Post by Don Gillett on Sept 4, 2014 10:38:49 GMT
I thought I'd post some information about the CNC research I've been doing for some time to help others catch up.
There are several types of CNC machines.
- CNC Mills
- CNC Lathes
- CNC Combo Mill and Lathe
- CNC Routers
- CNC Plasma or Laser Cutters
Mills are typically used for machining metal or plastic parts.
Lathes are used for turning and fabricating round parts.
Routers are typically used for cutting and shaping thinner wood parts.
Plasma and laser cutters are often used for cutting parts from sheet metal or plastic.
CNC Mills and CNC Routers are what I've typically seen most hobbyists use. I'm interested in getting both for our shop. A CNC Mill is useful for fabricating parts for robots and other machine parts while a CNC Router would be nice to have for carving signs, making furniture, and larger wood projects.
CNC Mills
A CNC Mill can range from around $1000 for smaller benchtop models to 10's of thousands for larger more production capable mills.
www.google.com/search?q=benchtop+cnc+mill&tbm=shop
The Sherline is a smaller cheaper benchtop mill that I've heard recommended for lightweight hobby work.
The Tormach mills are going to be larger and more capable mills on the other end of the spectrum.
You can either get CNC mills ready made or you can build conversions where you take a manual mill and add CNC control.
The Sieg line of mills is one that is often used in conversions. Many companies rebrand the Sieg mills such as Harbor Freight and Grizzly.
Sieg mills come in a few models
X1 the "micro-mill" = Harbor Freight 47158
X2 the "mini-mill" = Harbor Freight 44991, Grizzly G8689, Micro-Mark 82573, Homier 3947 and Cummins 7877.
X3 the "small-mill" = Grizzly G0463 and Harbor Freight 93885
SX3 = Grizzly G0619
SX4 = Grizzly G0720R
Harbor Freight
X2 www.harborfreight.com/two-speed-variable-bench-mill-drill-machine-44991.html
Grizzly
X2 www.grizzly.com/products/Mini-Milling-Machine/G8689
X3 www.grizzly.com/products/Mill-Drill/G0463
SX3 www.grizzly.com/products/6-x-21-Mill-Drill/G0619
SX4 www.grizzly.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Bench-Top-Milling-Machine/G0720R
Also www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704
To convert a mill you usually add a ball screw kit to reduce slop in the drive mechanisms and then you add CNC controls.
A typical conversion kit...
www.cncfusion.com/BF20-G704.html
www.cncconversionkit.com/bf20-milling-machine/121-cnc-kit-g0704-milling-machine-grizzly.html
CNC Routers
Most of the ready made CNC Routers that I've seen are fairly expensive and has pushed me more to research the build/DIY route.
By far the most comprehensive company I've found which produces CNC router kits is CNC Router Parts.
The company is local to us in WA and the router at one of the local community building shops is from here as well.
I've talked to someone from the company it great length and they are super helpful.
CNC Software and Electronics
GCode is the control language used for CNC (and 3D printing). GCode and the various software packages can be a whole other post but Mach3 is an example of a CNC control software package that is typically used.
The electronics and drive system can come in more of a complete kit like here
www.cncrouterparts.com/nema-23-cnc-electronics-c-48_22.html
Or you can go more down the DIY and open source route and build your own controllers... some using Arduino.
TinyG is an example of another controller option
synthetos.myshopify.com/products/tinyg
More CNC Info
The route I'd like to go for our shop is to get a Grizzly mill (X3 or better) and use it as a manual mill for some time to learn. I'd then like to convert to CNC using a kit. Then I'd like to use the CNC mill to fabricate the parts for a DIY CNC router table.