Thread: Chinese Machines now on Ebay

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Oh OK. I thought you were saying the motors were no good since they were skipping. Is the skipping caused by problems with the controller?

Yup the original drives were pretty crap...the motors run sweet with the Gecko drives, I am pretty sure that most stepper motors will be from China in any case so there isn't much option there.

The second machine you linked looks exactly like the machine I am working on, I would think the spindle is better than the first one you mentioned, those flexi drive units seem to be a bit on the dodgy side.

As for motor connections I used the existing cabling and plugs and soldered onto them inside the controller enclosure, though the plugs were nice to work on, the first machine you were looking at looks like it has a centronics style connector from controller to machine, not the end of the world but a little harder to hook into.

Russell.

OK, first off, I've had an epiphany on terminology. I'm a computer guy, so to me a drive is a motor. But now I see in CNC world, a driver is the electronic controller. I guess if I replace "drive" with "driver" it sort of matches

So my soldering skills are pretty bad. Is there a simple way to replace/adapt those round pin connnectors to db9's for the g540? And what happens about controllIng the spindle if you replace the controller?

*EDIT*
maybe I answered half my own question - is this what I'd need for the connectors?
http://www.homanndesigns.com/store/i...ne6hojo07uknp5

Congratulations on your epiphinaceous moment.

Yes, those connectors will help you immensely if your soldering skills are as poor as you say they are, but you do still need to solder the wires to the boards on the DB9s.

Note the current set potentiometer. It is important to set this correctly, matched for your motors.

Bob Willson

Well, my soldering usually ends up with frosted joints or burnt wires/circuits.

Bleh, I'm wracked with indecision. I want. Quality out of the box experience that the Romaxx would give me, but I want to minimize my potential loss On the investment if it turns out a CNC is not an efficient solution for me. Every time I think the Chinese solution is suitable, some extra caveat comes up that makes it more difficult, or narrow the cost gap to the Romaxx price anyway.

Regardless of which option I go with, I still don't see an out of the box solution for a rotary axis, despite all if Bobs helpful advice. Why is the only one offering an including rotary attachment sacrificing quality elsewhere

It is a simple decision in the end, if you want quality straight from the box, you are going to have to pay for it, lifes like that! I had the opportunatety here in my town, to have a guy guide me through building my own machine, and he really knows his stuff! In the end though I decided for a turn key package as I knew the CAD/CAM part would be more than enough for my brain to handle. I did my apprenticeship in a joinery over 30 years ago, I have had computers for the best part of 17 years, but bringing them together, I have found to be a daunting task, but enjoyable and everyday I have little victories and more understanding. If Ron from Romaxx has gone a little cold, he was probably feeling moisture in his pockets. You got to understand from a retailer/ manufacturer point ( I have a retail outlet), so much of your day is taken up by people wanting to save money by costing you money and time. It has become a global obsession, I spend most of my day guiding people to the product that best suits them, writing it down and sending them off to buy it elsewhere.

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

If that single connector on the 4th axis machine is going to be a problem, I wonder if this is a better option

CNC 6040 ROUTER ENGRAVER DRILLING AND MILLING MACHINE | eBay

I didn't really need the bigger machine length & width, but the extra Z-axis height does help. They have a line in there saying it can be upgraded to a 4th axis, but I'm not sure if that's a general statement about what you can do to the machine, or about what they can supply. I've sent them a question.

Mind you, by this stage, I'm creeping back to the price range of the Romaxx HS1.

Russell.

Just so you know same machine can be found here about two hundred dollars cheaper:

Buy CNC Router, CNC Engraver, Milling Machine, New Arrival 220V CNC Engraver 6040 CNC Router Drilling Machine Milling Machine at Aliexpress.com

Buy carving machine, wood cnc router, cnc 6040, HOME-CNC-6040 carving machine/HOME-CNC-6040 engraving machine at Aliexpress.com

Pretty sure it is the same retailers, but better deals on freight.

Cheers

James

Well with that response from James and Bigriver, I think it is time to bite the bullet.

Bob Willson

Yeah maybe I am procrastinating, but I don't think I'm tyre kicking. I'd prefer the Romaxx, but my outstanding questions are quite important to me. I just wanted to know if they can upgrade the units to 4-axis and also give their recommended routers don't work here, whether the spindle I was look at was compatible, and whether they can make a bracket for it.

I'm tempted to go back to scratch and look at a build-it-yourself, if I could get the Main frame and rails alreay setup, and I just need to add motors, spindle & electronics, as was one suggestion when i originally posted here. Not sure if there are base units like that around. I'm used to buildIng PC's (Lego stow assembly), but I don't want to manufacture the motherboards & case to get there.

It'll be a week or 3 before I have the cash for a quality unit, so I have a little more time to put off making a decision yet

Originally Posted by critterjg

Just so you know same machine can be found here about two hundred dollars cheaper:

Buy CNC Router, CNC Engraver, Milling Machine, New Arrival 220V CNC Engraver 6040 CNC Router Drilling Machine Milling Machine at Aliexpress.com

Buy carving machine, wood cnc router, cnc 6040, HOME-CNC-6040 carving machine/HOME-CNC-6040 engraving machine at Aliexpress.com

Pretty sure it is the same retailers, but better deals on freight.

Cheers

James

If you guys aren't sick of my questions yet, I have a couple of specifics on these units.

1. Max spindle speed 9000rpm - is that a problem? Most of things I've seen go up to te 20,000 range

2. Water cooled - I've seen quite a few people cursing water cooled. Are they a problem, particularly when I'll be using wood mainly?

3. Regarding the water again, I see no pump in the kit, so I'd have to buy a pump extra, right?

Thanks. Russell b

1) Speed is a bit slow. As you say, about 20,000 is standard for a spindle. But are you looking at a spindle or a router? Then again, usually, the higher the speed the less the power.

2) water cooled is fine.

3) Any fish tank pump will supply more than enough water so long as you don't ask it to lift too much of a head.

Bob Willson

9000 rpm would be a little on the slow side, cuttting wood I tend to be in the 18000 to 24000 range depending on cutter diameter, timber, depth of cut and step. I went with the water cooled spindle on my Romaxx, Ron made me a bracket to fit suit the machine for $60.00 it is a double and works perfect. My spindle is heavier than the average router, often people misunderstand the "Water cooled spindle" I know I did! The water travels through the spindle like a water cooled motor and back into your sump (bucket), It was suggested to me here that I use a pond pump and aquarium hose, which I did, ran for 1 hour 54mins today and the water temp rose about 5 degrees, there is 10 litres in the bucket. The beautiful about the spindles is their quietness, my dust extractor is by far the loudest link in the chain.

Originally Posted by Bigriver

9000 rpm would be a little on the slow side, cuttting wood I tend to be in the 18000 to 24000 range depending on cutter diameter, timber, depth of cut and step. I went with the water cooled spindle on my Romaxx, Ron made me a bracket to fit suit the machine for $60.00 it is a double and works perfect. My spindle is heavier than the average router, often people misunderstand the "Water cooled spindle" I know I did! The water travels through the spindle like a water cooled motor and back into your sump (bucket), It was suggested to me here that I use a pond pump and aquarium hose, which I did, ran for 1 hour 54mins today and the water temp rose about 5 degrees, there is 10 litres in the bucket. The beautiful about the spindles is their quietness, my dust extractor is by far the loudest link in the chain.

Yeah I figured the water was supposed the be contained within the spindle somehow, but I've seen others talking about leaks onto the work, rusting components and other issues. Quiet would certainly be good though. Don't want something running 10 hours a day that wakes the whole neibourhood.

Romaxx shows routers, but being us and 110v, and not finding comparable models to match their bracket sizes, I went looking at the Chinese spindles on eBay. There was an air cooled 1.5kw unit with a VFD for about $370 here 1.5KW AIR-COOLE SPINDLE MOTOR & MATCHING INVERTER NEW2 | eBay

This was the one I was asking Ron if it would work with HS1 but I haven't yet got an answer. The size says 65mm, but that's not the size he would need for the bracket, is it?

Ron made my machine for 240 volt, that spindle would be fine on the HS-1, my spindle is 80mm and weighs around 11 pounds, I asked for a double bracket to suit the 80mm spindle and that is what he made me. I was told to use radiator coolant to stop any rust problems, don't know if this works but it can't hurt I guess. You will get much more out of Ron if you ring him, he is not huge on the email thing.

Urgh,

I've just read through all 15 pages of the VFD thread. Seems like I'd need an electrician to wire it all up? Is there a simpler solution beside a plain old palm router, so you still have flexibility in upgrading?

Russell.