Newbie- What router / milling machine to buy for hobby shop

[MikeHansen]

Hi there!

I am sure this has been asked before, but I am new to this forum and the amount of information on this forum is overwhelming:

I am planning to purchase a bench-top / tabletop CNC machine for milling / machining. I would like some recommendations from you experts in the field about machines that may be suitable

I have made a list of preliminary "requirements" / wishes:

The machine should be able to machine aluminum, plastic, foam and other materials that are generally realistic to machine in a hobby shop

The machine should be sold as a kit or ready-made (I would rather spend time machining rather than building and debugging. I have a full time job and limited time)

The machine should have a large / significant user community so both spares, extensions and support is available

The software that is used with the machine should be well known and have a large user base.

The supplier should have a general good reputation

The price should be within range for a hobby shop although I haven't set any specific budget constraints yet. I realize that if I don't purchase a machine soon, several more years will go with only thinking and no machining. I have already thought about this for over 5 years ...

Can you please give me your recommendations and tips?

Mike

[Butterknife]

Hi Mike,

Check out the Stinger by Camaster. It fits your description better than anything I can think of.

There is an entire forum dedicated to their machines and the users are very active. They also have a forum on CNCZone and have some active members on here.

Joey, Paul, Frank, and the rest of the gang are very knowledgable in CNC and very friendly too. Check them out. I don't think you'll make a mistake.

Good luck,

Butterknife

[MrWild]

$6k is a lot of money. Yes the Stinger has some premium features like a welded frame and hiwin bearings, but there is no mention of lead screws,steel thickness, motors used, drives used, spindle used (or power/speed envelope) and many other aspects.

You've told us what you want to cut, but not your work envelope and primary material you wish to work with. A router is good for light materials but starts to bog down with aluminum and definately bogs down with steel.

The spindle on a router is made for high RPMs which is great for wood and plastic and might be slowed down enough for brass and aluminum while still retaining the torque needed to machine these metals. It isn't going to work for steel. Oh some have managed to cut steel using high end CAM programs that generate special tool paths, but read $$$$ for those high end CAM programs.

I use EMC2 for my controller software, but you will [probably want to use Mach II or Mach III. It enjoys a LOT larger customer base with a LOT more hobbyists offering add-ons and advice.

One thing to know up front, the machine is only HALF of the purchase. If you spend all your cash on the machine, you will have a nice ornament without the CAD/CAM programs and tooling.

[Butterknife]

Hmmm...,

I didn't see any mention of cutting steel. I did see aluminum, plastic and foam. Nothing there that a 'table top' router can't cut.

After all, we're talking about a 'hobby shop'.

You're right MrWild..., 6k is a lot of money. But unless you're willing to go Chinese, you're probably not going to find a much better deal..., at least in that size table and a new machine. The tech support from that crew is A+ and their forum community is great.

It's not going to hurt for Mike to check it out. Just my opinion.

Butterknife

[MikeHansen]

Hello there, thanks for your replies.

I appreciate the advice about software. I realize now that the software is going to be as important as the machine.

I have no problems going Chinese as long as the machine model has been tested and used previously by a large user community, so I don't have to be the guinea pig.

Steel would of course be nice to machine, but I realize that this might require a more solid machine. I would like a bench top machine that can be used for general purpose milling. Materials: plastics, aluminum, foam, perhaps from time to time a small wood pywood sheet etc. The work area should be larger than A4 and it should have some vertical travel possibilities as well.

The Stinger user community didn't appear to have very many posts and I think the price was relatively high. However I am sure it is a good machine. I would like to consider alternatives. What do the people on this forum use? What are the most popular machines?

By the way in this country we have 230V ac so the PSU should be 230V AC capable.

There are so many offerings out there that it is very hard to sort it all out!

Mike

[eaglezsoar]

Take a look at the machines offered by Home : Fine Line Automation
They are all aluminum and steel kits that go together quickly and are top quality.

[draughted]

you mentioned milling machines. try syil mills at Syil America
they shoul be up to most of the tasks you put to it. the X4 is $4500 , a good choice in my opinion. and they are in milling machine configuration making them well supported with parts.

[chinacut]

Hi Mike, i think after you check our machine , i am sure you will satisfy with it , hehe .
Ok , you can check some of our machines in our website JCUT Cnc Router,Cutting Plotter,Laser Cutting Machine,Laser Engraving Machine or our ebay , our ebay ID is chinakzj.
From your description , i think our JCUT-3030B can meet your demand easily , please check the information in the link : CNC in Your Home CNC machine for Small business orHobby - eBay (item 130432418741 end time Dec-14-10 23:10:50 PST)

Now it is near Christmas Day , some of our machines now ON SALE for the holidays .This machine just cost 2488 including the shipping cost by sea to your sea port. for detail , you can contact me by email ( chinacut@hotmail.com) or msn( chinacut@hotmail.com and wdzhangying@hotmail.com ) or skype(wdzhangying) . if you can tell me your private email address, i will send some videos (such as for Aluminium etc) for your reference.
Regards
Mandy

[MikeHansen]

Hi, several machines from Fineline Automation looks like candidates. Are there many people that actually use those machines and have experience with building their kits? It appears to be a quite young company.

Mike

[eaglezsoar]

I have experience with the FLA100 kit from Fine Line Automation.
It is an excellent kit made with quality components by people who seem
to care about me as a customer and provided top notch tech support.
It is a young Company but to me that is a positive. They care more about
the quality of their equipment and reputation than some of the older companies who seem to only care about the quality of your money. When I am ready to
upgrade, I will, with certainty, use Fine Line Automation.

Regards,
Carl

[jsheerin]

The stinger looks like it's rack and pinion drive on all axes. They say that for the stinger 2 and it has the same rapid speeds. In their gallery, you can see the R&P on the y axis.

I've got a router built from 80/20 and cncrouterparts.com parts (what the FLA kits use). It works pretty well and there are tons of people using these parts on the diy wood router forum here. The main thing I'd be concerned with is the lack of shielding on the linear bearings. There's no wiper like on a THK-style linear bearing and you can screw up the bearings because of that if you let debris pile up on the rails.