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Looking at other CNC router options.... what do you have?

DavidR8 said:
For a lark I requested a quote for the Aliexpress PrintNC hardware kit.
900x600 working area
Hi David,

Thanks for your quote request!

Your kit price is $1,070USD/$1,637AUD (plus any applicable local taxes for your region), inclusive of shipping to Canada via UPS.

What is included?
You can check out what the standard kit includes (depending on which options you select) and what you need to source yourself here. The kit + options you have selected are listed below.

How do I place an order?
If you would like to go ahead with an order, please email me your shipping address, telephone number and business name (if required) so I can generate a Paypal invoice. Please note that the invoice will be issued in AUD. You do not require a PayPal account in order to pay a PayPal invoice.

What payment options are available?
We accept payment via PayPal, Wise and direct bank transfer.
If you have a PayPal account and live in an eligible location, PayPal offers the Pay Later/Pay in 4 option for orders up to $2,000AUD - this allows you to split the payment into four interest-free payments over a period of six weeks.

What is the order lead time?
The typical order manufacturing time is up to ten business days, and then up to two weeks for shipping.

This quote is valid for seven days. If you decide to order after seven days, please reply to this email so I can check if the price is still valid.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, and thanks for supporting PrintNC!

Jharna Hogan
[email protected]
AIorK4xZ7oqXW0SMRi6OH1XSdHKe-VI-Y-Ti952pOeK_VGI5KasemxTBHar69I_x2jOeYrpA2h9vHSw



ItemsQuantity
HGR20-10752
HGR20-7752
HGR15-3002
HGH15CA4
HGW20CC8
SFU1610-11751
SFU1610-8752
SFU1204-3001
DSG12H 22mm1
BKBF123
BK101
XB25*30-8*103
XB25*30-8*81
4*nema23 100mm 2.5nm stepper motor
1* 5 axis DB25 board+cable
1* Meanwell LRS-350w 48v power supply		1set
1*2.2kw 220v water cooled spindle
1*2.2kw 220v HY inverter
1*75w 220v water pump+10meter water pipe
1* er20 collects
1* 80mm Spindle Clamp (3 screw)		1set
25*57 cable chain2
LJ8A3-2-Z-AX M85
12.9 grade socket head bolts
M4X1625
M5*2070
M6*1224
M6*3030
M6*405
M6*5025
Click to expand...


I must be too old and senile... the process seems too involved and despite inputting that I wanted 36"x24" the quote I received was for 24x24 which wont cut it. Juding by the number of open source incomplete builds I see for sale around me I am not the only old senile fellow struggling with such issues.
 
TorontoBuilder said:
I must be too old and senile... the process seems too involved and despite inputting that I wanted 36"x24" the quote I received was for 24x24 which wont cut it. Juding by the number of open source incomplete builds I see for sale around me I am not the only old senile fellow struggling with such issues.
Click to expand...
Odd on the sizing.
I suspect that the number of incomplete build is based more on the level of work required. It's not an easy project. I stalled at the electronics stage because of the learning curve and issues I had with the controller I picked early on. Once I switched to UCCNC it was pretty smooth sailing.
 
I would agree with @DavidR8 about the electronics stalling it, usually if a guy is building he is doing it on a bit of a budget, and unfortunately all of the budget control methods are hopelessly out of date or just plain suck, and a guy spends all sorts of time trying different controllers until eventually giving up....or coughing up the dough for a good not so much budget control
 
phaxtris said:
I would agree with @DavidR8 about the electronics stalling it, usually if a guy is building he is doing it on a bit of a budget, and unfortunately all of the budget control methods are hopelessly out of date or just plain suck, and a guy spends all sorts of time trying different controllers until eventually giving up....or coughing up the dough for a good not so much budget control
Click to expand...
I considered:
LinuxCNC: Could not get on with it as I found the learning curve was beyond vertical
GRBLHal: Had this running on a board made by a fellow in Vancouver and liked it but was having tons of reliability issues. In retrospect it may have been due to the dead short from a proximity sensor to the machine frame.
Mach 4: Just out of test at the time and seemed pretty buggy and community support seemed iffy.
Acorn Centroid: mega expensive but nicely featured.
Masso: Also mega expensive
 
DavidR8 said:
I considered:
LinuxCNC: Could not get on with it as I found the learning curve was beyond vertical
GRBLHal: Had this running on a board made by a fellow in Vancouver and liked it but was having tons of reliability issues. In retrospect it may have been due to the dead short from a proximity sensor to the machine frame.
Mach 4: Just out of test at the time and seemed pretty buggy and community support seemed iffy.
Acorn Centroid: mega expensive but nicely featured.
Masso: Also mega expensive
Click to expand...

On the two CNC machines I've built I tried grbl, grblhal, 3 different mach 3 controllers, didn't want to deal with Linux to try that, and considered some of the prices ones

In the end both of my CNC machines use stand alone style controllers from aliexpress, 300-500 range each, but the both work flawlessly now....it would have saved me much frustration and time to have done it that way the first time, but you know, budget
 
phaxtris said:
On the two CNC machines I've built I tried grbl, hrblhal, 3 different mach 3 controllers, didn't want to deal with Linux to try that, and considered some of the prices ones

In the end both of my CNC machines use stand alone style controllers from aliexpress, 300-500 range each, but the both work flawlessly now....it would have saved me much frustration and time to have done it that way the first time, but you know, budget
Click to expand...
The first LinuxCNC system I put together was pretty well a no brainer with parallel port output and just run through the set of dialogs to assign step/dir pins etc. That was before the stand alone units were even available. It was LinuxCNC (EMACS) or MACH2/3.

Now things have changed and if you don't need anything special there's no need to go LinuxCNC. But if you are retrofitting an old mill with a tool changer and servo motors that work along with other 'features' it becomes less of a choice.
 
jcdammeyer said:
The first LinuxCNC system I put together was pretty well a no brainer with parallel port output and just run through the set of dialogs to assign step/dir pins etc. That was before the stand alone units were even available. It was LinuxCNC (EMACS) or MACH2/3.

Now things have changed and if you don't need anything special there's no need to go LinuxCNC. But if you are retrofitting an old mill with a tool changer and servo motors that work along with other 'features' it becomes less of a choice.
Click to expand...

parallel port, thats the biggest problem with the old legacy stuff like linux cnc or mach, the lack of parallel port, heck even the pc's you find at value village dont have parallel ports anymore, and then if you do find one they have vga ports, or maybe a dvi port, and a serial mouse and keyboard, or the "mouse port" and "keyboard port", more dumpster diving to find peripherals.

I searched and searched for an old laptop with a parallel port to run mach on, that way there was no issues with keyboard/mouse/monitor plus the small form factor, so much of that stuff ended up in the landfill its hard to find these days, i just eventually gave up and went with a stand alone.

i did get mach to work on both machines, but i found it to be not a very good program, buggy, and running the boards over a parallel port made it even worse
 
phaxtris said:
parallel port, thats the biggest problem with the old legacy stuff like linux cnc or mach, the lack of parallel port, heck even the pc's you find at value village dont have parallel ports anymore, and then if you do find one they have vga ports, or maybe a dvi port, and a serial mouse and keyboard, or the "mouse port" and "keyboard port", more dumpster diving to find peripherals.

I searched and searched for an old laptop with a parallel port to run mach on, that way there was no issues with keyboard/mouse/monitor plus the small form factor, so much of that stuff ended up in the landfill its hard to find these days, i just eventually gave up and went with a stand alone.

i did get mach to work on both machines, but i found it to be not a very good program, buggy, and running the boards over a parallel port made it even worse
Click to expand...
Both MACH3 and LinuxCNC and many others have gotten around the OS issues by going to external step/dir modules turning the PC into a graphics terminal and disk storage. Given how fast Apple/Microsoft etc want you to buy new hardware and new operating systems and new software because the old won't run the peripheral modules are the best route. No idea about MACH4.

Apparently there are now also issues with the older USB so I imagine at some point my USB based Smooth Stepper won't work with a newer version of Windows. OTOH, the MESA boards for the PC and LinuxCNC are open source and run from Ethernet. But again if you don't want the extras why bother.

Currently due to a memory lapse and really poor instructions (in my handwriting for my machine) when I probe a new drill bit in the chuck to get the installed length it's out by about 3/4". Not sure why. If the tool table has a Z value for say T03 then it uses that. The Jacobs chuck is T05 and doesn't have a Z length. So after the tool is loaded and I click on OK it goes to the tool setter switch and moves down until it trips then up a bit and down even more slowly.

When it works properly, that drill bit I just put in now has the tip at the surface of the work piece when I tell it to go to 0.000. I did figure out why I bent the probe and that's fixed now so it can't happen again.

1725579398780.png
 
jcdammeyer said:
Currently due to a memory lapse and really poor instructions (in my handwriting for my machine) when I probe a new drill bit in the chuck to get the installed length it's out by about 3/4". Not sure why. If the tool table has a Z value for say T03 then it uses that. The Jacobs chuck is T05 and doesn't have a Z length. So after the tool is loaded and I click on OK it goes to the tool setter switch and moves down until it trips then up a bit and down even more slowly.
Click to expand...

i use both of my machines so infrequently i pretty much have to re-learn them every time! so i get what your saying
 
So I got a new discord account and spent a lot of time reviewing the PrintNC machine. I downloaded the fusion file for the latest v4 of the metalcutter variant.

I'm now confident that this is the machine for me. I plan to order the kit after min-October.

So what software and controller do I go with is the next hurdle
 
phaxtris said:
I run a ddcs Ali express offline controller, it's been problem free
Click to expand...
I was going to ask what one you used. Thanks.

I wish I hadn't seen the Masso G3 Touch though.... I was trying to covertly see where I could sell a kidney to be able to get one of those and a rapidchanger ATC to add to an eventual build
 
phaxtris said:
I run a ddcs Ali express offline controller, it's been problem free
Click to expand...
Is it the DDCS V3.1 ? I was looking hard at their DDCS "Expert" for an upcoming project - $425 CAD on Amazon. Only a few bucks more, has a few more buttons.
I currently run Linuxcnc + Mesa 7i76E card on both a mill and lathe, but I'm just too lazy to relearn all the config stuff again. Also, I'd be spending $270 US plus duty on a MESA card, ($219 + $50 shipping), need a PC and display, etc. The standalone seems like a good idea for a small simple 3 to 4 axis machine.
 
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