Can annybody give me some advice on what kind of desktop cnc mill i should get ? I need to be able to mill sheet metal, alminium and steel, max 3 cm thick. I need to make a lot of little parts, so i need something strong enouch and fast enouch. I have about 1k budget, and yeah i know u can diy it but not enouch knowledge on the subject and i dont have the time to get into that right now. Anny advice would be much apreciated
Shameles self bump
>>988601
Do you need CNC or DRO?
/diy/ likes sherline tools, mill and lathe, and you can spend a little more later to make it CNC.
you will not make a 3cm single pass in steel, but it could be done in 3-5 passes.
>>988601
I don't know shit about CNCs, but handling aluminum vs steel is like buying a handsaw for wood and a sawzall for steel. 2 totally different ballparks regarding price. I could be wrong though.
Anyhow, from my Google experience, buying a standard mill and motorizing it is cheapest option to cnc.
>>988625
Op here, honestly i dont know the diffrence between the 2. And ill be mostly dealing with thin sheet metal, the steel will be just a little cut, and i totaly realise itl take multiple passes, thats ok
>>988758
Different guy, but heavy machinest. CNC is computer numerical control. It has a computer and a program, and runs the course that's pre determined. You have to write programs for CNC. DRO is digital read out. It's a manual machine and has a read out display of where your axis are. You move them, the read out tells you how far.
>>988763
Thanx, i need cnc then, i just want to pose a plate of sheet metal and come back later to collect my pieces
I was looking at theTormach's PCNC 440 but its 5k.. way over my budget and also a little big
![IMAG0910[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/CN7PghW.jpg "IMAG0910[1].jpg")
>>988601
depends largely on what you want the size to be. I've had my ebay kit on the backburner for almost a week now.
It was ~200 USD and works 130*120*40mm.
It should be able to work, and a lubricant system shouldn't be too hard to tack on. several passes for harder materials, though.
So far, it seems stable enough, but will be drilling through the extrusion to properly secure it.
>>988601
>Can annybody give me some advice on what kind of desktop cnc mill i should get ? I need to be able to mill sheet metal, alminium and steel, max 3 cm thick.
Gantry mills tend to lack rigidity and aren't usually recommended for cutting steel.
(I've not owned or used one yet)
I would bet it would work tho if you took light cuts, used a small bit and used cutting fluid, but most gantry mills aren't set up to run fluid, and the tiny mill bits (1/8" or so) are relatively expensive ($10 each).
If you want to cut a lot of aluminum, I highly recommend that you get a mill that can run cutting fluid.
You get much better results with aluminum if you cut it wet rather than dry.
>I need to make a lot of little parts, so i need something strong enouch and fast enouch.
There is no mill of any size that is cheap, accurate AND fast.
If you don't have much money to spend, you can get a cheap mill and let it run slower and still get pretty good results.
>>988941
>Gantry mills tend to lack rigidity and aren't usually recommended for cutting steel.
The pic in OP isn't a gantry mill. The workpiece in a gantry mill is completely stationary, with the gantry handling articulation in all three axes. With the bed handling one axis, the "gantry" can be much more solidly fixed to the bed.
That being said, the pictured mill still wouldn't be very good at anything more than plastic (unless it's VERY small), between the overall flimsy construction and unsupported bearing rails.
Don't really know what to say as far as a low-cost CNC goes. I'd be inclined to just build my own, simply because it seems like all the commercial offerings stick you with a floppy, anemic machine, or are out of the range of what I'd call "cheap".
>>988941
Who the fuck told you cutting aluminum wet would be better than cutting it dry?
>>989250
>Who the fuck told you cutting aluminum wet would be better than cutting it dry?
Not that guy, but...everyone? A lot of aluminum alloys can be problematic without lubricant, even if they don't need coolant, per-se. I've got some 5052 sheet that will melt, clog up, and break the 1/8" endmills I use for routing unless it's flooded.
And all but the most machinable aluminum will come away with a noticeably better surface finish with coolant.
>>989255
Yea feed rate and moving material out of the tool is why you use cutting fluid
>>988789
That feel when you have the cash to spring for a Tormach, but don't have a good place to put it.
>>988921
Shouldnt the bridge be in the center along the y direction?
Also where did you get the angle brackets from? I saw them very cheap on ali but im not sure if i can trust them.
>>989681
>bridge be in the center along the y direction
no, the bridge has a pretty decent overhang (mainly for milling pcbs, much prefer the easier access), and the bed will move a fair amount backwards. It is not a square, it doesn't work y-dimm as much as it could.
The angle brackets I got from ebay. They're alright, there's not really much to fuck up in them. What I really regret are the t-nuts that sit inside the extrusion's channel. Ive stripped the threads of a few before I get any rigidity. I'll be getting some more elsewhere.
>>989691
wrong image, but whatever.
>>989691
>decent overhang
Now i see it, hard to see depth in that angle.
![IMAG0914[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/zm0x2O9.jpg "IMAG0914[1].jpg")
>>989828
>>990333
I know, but my coffee maker is broken and haven't bothered fixing it. Could have bought a new one for about the same price as the case of bro-dude drink, but it didn't cross my mind until after checking out.
>what will you use that cnc for?
pcbs. I'm tired of waiting and paying for shipping and etching with things I don't know where to dispose of properly.
>>990363
it may not be the best for milling brass. something like op's pic might work better. If I had to recomend by looks, I'd go with something like op's pic. It appears to be the prusa i3 of desktop mills.
here's the one that I bought:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/111891372282?roken=cUgayN&soutkn=yQgHw8
there are a few problems with it, like the copper bushings being far too tight and not having a way to properly align the y-axis.
How do you go from something like a design or a 3D CAD model to the gcode to run these?
>>990399
getting eagle to play nicely with these mills isn't too hard.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-PCBs-on-an-inexpensive-desktop-CNC-m/
There's also grbl controller and other software, although frankly I wouldn't be certain what to use.
/g/'s /dpt/ here, I am really able as a software guy etc but I lack the basic understanding in more advanced electronics etc, I want to make myself (and program too) a diy CNC mill with 3 axis, I am somewhat able to weld and do metal working but for now my main question is what kind of stepper motor is good, waht to look for when buying one, and if there is 3 axis do I need just 3 ? does size matters ? does brand matters ? what to avoid etc ?
thanks
>>989939
more pics, I am thinking about getting one
