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As I mentioned in my intro post I am only a month or two away from finishing a big construction project at my home and am starting to look for my next adventure. I have been looking at building a CNC router for a couple years, watching YouTubes, reading blogs, reading forums (such as RF), etc.
When I started looking through sources for parts to build one from scratch the choices quickly became overwhelming. Since I have absolutely ZERO experience with CNC anything, I was not really sure even where to start. Then I discovered a WorkBee kit from Bulkman (dot) com [This site won't let me post links yet - GRRR!]
I went through their configuration questions:
Size: 1000 X 1500
Motors: 4 - Nema 23 High Torque
Controller: Mach3
Air cooled spindle
The price came out to about $1000, which is less than what I added up the parts when sourcing the parts and building it from scratch.
So, the first question is: Is that even a reasonable setup for my first foray into CNC-land?
Secondly, on software...
My plan is to just use Sketchup as the CAD software. I found several plug-ins for the free version of Sketchup that claim they can output file formats compatible with most popular CAM software. I even found one plug-in that claims it can generate G-Code directly. (I have no idea if any of these plug-ins work as advertised, but I have to start somewhere and I at least know the basics of Sketchup.)
I did find a web site: makercam (dot) com that claims to be able to take Sketchup drawings (output through one the aforementioned plug-ins) and create G-Code.
Then, of course, I would have to purchase the Mach3 software.
So, my second question: Does that software stack even seem like it would work or am I completely off base?
I do not want to drop $1000 on a machine only to find out I need to spend a bunch more on software that I would need to learn before I could even start to use it.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
When I started looking through sources for parts to build one from scratch the choices quickly became overwhelming. Since I have absolutely ZERO experience with CNC anything, I was not really sure even where to start. Then I discovered a WorkBee kit from Bulkman (dot) com [This site won't let me post links yet - GRRR!]
I went through their configuration questions:
Size: 1000 X 1500
Motors: 4 - Nema 23 High Torque
Controller: Mach3
Air cooled spindle
The price came out to about $1000, which is less than what I added up the parts when sourcing the parts and building it from scratch.
So, the first question is: Is that even a reasonable setup for my first foray into CNC-land?
Secondly, on software...
My plan is to just use Sketchup as the CAD software. I found several plug-ins for the free version of Sketchup that claim they can output file formats compatible with most popular CAM software. I even found one plug-in that claims it can generate G-Code directly. (I have no idea if any of these plug-ins work as advertised, but I have to start somewhere and I at least know the basics of Sketchup.)
I did find a web site: makercam (dot) com that claims to be able to take Sketchup drawings (output through one the aforementioned plug-ins) and create G-Code.
Then, of course, I would have to purchase the Mach3 software.
So, my second question: Does that software stack even seem like it would work or am I completely off base?
I do not want to drop $1000 on a machine only to find out I need to spend a bunch more on software that I would need to learn before I could even start to use it.
Thanks in advance for your advice!