Noob looking to get into CNC with a 6040/6090 machine

[cncnoob2019]

Dear All,

I would like to try my hand at CNC milling mainly with wood, acrylic, plastic, mdf and aluminum. I have a 3D printer and think it would be cool to try out.

I don't have a lot of money to spend and was thinking of getting a 6040 cnc with 2.2kw water cooled spindle.

What is now confusing me is the controller options. I have attached what has been sent to me by the company (china cnc zone...i have no idea if they are any good?)

I have understood that the DSP controller does not need a separate computer and you can use a sd card.

I have also read about Mach 3 and how it is meant to be good.

Can anyone please guide me with this?

Any help is greatly appreciated in advance.

Thanks everyone!!

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[Sterob]

Welcome to the forum.
We will need some more info to try and assist you, but you will have to make the final call.
Where are you in the world?
How much do you want to spend?
Do you have any electrical experience?
Have you a PC to use if you need to?
Are you able/willing to retro fit mechanical/ electrical upgrades as you feel the need?


Cutting Ali on these machines can be done, but it can be tricky and alot of things need to correct in order to get a good result.
I've no experience with DSP's so cannot comment on how good/bad they are.

Mach 3 has been around for a long time so has a huge support base. it is also NOT being developed any more.
It looks a bit tired, but it works fine. Mach 4 is relatively new and is still being improved. Some machines don't have a 'pluggin' for them yet......

You have a steep learning curve in front of you. Take your time and enjoy the ride.

[cncnoob2019]

Welcome to the forum.
We will need some more info to try and assist you, but you will have to make the final call.
Where are you in the world?
How much do you want to spend?
Do you have any electrical experience?
Have you a PC to use if you need to?
Are you able/willing to retro fit mechanical/ electrical upgrades as you feel the need?


Cutting Ali on these machines can be done, but it can be tricky and alot of things need to correct in order to get a good result.
I've no experience with DSP's so cannot comment on how good/bad they are.

Mach 3 has been around for a long time so has a huge support base. it is also NOT being developed any more.
It looks a bit tired, but it works fine. Mach 4 is relatively new and is still being improved. Some machines don't have a 'pluggin' for them yet......

You have a steep learning curve in front of you. Take your time and enjoy the ride.

Dear Sterob,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am located in India.

My maximum budget is around USD 2500. Please note that in India we pay a very high customs and import duty around 20 to 35 percent, which makes everything expensive. A BMW 5 series in India is not less than 100k USD and that too for a 520i which is a base entry model. You get the picture.

I have no electrical experience, but I have electricians on my payroll which can hook up the system.

Yes I have an old PC lying around with probably windows 7, a parallel port and say 4 GB of ram with a Pentium 4 processor.

Yes certainly I can upgrade mechanical/electrical upgrades at a later date.

My question is, if I am using the DSP controller, do I even need mach 3? Or would mach 3 run on my laptop/computer then I create the GCODE from it and save it to a sd card and pop it into the DSP controller?

Hope to get some more information from you experts.

Thanks again

[cncnoob2019]

Hi,

Mach3 control software is an open CNC system, which has the advantages of simple operation, convenient maintenance, openness, and stable performance. It is a software package that runs on a PC and turns it into a very powerful and economical Machine Controller to replace. To run Mach3 you need Windows XP (or Windows 2000) ideally running on a 1GHz processor with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution screen. A desktop machine will give much better performance than most laptops and be considerably cheaper. You can, of course use this computer for any other functions in the workshop when it is not controlling your machine. Mach3 communicates principally via one (or optionally two) parallel (printer) ports and, if desired, a serial (COM) port.

If you use DSP control system, it also has advantages: The machine can be run off-line; The operation is simpler and the maintenance is more convenient; The memory is large; It adopts the advanced intelligent prediction algorithm, so the potential of the motor is fully utilized; Super-strong error correction. It has the capability of pre-inspection of processing documents, which can prevent the writing or design errors of the processing documents, and prevent the material placing position from exceeding the processing range; It has good self-diagnosis ability; It has the function of power-down protection and recovery breakpoint.

They are two totally independent systems. If you choose Mach3, so you can ignore DSP. I hope it is helpful.

Tiger,

You have given me a very clear and concise reply to which I am very thankful. I will need to check my computer specs a little more to make sure that the Mach 3 software will run without any problems.

Mach 3 is a paid software right? USD 175?

Can you recommend any manufacturers of these machines through ALIEXPRESS? I have heard about union and jinan but they don't seem to have any 6040 machines only 6090 machines.

Thanks again for all your support!!

[routalot]

For a total beginner I would have recommended a tiny and basic machine to learn the principles of CNC work.Once you have understood the process of designing the part,creating the program,getting the program to the machine and then setting up the workpiece and you can do it every time you are ready to move on to a machine suitable for production.You will also have a beginners machine with a few cuts and scrapes that you can sell on while you work in the better machine that you have determined will suit your needs.

For any amount of work with aluminium you would do better to do a CNC conversion of a mill.

[FastFarmer]

For any amount of work with aluminium you would do better to do a CNC conversion of a mill.

Agree.
There is nothing suitable for aluminium in your price range on AliExpress. A mill drill will give you the strength and rigidity... but not spindle speed. Unless you find some more dollars you are better playing with printing.

[ger21]

With the DSP, you do not need Mach3 at all.
Most Chinese sellers that include Mach3 will include a pirated copy of mach3, which will often not work correctly.

[wmgeorge]

If it comes with a pirated copy of Mach3 the simple soluction is download the currect one and purchase a license which is $200. Mach3 may not be the best or greatest but it has a lot of support worldwide. You might look into UCCNC. When buying your first machine, buy one you have a use for and can make things, not a small one to learn on which is a waste since its too small to do anything productive.

Trying to convert a mill drill to CNC when you have no experience would be a very daunting task.