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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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Genmitsu CNC 3018-PRO - becoming useful

ralphjy

I had a minor victory on my road to figuring out how to use my new CNC router.

 

I received the 0.5mm carbide end mills that I bought on Amazon and used one to successfully shorten a proto PCB that I need for my LoRaXes project.  The mill has about 4 mm of cutting depth.  The PCBs that I'm cutting are nominally around 1.6 mm thick.  Not a very impressive looking cutter but it worked.  I increased the spindle speed to 3000 RPM and reduced the feedrate to 80 mm/min and set the cutting depth to 0.15 mm per pass.

 

image

 

Here is the shortened PCB next to one that is uncut:

image

 

The cut edges are very smooth but you can see that they are not quite straight.  Not sure if I can improve that with tweaking or if that's the inherent limitation of an inexpensive router and cheap end mills.  Only time and experience will tell.  Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome.  The tool did what I needed it to do. 

Parents

  • Welcome on the CNC world image Do you plan to use it for PCB only or also something else? What kind of model? Some photos? If you need help, just ask.

     

    BTW... Maybe it is worth to open a group on CNC milling techniques, eventually finalized to the electronic design and prototyping support?

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Hi Enrico,

     

    I did a blog post earlier when I first assembled this printer: Genmitsu CNC 3018-PRO

     

    I got the CNC mill to help with my electronic projects, so I'm hoping to also use it for things like small panels or face plates made out of plastic, acrylic, wood, or aluminum.  Hopefully will improve the quality and appearance of my builds.  There is also a low power (5.5W) laser module available that could be used for engraving (not sure if that is enough power to cleanly cut wood or acrylic).

     

    SainSmart is supposed to have a very active support community for their CNC products, but it's on Facebook and I really dislike Facebook.

     

    I'd support a group on Element14 if others would also like to start one.

     

    Ralph

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Hi Enrico,

     

    The existing boards are listed here, but most of them are paid options. I wouldn't mind paying if they looked like they really met my needs, but with all the effort tailoring them, and wiring them, I hope it will be easier to just design a custom board. I tried thinking what I would like if I had a choice, and decided to have a larger board than BBB, so BBB becomes the daughter board, and an edge connection method for expansion if needed (i.e. with a separate backplane board) although it should work standalone. Also the connectors with ready-made cables, to reduce cable assembly.

    I'll try to sketch some system design, maybe we can turn it into some implementation if it looks worthwhile. I don't really know the quality compared to Mach 3, so that is another factor to consider as you say.

  • in reply to shabaz

    If we don't try, we can't know. And at the end of the project sure we have a better knowledge than before. And I am almost sure that the machine will work.

  • in reply to shabaz

    Nice link !  There are some interesting looking boards/capes there.  It should not be too difficult to come up with a nice universal machine driver board.  I have been a big fan of driver-less approaches to machine control like these:

     

    https://www.teknic.com/products/clearpath-brushless-dc-servo-motors/  - a little on the pricey side, but these motors are great performers, I used these on a high-end machine to polish gem stones.

    https://www.trinamic.com/company/news/news-detail/tmcm-1210-miniaturized-stepper-driver-module/ - simple to network (RS485), I have used these (or similar types) on several stepper based motion control systems.

     

    But, for a machine, with a limited number of axis, the more conventional approach of a non-distributed driver might make more sense.

     

    Sounds like fun!

    Gene

  • in reply to genebren

    It was a long long time ago, 2009-2010 when I started studying how to make a mill machine. The video below shows the first working prototype.

     

    The controller was a custom board based on Arduino with a series of ULN2003 and 2004 half-bridges and some other components. The spindle (here is shown a primitive test just to see if the principle was working) was controlled by PWM using a DC brushless motor. This can be considered my starting point from where I started playing with motors. When I built the prototype I have also developed – approach then abandoned – a non-standard language in Processing. From the pc a graphical interface was able to draw/engrave a PCB surface starting from the DXF of the layer. Then I evolved, done other choices and done more serious approaches to this problem, working with more standardized and complete software and hardware. But this first project created from scratch hardware, software and mechanics was very useful to go in-depth in the problems and issues that should be solved and considered when approaching a custom design for a PCB router.

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Hi Enrico,

     

    There is a Mach3 version of my CNC router that interfaces with USB https://www.sainsmart.com/products/sainsmart-genmitsu-cnc-router-3018-mx3 and I think the control board would be what you need, but I don't think that SainSmart sells it separately.  Maybe you could ask them.  Seems to have a lot of good features.

     

    image

     

    They sell interesting Mach3 USB controllers, but I think that they all require that you add the motor drivers.  You can search their website for Mach3 USB Controllers.  Here's one for example - currently only $59.  https://www.sainsmart.com/products/4-axis-cnc-mach3-usb-motion-controller-card-interface-breakout-board

    image

     

    Ralph

Comment Children
  • in reply to ralphjy

    Thank you, Ralph.

     

    This board probably is oversized for the small CNC I want to build - or, better convert/upcycle - from my 3D laser cutter structure. Instead, this seems very good to abandon the heavy desktop to control my big CNC with the parallel cable. As a matter of fact, this controller seems the solution. I should investigate and ask to the producer. One of the weeks of September I will be in Spain and one of the things I plan to do is just to make a decision with my big CNC.

     

    Thank you a lot.

    Enrico