Is anyone using one of the cheapisch CNC machines at home? Have seen some on ebay, ali and similar for a couple hundred dollars and wondering if they are worth anything for the small jobs?
Would use it to cut thin metals, engrave wood and plastic. Any experience anyone?
I was going to get one, however I wanted it for mainly aluminium… Which they are a bit rubbish for.
Then I decided to get a SIEG CNC. Something decent.
Then I changed my mind and decided to get a Skyfire CNC
So went from about $1000 to $7000 to $30000
It is a pay to play game if you want something decent.
The under $1000 machines are ok for light wood and plastic and thin aluminium if you go really SLOW and sit there spraying some sort of coolant on it (otherwise you will blunt your bit in minutes and end up spending a fortune on new ones)
I have one. Lots of fiddling with a steep learning curve. If you enjoy tinkering it is a lot of fun though. Very messy. I think engraving metal will take some learning and work. Wood and plastic should be easy. Don't expect these machines to be perfect out of the box.
We have all types of CNC machines at work from plasma cutters to mills, lathes and a 5 axis machine. The boss bought one of these smaller DIY kits for prototyping scaled down items that would run on the mill, and let’s just say, it’s sat idle for about two years. It forever needs tweaking and tuning. It runs perfect one run and then runs garbage for no reason. The software and firmware used on these machines are flakey at best. They are good to learn on and can be fun, but do not rely of them being pin point accurate or reliable.
If you like tinkering and tuning and adjusting, and you like a technical challenge, then go for it, they can be very rewarding machines when they are working well…
Thanks for the comments and input. I don't think I have the patience for something like this.
Are these the ones where you provide your own table and router?
Have used them before, ok for cutting wood and plastic, but hopeless for metal (doesn't have cutting fluid spray etc. to enable proper machining). Definitely not up to the same standard as a proper CNC mill
Be prepared to spend time fiddling around til you find the best settings for the material.