Anyone Out There Playing With Small CNC Wood Routers/ Lasers?

Hello again ATS your favorite nasty ass, foul mouthed, beer drinking, welding/ machining Honey Badger has yet again another inquiry.

Lately I have been having issues with the boy and his virtual school (granted he is in kindergarten) and with all the other COVIDIOT related shenanigans' regarding him being able to play with kids on play grounds, in arcades, or general mayhem involved with 5 year old boys. First of all (seems off topic at first here please follow me) his school gives a 5 year old a brand new Ipad ( I can't afford to replace if he leaves laying in reach of puppies grasp with a hint of bbq sauce on it) and they expect him to use this thing to do his schooling. This past weekend I realized he had 7 "modules aka homework" to do, every single one of them has my boy having to watch you tube videos wtf are teachers lazy they can't for the sake of themselves make their own lessons and have to have people on you tube do their job? On top of that most of the videos were less then a minute if you don't include the forced advertisements from you tube to watch. Bullsh1t!

So I was thinking I want to start doing some DIY small bench top cnc machines with him and possibly get him engaged in a bit of mario making to supplement him from his core education for a little bit of hands on learning. I was thinking that if him and I got started with a small cnc router him and I can start making wood components and make us a little wooden robot with some little servos and a raspberry pi or two I got laying around for a couple hours every Saturday morning after breakfast.

Do any of you guys know of something quality I could look into that is fairly affordable? If you use any machines like ones I am thinking about stories tips and ****ing tricks are always appreciated.

a reply to: Brotherman

Hey Mate.

I don't do CNC but I do frequent woodworkforums.com. The link is to their CNC sub-forum. There is absolutely sh!t tonnes of info in there. Bear in mid it's an Australian website and so products talked about mat not be available where you are.

Worth joining up though and asking your questions there.

Started doing a bit of reading on the DIY laser CNC's a few months back, had to change plans so never actually got started but here is what I learned:

The Ruida based controllers seemed to be the best way to go, the Cohesion 3D controllers are good, but let down by bad tech support.

Search forums and YT using: Ruida based controller vs Cohesion 3D board

I wouldn't say it's cheap, but I'm very close to buying one of these.....Snapmaker

CNC, 3D printer and laser etch all in one.

Solid from everyone here so far much appreciated. I do cnc machining for a living more then I do welding and fabbing as of late so I am familiar with quite a bit of strange things, thing is, I want to make one with my 5 year old and use that to help his real learning. I own lathes and a mill, I own welding machines, benders, cutters and anything you could dream of but he is only 5 and those things are to loud too tall and too dangerous for someone that needs to help the old man count nuts and bolts =D, he loves video games so hopefully using at least 3 axis in master cam before we build he will put 2 and 2 together and realize its a 3d animated model almost just like something he already likes. If he cant play on the jungle jim with kids his age I want to make small sh1t with a small guy with a small machine we make together.

a reply to: Flatcoat

Noticed quite a few very unhappy customers on Amazon for the $600 version... Read the one star and the two star reviews, I would also check forums and YT for other reviews as well...

1.0 out of 5 stars
DO NOT BUY THIS FROM SNAPMAKER
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020

By far the worse service I’ve dealt with. Been trying to email them for the last 5 months. Every month my order gets pushed back further and further. First it was shipping in March, then April then may then June then July and now August. Like WTF. They won’t return my money. I’m doing a chargeback already. It takes weeks just to get any response. No number to call. DONT EVEN BOTHER. I see so many comments about issues in the updates/comments

www.amazon.com...=acr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar

a reply to: Murgatroid

Im looking to see what it requires to just buy some components make the frame and axis ball screws myself, thats not out of the question. I see alot of the actual beds and platforms are made with some cheap looking sh1t. I don't want to be over complicated with it even though I know I could do it, I just want something small even a 5 year can make things from wood with help.

I was looking at a Genmitsu router laser combo but I for the life of me wont buy chinese if I don't have too.

The only thing I buy willingly no questions asked from China is bat meat, I buy that in bulk

a reply to: Brotherman

My only concern would be the hazards of the laser around the youngun's... Would the old school 1/4 in. bit type CNC work for you? My understanding is that there is two types of hazards with the lasers, breathing the smoke, and possible eye damage. My guess is that those two factors have a lot to do with the high cost of the ready made versions...

I'm guessing that you know far more about this than I do after seeing some of your experience above. Just wanted to throw it out there for others who may not know about it...

a reply to: Brotherman

What a lovely idea. My daughter is 4 and we have the same situation. So I am teaching her sewing on a sewing machine. Just small stuff like how to make pillows. Bad tongues say that it's secretly preparing her for her first car, since it is pedal activated

I came into this thread because I think about getting into CNC but 3 axis are not enough for what I need it to do. So no valuable input from me yet but now it's in my ats section.

I run a sign shop and do CNC stuff all the time.

At my old job I had a CWT router, wouldn't recommend. However Shop Bot makes a semi affordable table top router that will run off free software. Cut2D or 3d I believe. I no longer have a router at my shop because I started a new business, and my work neighbor who does custom car audio has one. He's my cutter.

Lasers are super cool, however they require ventilation and are a big ole power suck.

Bits can get expensive but a MDF spoil board is pretty cheap and if you go to cutguru.com you can get bits for a decent price.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

why would you need more then 3 axis for a cnc sewer? I don't know anything about them, my imagination would suggest you need z for your needle and thread (spindle for vertical up and down) a Y axis for back and forth and an X for left and right. CNC using x and y together can move you in diagonal paths and using I and J coordinates can move you in circles or radii patterns. Stupid beer brain of mine is having a melt down thinking about what M and G codes would apply to the controller though, now I want one to play with. If you buy a cnc sewing machine please send me a video.

originally posted by: myartisstrong
I run a sign shop and do CNC stuff all the time.

At my old job I had a CWT router, wouldn't recommend. However Shop Bot makes a semi affordable table top router that will run off free software. Cut2D or 3d I believe. I no longer have a router at my shop because I started a new business, and my work neighbor who does custom car audio has one. He's my cutter.

Lasers are super cool, however they require ventilation and are a big ole power suck.

Bits can get expensive but a MDF spoil board is pretty cheap and if you go to cutguru.com you can get bits for a decent price.

I actively work as a machinist with both cnc and manual so finding bits for me wouldn't be hard, .032 carbide BN end mills that are dull on stainless and aluminum would shred would so I'm not concerned about bits at least in that regard unless I needed something special, What you were saying about the laser though I never used a laser cutter before could you tell me more about that?

a reply to: Brotherman

Haha no, sorry for the misunderstanding. It's a sewing machine, pedal activated, what I showed my daughter how to use (under my supervision only)

No, lol, I want to manufacture billet turbo charger parts in small series. To do the blades that overlap, I need a 5 axis cnc or a lathe with attached / timed tooling. That's my current understanding about what I would need to be independent and prototype faster. It's a pipe dream though.

My uncle once had a 5 axis as I understand now, but it went to a school, there was no foreseeable need to keep it and I didn't had anything to do with it operating wise so the school got it. Well now and then I heard the curses when it crashed. I was fascinated by the tool exchanging mechanism though, so brutal fast and precise.

A bar would pop out from above and pick up the tool from the machine head and the new one was rotate to the other side of the bar. Lightning fast 180° turn of that bar and the new tool is now at the machine head, bar already gone out of sight. I would make the appropriate noises but it's the internet.

My 2 Cents:

I'd go with a 3-D Printer & learning the software it uses along with Fusion360 if you don't already know it. Your kid is young enough to start helping with the basic steps required in handling & caring for 3d printing, he'd learn major amounts of patience watching something print & then removing supports from the builds & could eventually learn to tackle the software involved. Getting him involved this early in technology still this young is shaping a future Edison or Franklin if he takes to it & also helps you learn something new that's still related to your field.

originally posted by: Flatcoat
I wouldn't say it's cheap, but I'm very close to buying one of these.....Snapmaker

CNC, 3D printer and laser etch all in one.

I have a snapmaker that was ordered through their kickstarter program a few years back.

In a nutshell -

Its ok, but small. 125mm x 125mm is not very big for build table.
It does not get hot enough (bed) to do abs prints without a whole bunch of #in around.

The laser module has # out twice. At 160 u.s. $ each. You cannot run it very long, it need cooling breaks often.

The router is extremely underpowered, be careful not to go to deep with your passes, and make sure your jump height is a few millimeters above the working depth, or you'll hear really bad noises and break mills.

Oh, and make sure you've got a decent video card to support the slicing software. Their software is ok, but ive been using a multitude of different programs for different jobs, as their is very limiting.


Hope this helps.

a reply to: Brotherman

I've got a workbee which is an open source machine but supplied in kitform. Mine is 4 feet by 4 feet but they make them smaller as mine is a bit more than a desktop machine and cost about £2000 and nearly the same again for the software I use to run it but you can use cheaper stuff.

I know of folks who have started out with cheap Chinese 3018 machines from eBay and they can be a lot of fun.

I'm.more than happy to answer any questions you might have as anything I can talk about here that's not trump or covid is a blessing.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain
I use a monarch spinner cnc vertical mill, if you can past using co-communicative controls and siemans platform, (its of German built so sinumerik controls) it’s the machine for you, has a live A axis and B axis if you want the option and it has spindle articulations so you can orient your “c” axis anyway you want for broaching operations as an example.


It’s not the easiest machine to learn but it is exactly what you would want

a reply to: nonspecific

What do you use your workbee to do? It does more then just engraving right?

Yeah it does engrave well but it also cuts wood plastic and aluminium and will engrave and cut brass although very slowly.

In its most basic form it uses a DeWalt trim router as a spindle and it's a pretty solid machine.

I.use it for profit but I will be using it for fun over the next few weeks making myself a new electric guitar.

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: nonspecific

What do you use your workbee to do? It does more then just engraving right?

a reply to: nonspecific

I meant what kind of products do you make with it and what kinds of programming can you give it? what kind of tooling does it work with well in your experience etc etc?