Looking for info on K2 machines

[lameiii]

I'm a retired hobby nut who is trying to make a decision on which CNC machine to buy. I'm not interested in building a machine. I'd like to have one built for me or purchase a fully assembled machine. I've been looking at the K2 1414 unit which appears to be within my budget.
I'm posting this because I see there are not a lot of threads on this K2 cnc forum and I'm wondering if that is because there are not a lot of folks buying the K2 machines and how many problems have folks been having with the machines and whether the after purchase support is good.
If you have a K2 machine give me your experiences.
Thanking everyone in advance.

Jim

[SPEEDRE]

I have a K2 14x25. I used it only a few time. I like you are a hobby nut. I like it for a hobbyist machine, but. I have found that it will not cut Alum. at any size or thickness. It is super for wood, MDF, plywood's and most plastics. You must supply your own spindle motor, a wood router body equipped with a variable speed option is perfect. Also you need to purchase a control software such as Mach 3. My opinion is that, this is not a heavy duty machine. By that I mean to say it is not sturdy enough in it axis travel to take the cutting pressures of metals. These are gantry type machines running on unsupported linear rods. There is too much flex in the gantry for heavy duty cutting pressures. I must add I like it very much for an entry level machine. It will do some nice things if you treat right. I hope this helps. These comments are only my opinions of course.

[MA$TER_E]

Hey Jim!

Here's my 2 cents.

You need to understand that there are different models of a K2 CNC. When someone says they have a K2 1425 that’s only half the story. There are two very different series, the KT and the KG. Because speedre was unable to cut aluminum I'm pretty confident he he's running a K2-KT-2514. There are some very big differences between the KT and KG machines and I'm confident my KG can mill aluminum no problem. The most important differences to note would be the rigid rails and ball-screws on the KG versus 20mm suspended shafts and lead screws on the KT. The KG machines are much much better machines. If you do a lot of reading up on K2 machines you'll find that a lot of people have issues with them binding and groaning as they step around. Almost all of them are the older KT machines with smaller (18mm?) suspended shafts that flexed; a lot... The machines have gotten a lot better now-a-days but I guess it all comes down to what you want to do with it though. The KT is cheaper and not as rigid/accurate and the KG is a little more money and a much more rigid machine.

I suggest you read through the thread I started for my KG2525.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/k2cnc/..._write-up.html

It's been a long and expensive learning curve figuring all this stuff out. You could just buy the whole turnkey kit from K2; servos or steppers, drivers and software ready to cut and come out about even. I started with a Probotix kit which was great for learning, but I wanted more, so I upgraded to the Gecko G540 and just kept on using the Probotix steppers. I opted to stay with steppers because, A) you can buy and get support for them anywhere B) they're more forgiving than servos and C) they're cheaper than servos. But I overlooked a lot of the expensive small things like shielded wires and connectors building an enclosure to keep the dust for filling the garage, cutters, a t-slot table top it goes on and on, I suggest reading my story.

So a long story even longer, I've been through what you want to do. And I recommend if you're learning above all buying a KG series frame then putting on your own steppers, and drivers then buy the Mach3 controller (software) when you're ready (free version works fine but only reads 500 lines of code). It's not as scary as it sounds and I have an excellent schematic I made for the G540 that I can send you if you decide to go that route.

My recent post about the motard undertail I made has a yearly summary of the machine and my thoughts about it at the bottom.

K2 KG-2525 Near Annual Review

So far I have been very pleased with the whole K2 machine. I haven't had any mechanical issues to deal with what-so-ever and I'm glad I spent the extra money and went with the 25x25. Being able to cut a 2'x2' project then turn around and cut a tiny 0.5"x0.5" project is perfect. I'd still like a mill for the hardcore aluminum projects and a 4'x8' router for the full sheet routing projects but until I have a place with the room this is a really good compromise. I'd like to redo the resistors I put in to set the amps for the motors so I can squeeze every ounce of torque I can out of them. Once that's done I'd like to get the controller finished and see what I can get for IPM.

I hope that helps you, and PM me if you wana chat or ask me some questions, I'd be more than willing to help you out.



Eric

[SPEEDRE]

Ma$ter-e yep you are correct my K2 is an older version and I haven't looked at any of the newer upgraded models. I sometimes forget that mfg's move on.

[cr2]

I got my KG-3925 four years ago. It is my first CNC router. I do heavy routing in extremely dense rosewoods. Almost all my work is 3d and routed on both sides. I haven't had many issues with this machine, and I think it was a good choice for the money. In the beginning I was having problems with the encoders sometimes cutting out in the middle of a file. K2 suggested that I turn off soft limits and move the fixture further away from the X axis home switch. Their advice worked as the problem has not reoccurred, but I had to give up a couple of inches of usable table surface.

I use a bunch of different offsets in Mach 3 and used to rely on the home switches for my X and Y zero....big mistake. I had always read not to rely on home switches, but I thought mine were ok. Problem was that I was sometimes having discrepancies of 20-30 thousandths in some files. After continually tweaking files for a couple of years I finally started manually zeroing the X and Y axis' each time I set up a new fixture...problem solved. I told K2 about the problem and they generously sent me two new home switches of a new improved variety at no charge. This was 2-3 years after I bought the machine. However, I never put them on because I really don't trust them and don't want to rely on them.

Another issue was that sometimes, when I first turn on the encoders, the router would take off along the Y axis. I put up with it for a long time because it didn't do it every time. Finally I had enough and called K2. They spent A LOT of time on the phone with me trying to diagnose the problem. They sent new wire harnesses (free) for all three motors and answered all my questions on the phone as I worked on the machine. After the problem continued, they finally requested that I send the control box back to them. Turned out I had a bad Gecko drive and they replaced it for free. This was 2-3 years after I bought the machine.

Another time I wanted to hook up a home made Z-zero plate that I read about here on CNC Zone. They talked me through it, even though they sell a similar device.

I have found K2 customer support to be excellent. Whenever I call them on the phone there is someone to talk to and they do their best to help me with my problem. I would highly recommend them as a relatively inexpensive way to get into CNC routing.

[MA$TER_E]

I'd have to agree with that 100%

Every time I've called K2 they were more than willing to walk me through and explain whatever it was I was trying to figure out if it was their product or not. Which was best resource I had when I was just starting out.

And I've heard of them just sending parts out and fixing control boxes from a lot of different people now. (I haven't had any issues so no free stuff for me)



Eric

[GeorgeRace]

I also have the 2414 mill. I purchased the bare system, then bought my electronics from HobyCNC. I usea Bosch router for the spindle, and Mach3 to drive the mill. I use CamBam for drawing and GCode generation.

I am doing nothing but aluminum parts for experimental airplanes. I cut up to .25 inch without any problems at all. I do baby the mill and it does very close tolerance parts repeatably. I take shallow cuts and move the tool slowly. It does everything that my limited milling needs.

I would defiantly buy another one if for some reason I wanted a 2nd machine.

I have less then $3000 in the whole system, not a bad price for what it will do. Take a look at my website to see the kind of stuff that I am able to make.
George