What is the best hardware and software

[JeffDavis]

I am interested in building my own CNC machine. I want to be able to route designs into 2-4" thick white Styrofoam or pink extruded foam. I want a working area that is 24" x 48" and I want to be able to use a rotary tool like a dremel. The designs will use many different fonts and simple clip-art style line drawings. I guess the same requirements for a sign maker but I would like to be able to have some 3-d relief as well. I use Adobe Illustrator to design my layouts now and carve each one by hand.

I am a 46yr old computer programmer and hobby woodworker so I think I have the skills needed to build this. I am considering building my own to make this affordable.

Here are my initial questions given my requirements.

1. What is the best software to use for my application?

2. What is the best controller card to use with the software I choose?

3. What is the best machine design (Joe;s CNC etc) either in kit form or from scratch?

4. What motors would work best and where should I get them.

[ger21]

When someone asks "What's best?", they usually get several different answers. What's best for one person may not be best for another. I'll give you my opinion, but it'll probably be different from others.

1) Look at Vectrics software, either V-Carve Pro, or Aspire. Without seeing what you want to do, I can't tell you which may meet your needs. www.vectric.com

2) Has nothing to do with software. See #4

3) Depends. Do you have the tools and skills to build one particular design, and maybe not another? Probably the easiest to build would be Joe's Hybrid 4x4. You can downsize it if you only need 24x48. You might also want to look at these plans. http://cncrouterparts.com/product_in...products_id=49
FUll kits are also available.

4) Motors need to work together with the entire system, including drives, power supply, and screws. Having said that, for a smaller machine, the best bang for the buck is the Gecko G540. Paired with a 48V power supply, and 380oz motors, it should run whatever you build just fine. You can get everything you need a www.cncrouterparts.com or www.kelinginc.net


Also, the dremel is a poor choice for a spindle. The minimum you should be looking at is a 2-1/4 HP hand router. Hitachi, Porter Cable, Bosch and Makita all make good ones. Next step up would be a 2.2KW water cooled chinese spindle from Ebay. Lots of members here are switching to them.

Before you make any decisions, I'd recommend spending a week or more reading and learning as much as you can here. Making your own informed decision is far better than doing what someone else tells you to do, which may or may not be the right choice in all situations.

Good luck.

[carvemylog]

I would recommend reading alot of threads on CNC zone to decide which machine to build. It really is finding something that fits your needs and your budget. The more $ you spend, the faster, bigger, stronger, and more accurate machine you'll end up with. Since it doesn't sound like you are cutting anything like aluminum, one of the Joe's designs would probably work.

I would recommend a Bosch Colt instead of a dremel.

As far as software, to create the G code from your drawings, I'd check out MeshCam Art. http://www.grzsoftware.com/. If you aren't that familiar with Linux, MACH is a bargain to control the CNC. Check out steppers and controllers from Kehling.