coolant out of the question. However, if it's aluminum I'd jump on the deal!

Since you want pretty cheap and at least 12" square cutting area you might want to take a look at the Lumenlab "micRo". Here's the forum thread. Make sure to check out the last couple pages (~pg 60) for a couple videos where it cuts aluminum and steel. It's 2 to 3 times more expensive though.

I'm not affiliated with the site, but you'll probably see my posts all over the forums.

[FandZ]

He's right, it does look flimsy but I'm sure it'll handle some wood and plastic. I haven't seen any great solutions for drivers and powers supplies that were cheap. Most that go cheap on the controllers and drivers end up upgrading later. But 250 to get your feet wet sounds like a good deal to me.

Widgetmaster makes a really nice little machine. All I see now is his wide router. Obviously it's a few classes above the the one you linked to for 250. http://cgi.ebay.com/WidgitMasters-NE...3%3A1|294%3A50

Originally Posted by Hirudin $250 is a pretty good price, but honestly the machine looks pretty flimsy. What is it made out of? If it's MDF I probably wouldn't buy it myself. MDF isn't exactly what I would call strong and without reinforcements it's not particularly rigid. Also, I think it would probably make using coolant out of the question. However, if it's aluminum I'd jump on the deal! Since you want pretty cheap and at least 12" square cutting area you might want to take a look at the Lumenlab "micRo". Here's the forum thread. Make sure to check out the last couple pages (~pg 60) for a couple videos where it cuts aluminum and steel. It's 2 to 3 times more expensive though. I'm not affiliated with the site, but you'll probably see my posts all over the forums.

[Indy]

It's made of 8mm solid PVC. I used to work a lot with expanded PVC and it's not super durable. He says that in the small size it's solid and stable. He sent me some pics of work done on it and that looked good. They're on my work PC so I can't put them up.

A grand is waaaaay out of my budget right now. When I first saw this I thought it was a heck of a deal, but made certain assumptions that are one by one getting flushed

[bkboggy]

With the software you ARE looking to spend about a grand. As far as used motors and stuff.... you know, good motors are not that expensive (steppers that is... heh).

Kelinginc.net has a lot of motors for affordable prices (and power supplies).

Why not finish the the 70% one?

[Riceburner98]

8mm PVC isn't very rigid in the world of machine building.. I'd say the key to making any good parts on that machine is shown by the "spindle" - using it to make many, many light passes so you're putting very little load on the cutter. If you remove .002" per pass, the cutting forces generated on the machine wouldn't be too bad. Only question is, how long do you want to wait for a part to finish? For the price, and if you keep your expectations low as to what it can make it's probably OK. If you're looking at it to crank out handles all day long probably not so great, but to take some of the manual work out of making them and maybe do some engraving on them, not so bad.. At the very LEAST if you buy it, screw a sheet of *something* (more 8mm PVC?) to the bottom to box it in. Right now that thing must flex like crazy only joined on the edges!

[Indy]

Originally Posted by bkboggy With the software you ARE looking to spend about a grand. As far as used motors and stuff.... you know, good motors are not that expensive (steppers that is... heh). Kelinginc.net has a lot of motors for affordable prices (and power supplies). Why not finish the the 70% one?

That's the other option. It needs a few changes though. When we started on the other one I needed 4x8+ capacity to be able to cut animal cages from sheets of expanded pvc. That little company went belly up, so work stopped. We were trying to be able to get rid of the company we contracted all the CNC work out to. Unfortunately a competitor of ours found out who was doing some of our work and made a side deal with our rep. Over 2 months our costs went up over 1200% per piece.

All I need now is a desktop, well need isn't really true but it would sure come in handy. I scapped some of the larger pieces but kept the gantry and much of the main structure. I was thinking about just sizing down what I can and try to make a moving table version using as much as what I have done now.

The knifemaking is a hobby and I sell one here and there. If it was more of a business, then I'd have to say this would be a need. But the more I got into the PVC one, the more it looks like I'm making a bad decision to buy it. So it will wait. Thanks for the advice.

And I can't not post one of these...