Anyone build Joe's CNC kit?

[travis howe]

Looks like Joe's 06 and hybrid kits are a decent price however, I'm a newbie and don't know what else I would need to buy or if it is something for a newbit to do/try?

What other costs are involved in these kits?

What's a general timeframe to build and get this thing up and going, days/weeks?

Any other info or suggestions?

Thanks,

Travis

[james mcgrew]

have you been to joes forum, he sure is one popular guy on vectrics forums as well!!!

jim

[Greg Cuetara]

There is quite a bit of information over at cnczone . com....

There is quite a bit of research to do before you buy one of the 'kits'. The kits only include the pieces. It is quite a bit of work to put them together but from what I understand they are a high quality self-built machine. In addition to the kit you will need quite a bit of other supplies for either the 06 or the hybrid. You will also need stepper motors and a driver, a router and the correct bits, a dedicated computer to run the cnc, software like vectric unless you want to get into g-code and programming yourself, a dust collector, you should have an air cleaner as the cnc will spew quite a mess into the air...this is depending on your space. I was looking at setting things up in a basement so an air cleaner would be a must.

It all adds up quickly. I am still thinking of building the hybrid once the 'funds' become available. You can spend the $100 on the hybrid kit plans and get access to joe's private forum which I understand has quite a bit more information on builds, cost, locations for materials etc.

Good Luck and keep us updated if you decide to build.
Greg

[Peter Elliott]

Greg,

I am in the same boat.... looking to build or buy an low end CNC. Low end meaning under $3k. Not low end quality.

A SMC forum member sent me a link to cnczone and it really looks promising. It's a bolt together machine for about $1300. Add in electronics for $300 and you have a full machine.

The electronics can be bought pre made with no soldering...

All well under $2k....

Software after that, like Mach3 and Vcarve Pro can run you $700

or... I've been watching theses guys called Romaxx, reading their forums and new owner reviews... looks nice and good feedback.

It doesn't have a big foot print but would work for me find...

Just waiting for more funds to jump in....

Romaxx

[Rob Wright]

I built a Joe's 4x4. I had a Solsylva dual leadscrew previously. There really is not comparison. I jog at 350 ipm, I can cut at 200 ipm. 3d work with Aspire has been coming out great. I just added a vacuum table. It was a lot of fun building this myself. I did not buy a MDF and HDPE parts kit - cut them by hand and with a router using templates. I have since re-cut those on the machine and installed them. I have limit and homing switches, a zero plate and am running Mach3 for control. I can re-home the machine after hours of cutting within 0.005" - plenty good enough for me!

So far I have modified the bed to allow for cutting dovetails and box joints. It really is a blast to build and the forum community at joescnc.com is just as great as here at SMC.

I have attached an overall of my machine, some stone I cut with a model that I made in Aspire, the Mooney "M" that I cut for my Brother in law (also I modeled in Apsire), and some curvey dovetails that I am working on right now.

The 4x4 can be modified to be smaller if necessary - or even larger. There are a few 3x4 and 2x4's being built or completed right now. There is more than one current builders that are going 8x4.

I would go with the 4x4 right away if I were building and skip the Joes2006 model. If you ordered all of the parts - you could be up and running within a month - having all of the parts on-hand is key to an efficient build.

[james mcgrew]

i would strongly suggest if one were to build or purchase a cnc, please give serious consideration to a 4'x4' foot print, knowing what i know now i could have save 2000.00 by not purchasing the carve wright (fun, but is still a toy) as i ended up with large routers, i can understand the space of a garage shop but a 2x3 working table size (not overall deminsion) is the smallest i would consider

jim

[Peter Elliott]

Rob,

What did the 4x4 run you in cost? All the parts/electronics?

I know computer and software are additional.

Just curious budget wise?

Did Joe's BOM give you everything needed to buy?

Would you buy Joe's 4x4 kit? if you did it again?

Was Joe's 4x4 forum worth the $$?

Thanks
Peter

[Rob Wright]

Peter - Minus the router, you will spend $1500 on hardware, leadscrews, 8020 aluminum, router mount, angle iron, backlash nuts, couplers, and uni-strut. You will have another$400-$1000 for the electronics- depends on how big you want to go. Some have used a simple 4 axis hobbycnc.com pro kit, others have used a full blown industrial type enclosure with big gecko 203v's and a bigger power supply. I went a middle of the road with a Gecko g540, 4 keling steppers and a power supply for $600. The HDPE and MDF kits are worth the hassle but are an additional $435. The 3/4" hdpe is about $80 to just source that. I built mine from PVC. Building without Joes Kit took me 3 weekends on and off for the HDPE and PVC/HDPE pieces to get them cut out.- but it only cost me $80 - but the kit is worth it and like i said earlier - I ended up cutting them right away on the cnc and re-building the carriages. total time to build mine was 3-4 months working a few hours here and there. I had to space my parts out to not get in trouble from SWMBO. Having them all in had at one would have allowed a much better build time!

So $1500 + $600+kit? looking at $2500+ to have the machine up and cutting (plus Mach 3 $159 of course)

There is a Joe's BOM that is pretty complete but not 100%, however there is a SuperBOM that member Tamathumper put together that lists everything and is in spreadsheet form with links and everything. It is constantly updated when a member says - hey - what about piece "x".

The forum is outstanding! civil discussions and lots of help and collaborative ideas. everyone is encouraged to post and share their problems ideas. Like I said - it is a lot like SMC, no trolls and no flames since it is member only. You get the login after you purchase the PDF plans from Joe.

The only other thing I can add is that the machine is built to be flexible with the materials that you can find. Some 3/4" angle iron may be a little bigger or a little smaller than 3/4" - there are ways to deal with it. Some of the MDF is 18mm and some is 19mm - you may have to quickly sand the edge to get it to fit in the pocket - no big deal. You may have to quickly trim a side of one of the pieces to make it align better - again we are mostly wood workers and I never let some of the "tweaks bother me - just let it roll off my back.

I can't say enough how much fun it has been.
2 videos of my machine cutting through dovetails:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccS2W2O9CJY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_s2UoXM7Y
Boxjoints
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsLYi...eature=channel

[Mike Heidrick]

Bringing this back up from the depths. I purchased the hybrid plans this weekend. Any other members built it since 3/2009? Joes forum is VERY good!

[Rob Wright]

Mike - I know of a few of us

Bill Griggs
Brian Peters (AdminB om the forum)
and there are at least 2 others that are escaping me right now... Paul W...

Have you decided to go rack or leadscrew yet?

I see that you are using your standard Username on Joe's site

[Mike Heidrick]

I am going rack and pinion. I purchased my G540 package from fine line today - using their 380oz, and 12.5A power supply and their cables These are all Ahren's from cncrouterparts I guess but he did not have cables in stock and Nate did.

Lots to go.

[Rob Floyd]

I just bought Joe's 4x4 plans and expect to do the R&P after I finish some "honey dos" in the wood shop. The R&P plan doesn't require as much MDF or poly so I may cut/rout those myself. I don't have another CNC to do the routing so I'll be doing it with templates.
I'm pretty far down the learning cuirve and even though I've been reading CNCZone, SMC and Joe's, I have many questions about how the software "fits" together. A lot of guys mention Aspire and Rhino but, are they really good staters for a newby? They're a lot of dough!
How would Sketchup fit into a cnc software line-up? I guess you need the Pro version to do importing and exporting. Can Sketchup handle .dxfs and other files that originate in other CAD programs? What CAM programs work with SU? Annnnd, is EMC2 qa good (free) alternative.

Thanks - Rob

[james mcgrew]

take a look at cut 2d by vectric, 150.00 imports dxf and the amount is credited when you move up the vectric line

jim

[Rob Floyd]

Jim,
Thanks for the quick response! I'll look into that. Vectric seems to be the gold standard. What is the usual CAM software that folks use with Vectric software? Do you have a comment on SU? Rob

[Rob Wright]

Rob - welcome to the insanity that is homebuilt CNC! Just kidding! You will have a blast building the machine, the forum is great and the machine is top notch. I built my first machine with templates and jigs, then immediately re-built it using the CNC machine.

As far as CAM vs. CAD vs. Controller software

Vectric products (Cut2D, VCarvePro, Aspire) are both CAD programs and CAM programs. You really only need one of these.

CamBam - is a nice and inexpensive (there is a free version as well) CAM program that will import and export many file formats. I have not used it but it seems decent for basic machining. http://www.cambam.co.uk/

Your controller would be Mach3, or EMC (free) I do not have experience with EMC.

I have the free version of sketchup. If you can find the last version of sletchup or the latest version and then download the DXF converter (this DXF import option is going away in the future, but there is a plug-in available that will not be supported in the future - so get it now while you can) you can generate 2d files to import. There are also free ruby scripts for the export of *.stl files (ie - 3d models from Sketchup) that you can then import into a number of CAM programs such as Cut3D and Aspire and I think CamBam.