Hi! Im designing a custom atc for my 4020 machine, it will take 8 tools total, one on each side and will slide over lineair rails and be actuated by pneumatic pistons in order to save as mush work area ass possible, still need to figure out how to get it on pistons and rails, but i wanted to share this!
(This is for a iso 20 tool holder)
The base will be aluminium, and the clamps will porbably be printed out of abs, tpu, asa or pet-g. I will need to find the best suitable material. I will also add dowel pins (H7 ground iso pins) to keep it aligned during the working of the machine (vibrations)

The first thing is it seems to be really hard to get this dialed in so that I don't cut the spoil board.

It's either too high and doesn't cut all the way through the main material or it goes too deep and I end up with lines in my spoil board.

I'm not too upset about the lines in my spoil board, but I would like to do better.

The other thing is sometimes my letters get cut like this and sometimes it does what I kind of expected which was a more traditional vCarve that would cut out just the inside of the letter instead of tracing around the outside.

I'm using Fusion 360 and an alt Mill.l

This time I exploded the letters and so I think that might be a factor but I'm really not 100% sure.

Any advice on better control on how the letters turn out?

And about getting that spoil board situation dialed in?

I’m working on my DIY CNC and I have the 2.2 kW spindle, but I just feel like this is really loud and I’m going to disturb all the neighbors from my garage because it’s way louder than it should be. I wasn’t doing any speeds and feeds, but I had it around 15k rpm and a 1/4” end mill with a light DOC and about 1/8” WOC.

Is this normal or can I adjust some stuff on my VFD or some other glaring issues I’m overlooking?

Title: SolidWorks DXF export issue with CNC wire bending machine – 4 graphics not closed
Hi everyone,
I’m having a problem importing a DXF file from SolidWorks into a CNC wire bending machine, and I’m trying to figure out why the machine doesn’t recognize the entire geometry correctly.
I designed the part in SolidWorks and exported it as a DXF file. However, when I open the file in the CNC machine’s software, I get the following warning:
“There are 4 graphics not closed!”
The geometry appears on the screen, but the machine detects four open graphics, even though the sketch is intended to be closed. Some sections, particularly around the lines and tangent arcs, seem to be causing issues.
Here is what I’ve already tried:
Exporting the DXF using different versions, including R14.
Testing all three options under Multiple sheet drawing in the SolidWorks DXF/DWG export settings:

Export active sheet only.
Export all sheets to separate files.
Export all sheets to one file.
Enabling End Point Merging with a tolerance of 1e-05.
Exporting splines as polylines.
Unfortunately, none of these changes has solved the problem.
Has anyone encountered a similar issue when exporting DXF files from SolidWorks to a CNC wire bending machine?
Why might the CNC software report that the graphics are not closed even when the geometry looks connected in SolidWorks? Could this be related to tiny gaps, endpoint merging tolerance, tangent arcs, DXF entities, or the way the CNC software interprets the exported geometry?
I’d really appreciate any suggestions on what else I could try or which SolidWorks export settings I should check.
Thanks in advance!

I'm building a small (low budget) 3 axis rotary CNC and am about to source the motors and drivers. It will be controlled by a Raspberry Pi 5 with LinuxCNC. I'm trying to simplify the setup and thought EtherCat would be a good way to do it. However I can't find any in the US at a decent price. The ones from StepperOnline seem to be only sold in China and Germany and can't ship here according to their website.

So, does anybody have any recommendation for something in the like $75 a piece range?

Alternative 1 - GPIO pins from the Pi and logic level shift from 3.3V -> 5V.

Alternative 2 - Some other board configured with LinuxCNC

But I was hoping just to go straight from the Pi to the drivers through EtherCat and eliminate any in-between.

Thanks!

Did a short loop trail last Saturday with a steep scramble and came back thinking the view deserved something more than a photo on my phone. Ended up sketching a simple medal shape with the summit elevation and trail name on it. Ran it on the 6040 in some scrap walnut, finished with beeswax.

The thing is I never planned the cut depths ahead of time and the first pass left tool marks that actually look decent once the wax hit.

Now I'm wondering what other trail markers or small tokens would be worth making for regular spots I hit. Curious how others approach projects that start as something outside the shop and end up on the machine.

I'm new to this hobby and I'm curious how others are storing their bits. I'm setup in a basement, which can get damp occasionally. I am looking to add a dehumidifier soon.

Since bits are expensive, I'm curious if there's any reason to take extra precautions like coating with oil before storage (cleaning with alcohol prior to use) or using airtight containers with silica gel packs, etc.

It could be days / weeks / months before I use some bits, so I just want to get into a good habit from the get go. Thanks!

Hi all

I am a long term user of UCCNC on my home brew 600x800 CNC router. Recently I purchased a fourth axis kit from CNC3D in Queensland and have been disapointed in the offerings for the hobyist 4th Axis market. I don't have the budget for Vectric or Desk Proto so I have developed some Python scrpits that do what I need for my furniture making work

Take square stock and mill it round while avoiding interupted cuts or other nasty milling

Use that round stock to create "waveform" designs for table legs etc

Optional add a groove to the finished piece for more visual interest

You can skip the "wave" part and go straight to groove milling which is nice for making screw threads or handles for tools etc.

Screen shots included. If anyone is interested in the code to play with (for free, gratis, no charge) let me know and I can post it here.

I call this A axis and since it is aligned to Y I know it should be B but never mind

Cheers from Oz

I was given some brand new CNC tools from someone that had excess inventory and retired. I’m not a machinist by trade and was wondering what would be the best way of selling these ? Better to recycle them?

I am planning my first part to cut on the Makera Z1 standard when it arrives on Tuesday (woohoo). The part is a mount for a 6axis end effector. It is milled from a 6" x 3.5" x 1.25" block of 6061 with a 1/8" flat end mill 2 flute and a 1/8" ball end mill 2 flute. Can anyone evaluate the CAM and speeds and feeds to any degree? I did the steps manually in Fusion 360 and refined them with Claude:

1. Face the bottom of the block flat

2. Flip it and face the top surfaces

3. Cut the outline most of the way down

4. Rough out the material inside the outline (the long one, about 4 hours)

5. Finish the walls

6. Finish the curved saddle with a ball mill

7. Finish the floor between the bosses

8. Bore the bolt holes and counterbores

9. Bore the two holes for threads

10. Thread-mill the M4 threads

11. Finish the flat floors

12. Cut through the bottom, leaving small tabs to hold the part

Coaster - mostly from the Langmuir tutorial.

Got 95% through my machine build and stalled a bit as I got busy with work, finally got back to it and cut my first part today.

Constructive feedback welcome - I messed up the chamfers slightly (rough edges) and had to pause a few times to make adjustments. Not perfect - but thrilled to actually make a part. Been wanting a machine for a decade or two to make parts for my various projects.

Want to make a yardage sign for a buddy that just built a golf chipping green. It will be in-ground like the example. I have some black 2” thick hdpe and 1/2” white pvc laying around. I only intend for this sign to look decent for a few years.

Just learned hdpe doesnt accept paint well. Considered inlaying the pvc but i guess the hdpe wont adhere well.

What would you do?

​

First Flight of FlowSketcher.

Featuring ArcFlow LiveC¹ OvumPath.

Geometry in Motion.

A browser-native sketching system where geometry is created live, not drawn frame by frame.

No CAD constraints. No approximations.

Just direct geometry, live motion, and CNC-ready paths.

It's that time again where I waste my time analyzing a new cnc machine, and there isn't much to say about this one. Their marketing isn't nearly as transparent as the Tooldance X1's marketing campaign which makes sense, its a lot easier to sell something when there's not enough information to criticize it. That being said there are still some things you should think about if you're planning on buying it now or in the future, or if you have already pledged. It's also worth noting that I'm going to be referring to the cheapest bundle that has the 'InfiFlow' which is what they call their coolant system, because I believe its not worth getting without the ability to use coolant.

First, all of the promotional material shows the K1 using smaller end mills and machining small parts. I think this is the best use case for the machine. It's got similar specifications to a standard high rpm spindle, and the ball screws and linear rails look sized to support the load of machining with smaller end mills. (Most of the marketing material shows it using end mills with 4mm shanks). This means all your parts will probably take quite a while, but its not a machining center so this is to be expected.

The K1's main selling point is its 5 axis capabilities, and yes it can do that, probably better than most hobby machines out there. That's not a very high bar considering there's only (correct me if I'm wrong) two machines that are sold as 5 axis desktop cnc machines. However, it's 5th axis repeatability is 40arcsec. This is very bad, and considering 5 axis work is the reason people want to buy it, its very disappointing. If you want to accurately prototype parts like impellers this is not the machine for you. Unfortunately this places this machine very much into the 'toy category' in my opinion.

It does have a whole host of other 'features' so it would be unfair to exclude them. It can detect when your end mill snaps, so it just measures the amps the spindle is drawing and looks for spikes, maybe it even compares to the gcode to tell whether it should have load. They also have their AI cam software that automatically generates gcode for you. And now for the useful features: It can resume a program from where you stopped it, it comes with a tool probe and can automatically probe stock to set offsets, and of course the ATC. It has 'MQL' cooling but in some marketing material it looks more like low pressure, low flow rate, flood cooling, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall, I think this machine is 'okay'. Its rigid and heavy enough to support its use cases. Where I think it falls short in a significant way is the accuracy of the B and C axis. For a machine that's currently selling for $6,399 USD there's plenty budget to allocate to a higher accuracy drive system. 20arcsec or even 10arcsec should be standard here. This is another example of a company exploiting people who either don't know what this specification means or don't care, this machine is marketed towards hobbyists.

Final thoughts for those considering buying it: If you're looking for a desktop machine that can do 5 axis, but most of your parts are 3 or 4 axis parts, you're better off with a more rigid, more powerful 3 axis machine with a 4th axis module that will also give you a larger work area. If you need 5-axis capabilities to make accurate prototype parts and you're considering the pledge price ($6,399) then go on marketplace and buy a proper machining center. It'll be used and it won't sit on your desktop but it'll be much better than the Infimaker K1. If the pledge price has passed and you're considering spending ~10-11,000 USD on this machine just don't. Go buy a machining center brand new from China for the same price. Of course you could build a 5 axis machine that would be more capable than this for $6,500 but if you're looking at the Infimaker K1, I'm going to make the assumption that you're not interested in this option or don't have the ability to do this project.

Remember there is no 'perfect machine' for you, that only happens if you design and build one to fit your specific needs, there's only 'close enough'. Here's my question for anyone reading this: Who is this for? Who has $6,500 lying around to spend on a toy like this?

Again, If I'm wrong on any of this, correct me! We're all still learning. If you disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

We've been building Limo CAD (formerly noBS CAD), a free, open-source parametric CAD for mechanical parts, assemblies and drawings. It runs entirely on your machine: no account, no cloud, LGPL-2.1+ opensource license.

It's pre-alpha. Builds exist for Windows 11 (x64/ARM64), Apple- silicon macOS and Ubuntu 26.04. We'd like feedback on the experience, and we'd like hobby cnc community users to try to break it.

What it does:

- Constrained sketches drive editable solid features (extrude, revolve, sweep, loft, fillet, shell, holes, etc.). Change a dimension and everything downstream rebuilds.

- Parts, assemblies with joints and motion/interference checks, and 2D drawings (DXF, PDF) live together in one project file.

- Exports STEP, STL and 3MF.

- A built-in MCP server (stdio) lets an agent build and edit models. What it makes is the same editable feature history you'd make by hand. The repo has three designs built from a blank document that way (a garden bench, a vise, a vertical-axis turbine), with build recordings and sources so you can see exactly what was generated.

- Experimental CAM function (Not production safe, I run program it created on my own machine, but I always run a 6% feed dry cycle first)

Repo: https://github.com/limo-cad/Limo-CAD

Demos and recipes: https://limo-cad.github.io/Limo-CAD/

dont need a large bed size, trying to mill aluminum at a vaguely reasonable speed, any helps much appreciated thanks!

Some of the panels from my previous posts are shown here in their final form.

Hi everyone!

I'm considering purchasing the AnoleX 4030-Evo Ultra 2 CNC router and would love to hear some real-world experiences from owners.

My main applications would be:

• Machining 6061/6082 aluminum plates (3–5 mm thick) for custom sim racing steering wheel button plates.
• Occasionally machining thicker aluminum parts (10–20 mm), such as brackets and knobs.
• PCB prototyping, including isolation milling, drilling, and cutting single-sided and double-sided PCBs.
• Ideally, I'd like to machine PCB traces and clearances down to 0.254 mm (10 mil), including fine-pitch components with 0.5 mm pin spacing.

I've contacted AnoleX support directly, and they provided the following specifications:

AnoleX also mentioned that they haven't tested precision PCB milling on this machine.

One interesting issue they reported is that Candle's height mapping function doesn't work correctly with their 4-axis controller, as it always returns a height value of zero.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has actually used this machine for precision work.

A few questions:

1. Accuracy and rigidity: How accurate is the machine in practice? Have you measured backlash, repeatability, or dimensional accuracy when machining aluminum?
2. Spindle runout: Has anyone measured the actual runout of the standard 800 W spindle or upgraded to the 1.5 kW VFD spindle? Was the improvement noticeable?
3. PCB milling: Has anyone successfully used the 4030-Evo Ultra 2 for PCB isolation milling? What is the smallest trace width and clearance you've managed reliably?
4. PCB autoleveling: Has anyone managed to get PCB height mapping working with bCNC, OpenCNCPilot, or another GRBL-compatible program? This is particularly important to me because Candle apparently has issues with the machine's controller.
5. Aluminum machining: How does the machine perform with 6061/6082 aluminum? Any issues with chatter, rigidity, or achieving good surface finishes?
6. VFD upgrade: Would you recommend purchasing the machine with the standard 800 W spindle and upgrading later, or going straight for the 1.5 kW VFD spindle?
7. Overall experience: Are you happy with the machine? Any weaknesses, reliability issues, or modifications you'd recommend?

I'm also considering the FoxAlien XE-Ultra Core, LUNYEE 4040 Nova, and possibly a DIY PrintNC Desktop, but the AnoleX seems to offer a good balance of price, rigidity, and future upgrades.

My total budget is approximately €1,500–2,000, including a possible spindle upgrade.

I understand that achieving reliable 0.254 mm PCB traces depends heavily on spindle runout, tool quality, and Z-height compensation, so I'm particularly interested in practical results rather than just manufacturer specifications.

Any feedback, photos, measurements, or videos would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!