Chinese Cnc Routers - Any Good

[Guest iank]

Anyone got/played with/tried out/know some one who has one of the cheap Chinese CNC routers such as this one on eBug

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-ROUTER-ENGRAVING-DRILLING-AND-MILLING-MACHINE-ENGRAVER-3040-BALLSCREW-a1-/200933892175?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2ec897e04f

 

If so are they any use?

 

Only want it to play with and may be make some small items mostly in aluminium.

 

Ian

[Guest MarkB]

Anyone got/played with/tried out/know some one who has one of the cheap Chinese CNC routers such as this one on eBug

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2ec897e04f

 

If so are they any use?

 

Only want it to play with and may be make some small items mostly in aluminium.

 

Ian

 

postage is a bit on the steep side to say its in the uk... reputably

[Guest woolly]

Looked at this and lasers from that company but the wording is engraving more than any thing else.

Not allowed to pick up and pay them made me suspicious and the delivery costs not real for the UK address

Make your own mind up I may be wrong

 

[Shaft]

Make what sort of items? That'll never "cut" aluminium, only scratch it neatly.

 

[Guest iank]

The location may be UK but they are actually Chinese hence the postage cost.

 

I believe the UK address just convenience.

[Guest iank]

Scratching neatly is fine so long as it can scratch the same place neatly lots of times.

 

I'm not expecting it to be able to slice through 20mm thick plate in second , the sort of things I'm likely to use it for will be 3mm -5 mm thick and it doesn't matter if it take it 30 minutes to do so cutting 0.1mm at a time. So long as it can do each pass with a reasonable accuracy and the spindle doesn't need an hours rest every 5 minutes.

 

There's lots of video's on t'internet of these types of router working fairly well. Some claim to be the Chinese ones, others are obviously more industrial @ 10 * the price.

 

I appreciate these are basically toy versions of the real thing but really trying to decide if they are worth looking at as an entry level 'lets see what I can make' and learn a bit about CNC or they are just so bad they are only good for making dog tags.

[Shaft]

As upsetting as this may sound Ian, I'd have to go with the latter option mate.

It only has et11 colletts which will hold 6mm Dia Max but the biggest problem is the lack of torque it will have.

To compensate for this it runs at a high RPM which is fine for D bit engraving tools that only cut using a point but far too fast for any type of HSS slot drill or end Mill.

I'm sure it'll do what it says on the tin but I feel you'd be disappointed in it hoping to cut 1/8th plate. Even in 0.1mm cuts it would struggle mate.

If you do choose to get one and want some guidance on G code programming etc just give me a shout mate, been doing it for 23 years.

[fry61]

Due to the very high rpm will the aluminium or any heat sensitive material stick to the cutters or is there a lub product to over-come this??

[Shaft]

It will stick to the cutters Bob. There are lubes etc but awkward to make use of, again due to such high RPM, with it being flung off.

Running, pumped coolant is the only correct way of overcoming this.

[Guest iank]

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll save a few more pennies and try to get something liquid cooled.

 

All the routers I've ever seen use high spindle RPM (4000 upwards) , but what sort of torque would you consider the minimum on the stepper motors and spindle?

[fry61]

Recon you need a mill,not a router. My little mill (manual op) has a top speed of only 2000rpm ; works fine but slow.

[Guest iank]

Already got a mill (also manual) and use that quite a bit - and I have even thought of doing a CNC conversion on that. I would still use the mill for doing any 'heavy' cutting.

 

Routing and milling to me are very similar in terms of their action. The difference being in what moves, simplisticly the router moves the tool and milling moves the work, and the speed at which they turn. I'll stand back now

 

Like i said I'm really looking here at small thin plate type stuff but with curves and 3D features that need a small diameter cutting tool under CNC control. The desktop routers fit the bill - toy not industrial - just got to try to work out how much I need to pay to get a toy that doesn't break the first time I use it. The conclusion seems to be these cheap Chinese ones will break the first time. You get what you pay for etc...

[Guest MarkB]

I think ian Jennings on here built hus own cnc machine, I could be wrong