Affordable Cnc Router?

[Anthony Cipolone]

I'm pretty surprised at how cheap this is, and immediately thought of you concertina builders when I saw it:

 

 

Craftsman CompuCarve

 

Just thought I'd share.

 

- Anthony

 

Edited for early morning typos.

Edited January 10, 2007 by Anthony Cipolone

[McIsog]

UhOh - it runs Windows... what will it do with that laser when it gets a virus?

Edited January 10, 2007 by McIsog

[ocd]

I have got to admit that I thought about concertina building when I saw an add for it on TV. The add used carving as the showcase application. The precision might not be adequate for, say, routing reed cavities. I'll try to get the manual and specs to see if it would work.

 

ocd

[John Sylte]

I have got to admit that I thought about concertina building when I saw an add for it on TV. The add used carving as the showcase application. The precision might not be adequate for, say, routing reed cavities. I'll try to get the manual and specs to see if it would work.

 

ocd

 

I saw the ad too, and I immediately thought of concertinas. I'm curious about the software/interface, if it's using some proprietary program, or if you can import DXF/DWG drawings...

[Hooves]

My CNC machine is from K2devices. it has 25x25 inch work area but the z axis is only 3". they make a newer model with a 6" z axis, plus larger models. Current prices at thier site have gone up.

 

I paid 1500$ or so plus another 350$ for the controller and motors which I got from Stepper World. the machine itself is very rugged and can handle a porter 1/4 router. I have a second attachment to use a roto-tool, but these generally have loose bearings and are not very suited for fine milling.

 

My machine uses CAD software on your computer to design the parts, and the compuetr itself sends signals to the controller to move the router.

 

The company itself is somewhat unorganized, and it took several emails to actaully get all my parts. This was a couple years ago and maybe theyve got it a little more together now.

 

Right now my machine is not set up (drat!!) as I keep moving because my job takes me all over and at the moment I live in a dumpy neighborhood so will be moving again.

 

CNC is not for Gypsies!

 

I bought mine to build mandolins and citterns, but I have a few plans on the back burner for boxes and tinas, if I can ever settle down.

[Dana Johnson]

I saw an add with the thing running, and it didn't actually seem suited well to much besides relief carving. signs etc. I think any gantry style set up would be better, and some people use small CNC mills to do a lot of work from reed pans to cutting end plates and shoes. My machines all run on Windows, though I personally hate it. I do not connect those computers to the internet and live with the fact that they are not up to date. They work, and that is what I care about. Any time I really need to update something or install something, I download it on my Mac and put it on a CD since Macs can write in PC readable format.

 

CNC can really be a boon, but it isn't a silver bullet either. For doing things like reeds, the CNC is the cheap part of the machine. Getting one that will give the required accuracy is the expensive part. The biggest benefit I've found is in uniformity of parts. Holes are always lined up, everything is interchangeable, If I want to adjust something, it is easy to do and easy to go back to the original if it was better. It has saved me a lot of time, though good jigs and templates for a fixed design can be as fast. The flexibility is the real benefit. Sadly it doesn't help in the time consuming part of reed making, so no matter what time it saves, you always get backed up behind reed making. Sigh

Dana