Hello everyone. I am new here and new to the cnc world.

@Colin_Kaminski Ah yeah, they do whip around a bit like that. :slight_smile:

@Colin_Kaminski Thank you. How long did it take you to put it together? It appears that you need two programs to work this cnc one to control the cnc and one to tell the controller what to tell the cnc. Is this correct? If so what would be the best controller program that is not in the cloud?

When you lock down the screw drive can you put loctite on the set screw to keep it from backing out?

The good thing is that I am an out of work mechanic so I will have all the time in the world to do it.

@Colin_Kaminski Sorry. What programs do you use?

@Edward_Bigham indeed you do need two programs. One to generate your gcode (the instructions for the CNC controller), this is your Aspire, or Fusion360 or whatever. And then you need software to drive your controller.

I would look at bCNC https://github.com/vlachoudis/bCNC if you want a desktop software or https://github.com/cncjs/cncjs/wiki if you want something you could run through a web-browser (locally installed, not in the cloud). I personally use cncjs exclusively, I have it installed on a Raspberry Pi 3 which is connected to my TinyG inside the controller enclosure. Works great for me.

It took me a whole weekend to put together. You could indeed put a dob of loctite on the collar which clamps the screw, probably a good idea in fact mine did come loose once!

@Ben_Delarre is the raspberry pi 3 something I would need or is it just something I might want later?

@Edward_Bigham If you have a PC you can use to run the machine then you donโ€™t need it. Iโ€™m a software guy, so I just tend to put dedicated computers for everything then do stuff over web interfaces.

@Ben_Delarre I am going to buy a laptop for the shop to run the cnc. This way everything is new and if something goes wrong I know it will be my fault and not the equipment. I will be building a table in the shop for the cnc. I think I want it on wheels this way if I want to engrave on a long piece of material I will be able to. Or would there be a reason not to do that?

@Edward_Bigham Sounds like a plan!

@Edward_Bigham I am running Fusion 360 on a desktop and using a salvaged PC running Linux to run chilipeppr. I spent 4 days building the machine but if I get to do another one I will savor it longer. It was really fun. It took me back to building balsa biplanes as a kid. :wink:

@Colin_Kaminski I built many of them and a million car models. Thank you.

I am waiting to hear back from customer service then I will be purchasing this machine this week. In the mean time I will start getting everything else. VCarve pro, laptop and some form of dust collector. Iโ€™m sure I will have a million questions once the lot arrives.

@Edward_Bigham Everyone here has been great at answering my questions. You are joining a community.

Thanks @Colin_Kaminski .