Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Stanley on May 31, 2018, 01:36:11 PM
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As a prospective hobby - some fairly basic woodcarving ideas in mind - I've just bought a cheap (£500) "off the shelf" CNC machine & mini controller, Dell Pentium 4Gb using windows 7 prof. 64 bit. Machine comes with USB cable. I've downloaded the Mach 3 trial software and have been trying to learn the ropes from Mach 3 set up tutorials. So far so good, but I can't actually make the machine move !!!! What am I doing wrong, what do I need to do to make something happen ? Any replies need to be as lo-tech as possible please :) Thanks, Stan.
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Hi,
what sort of controller are you using?
That PC will run Mach3 fine but you will need an external controller.....hooking your control box up with a parallel cable is not an option for you.
The controller you were supplied should have a software plugin that needs to be installed in Machs plugin folder. Was it supplied and have you
installed it?
Craig
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It sounds like you need a Mach3 plugin for your USB controller. Did you receive a disc with the machine?
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Thanks for replies so far. As for the controller, it has no branding other than "mini CNC controller". An on/off switch for drive, on/off switch for spindle, an emergency stop button and a spindle speed controller. I received no disc with the machine ? Does any of that help ? Stan.
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Hi,
you need to get a lot more information from whomever you bought it from. You'll need at the very least the software plugin for your controller.
You'll also want a manual for it so you know what to hook up where.
Any replies need to be as lo-tech as possible please Smiley Thanks, Stan.
Are you really sure, this is Computer Numerical Control we are talking about....lo-tech is not how I describe it.
Craig
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Hi,
how about some screen shots of the controller at least.
Craig
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Stan, if this machine was sold as a working unit i.e. plug in and play, then seriously, go back to the seller and request either....
Full setup instructions and software
Or
A refund
Without one of these and a lot of knowledge, you are into a world of pain IMHO
;)
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OK, messages received loud and clear. Thanks, I'll get on to it !
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Hi,
by the way....do you consider 500GBP cheap.....when it doesn't work?
Even if it were 50p and it didn't work I call that expensive. At 50p I would probably write it off as a dumb choice but 500 I'd be seriously pissed if it did not work as advertised.
We all moan, whinge and lament the Chinese and the massive trade imbalance in their favour yet we continue to buy their crap.
Craig
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In relative terms £500 is pretty cheap - you could not build one, even a small one for that price, BUT they are very good at glossing over the pitfalls. I can almost guarantee they will now offer a partial refund in exchange for good feedback, then offer some more, in the end it nearly always ends up being a struggle with the card company or Paypal, the Chinese suppliers do not care one bit, all they want is their positive feedback.
I bought a laser cutter, a big one, and it had some broken bits etc plus the tube was not as listed (lower power) I argued and in the end (2 months later) I had about a 50% refund and still kept the machine. :) Its still running today as i had some knowledge of CNC so could fix it up, one thing they are good at is building chassis and frames out of thin metal so the cabinet was good, I just fixed the busted parts and fitted new mirrors and lens.
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Hi Craig
I don't consider that £500 for something that doesn't work is cheap, but i recognise that I'm probably as much the problem as the machine is (due to my lack of knowledge of the subject). That's why I thought I'd post the question on the forum. The answers so far have already given me an avenue to follow and I've written to the supplier and await a response. It may end in tears, but that's life.
Cheers, Stan
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Hi Stanley,
as Dave points out 500GBP is probably pretty good value, if it works. You will no doubt have read that many have faced exactly the same problem you are.
In many case they resolve the issues and get it to work.
Question: Would you still consider 500 reasonable if you retained the mechanical parts, maybe the power supply, the spindle and speed control but
bought a new (US or European) motion control board?
Craig
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Hi Craig
As you suggested, I'm getting nothing back from the seller. I'm certainly not giving up, so are you able to give me any help with taking up your suggestion about the new motion control board. I'll understand if you can't help me as I really am just a "would be" hobbyist with no prior experience in this field at all.
All the best, Stan.
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Hi,
there is almost a bewildering array of choices for a motion controller. To try to slim down the list I'm going to exclude anything Chinese on the
basis they don't support their customers. I'm also going to include only devices that have Mach3 AND Mach4 plugins, it means you could use either.
https://warp9td.com/ (https://warp9td.com/) The ESS is the model of choice, ethernet connected for minimum latency Mach3 and Mach4 ready.
https://www.poscope.com/product/pokeys57cnc/ (https://www.poscope.com/product/pokeys57cnc/) The 57CNC is the model of choice, complete, flexible and competitively priced.
https://www.cncdrive.com/ (https://www.cncdrive.com/) The UC300 is the model of choice, five ports worth of IO, note the Mach4 plugin is new and not as developed as others in this list, excellent record with Mach3
http://www.vitalsystem.com/portal/index.php (http://www.vitalsystem.com/portal/index.php) The HiCon is the model of choice. The Mach4 plugin is the best developed of all in this list, also the most expensive especially with addons
https://www.pmdx.com/ (https://www.pmdx.com/) The PMDX-422 is the model of coice but for Mach4 only.
https://en.cs-lab.eu/ (https://en.cs-lab.eu/) Has a good reputation with Mach3 but patchy with Mach4, this company has gone off the boil when it comes to support, expensive.
All of these devices, with the exception as noted, are superb quality and backup. I personally use the ESS but would be happy with any of these units.
Craig
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Hi
in addition to those that I recommended in my previous post I should mention three other devices that you will hear talked about.
The UC100 from CNCDrive, the PMDX-411 from PMXD and the 57CNCdb25 by PoKeys.
They are all USB connected to your PC and have a motion controller embedded within the housing that contains a DB25 parallel port socket. You might
even consider them a 'USB to Parallel Adapter', they in fact have an FPGA chip embedded in them and are way to clever to be called an adaptor, but none-the-less
serve that purpose. Given that they have but one DB25 socket they have 'one ports worth' of IO, that is 13 outputs and 5 inputs.That is enough to run a simple
machine however if you want extras like a probe or a spindle index then you will run out of IO, inputs in particular. If you feel that you may want more than the absolute most
basic machine then you will need more IO and the devices I recommended previously are the correct choice.
Given their simplicity they are the cheapest style of motion controller out there...excluding the questionable products from you where. Just beware that there are Chinese knockoffs
on Amazon and Ebay. I recommend buying direct from the manufacturer or their nominated distributor, don't be tempted by cheap prices....get the genuine article or you will be back
to where you are now.
Craig
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I received what apparently is the same "min-cnc'controller" as Stan (using a parallel port to control the cnc) for what they claimed is a CNC 3040 series machine, but I'm unable to to get my machine going using the supplied CNC 3040 series instructions or any other 3040 series instruction found online. . Mach3 is running good on my machine (driver test ran successfully). As soon as I start the driver all stepper motors are locked, stop button is in the off position.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.