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PL1:

--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on April 26, 2022, 10:28:55 pm ---I'm not particularly interested in the laser attachment.... I mean why burn wood when you can carve it? Someone is going to have to explain the benefits on that one to me.

--- End quote ---
The laser is good for wood projects with detail cuts narrower than a typical milling bit or projects that have very fine features that are likely to break from the force applied by milling or where you want sharp inside corners.

Audi keychain:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/736n-0Pi8JU

Another thing that you can do with the laser is etch/drill/cut custom PCBs.
- Lots of tutorials to chose from on YouTube. ;D

Scott

RandyT:

--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on April 24, 2022, 09:13:00 pm ---Solid aluminum frame, 52mm, 200 watt motor and the price was right. I should be able to just barely mill some aluminum with it which will work well for it's intended use.... Injection molding. There are now kits to build a hobby grade injection molder for around 200 bucks. So if I build that and use the cnc machine to mill aluminum molds I should be able to make small plastic parts for arcade nonsense and perhaps for toys.... say gap fillers and guns for transformers. Plus it'd be cool to carve stuff into wood, make signs, machine parts for specific uses ect.

--- End quote ---

Honestly, I wouldn't hold my breath on those aluminum molds. The chatter would likely be so bad it wouldn't be funny. You might get somewhere, albeit very slowly, with tiny tooling, tiny passes and lots of lubrication to reduce loading of the tool, but even that would require a very well-tuned machine.

If short-run injection tooling is your goal, a much better option would probably be to make the molds out of high-temp resin on one of the cheaper SLA 3D printers. Then slap that into a pre-made aluminum mold frame. You'll still be into it for at least a grand before you see a part out of a mold, not counting your time, so I hope whatever you plan on making is worth that to you.

Howard_Casto:
Sorry about the lack of updates.... I'm debugging a hardware issue with the tech department from the company I bought my cnc with and I've been busy on top of that. So I got my cnc last thursday and for a hobby machine it is a beast. The frame is pretty much immovable. The only waggle I could get was from the x axis bars if I press firmly down on the Z and I plan on replacing those with reinforced linear rails later on anyway. The hardware issue is with the power supply.... it keeps tripping some sort of internal fuse if I run the spindle at 100% Tech support is working on it but in the mean time I've just been running tests at 80% power. The machine seems to cut through wood like butter. It engraved a 3 inch logo on a gnarly scrap of plywood in about 30 seconds. Unfortunately I did it on unfinished plywood so it doesn't really show up on camera. I'll have more time to test Tuesday as I'm off so I'll stain the wood prior to more tests so I can post some pics. I want to ease into metal tests slowly. I don't want to ruin a pack of bits just trying stuff out so I'm researching which bits work best for various materials and I'll buy a variety pack of bits that best suits my needs.

One thing I realized from my tests is I need to buy a resurfacing bit to flatten woods when cutting into them. Even a really flat looking piece has various dips and valleys that become apparent when you try to engrave. I'm also going to buy a drag knife so I can cut vinyl. Bits similar to the ones used in a cricut can be purchased cheaply:

https://www.amazon.com/Roland-Cutting-Tungsten-Plotter-Cutter/dp/B07DNYSPVK/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=DfArx&pf_rd_p=bbb6bbd8-d236-47cb-b42f-734cb0cacc1f&pf_rd_r=P4JKZQA0CPMDK30ADACR&pd_rd_r=f924ec51-fd9e-4ac6-9c43-42f8cb454350&pd_rd_wg=4wlPP&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mi

My cnc has a 52mm spindle holder so milling an adapter seems easy.... mill a 52 mm plug with a lip on it that has a 12mm hole to hold the drag knife.... easy. I might have to spring load it to compensate for wobble but that should still be easy.

So yeah other than a potentially dodgy power supply the 3018 max is a a solid machine. I'm happy with it thus far and as I try more difficult materials I may have to do upgrades but I'm fine with that. This is a long term project.

BadMouth:
Wow. I'm glad it's working out. :applaud:

I dealt with "customer service" on my little one. The x axis bearings were just nasty crunchy. They requested proof. I sent them links to a video uploaded to youtube and google drive, but they claimed they could not accept it. They said the "proof" had to be submitted through amazon, but amazon had no way to send a video to them. Pretty sure there was no way they were sending new bearings regardless of what I did. I disassembled and cleaned them, but the races were all messed up. Ended up buying replacements for around $12. The machine was $135, so I can't complain too much. The grbl board it came with is pretty neat. All kinds of extra inputs and outputs.

Howard_Casto:
I ordered a variety pack of burr bits and some single flute end mill bits for aluminum testing. Probably won't be in by Tuesday but we shall see.

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