No experience coding yet, looking to see what programs are out there! I've been playing around with basic CAD programs I can get free. With the offline controller, you can control the spindle X, Y and Z axis manually without having to do a program it looks like from the video's I have seen, and most of the ones I am looking at looks like they have some manual knobs, too.
The main purpose for the CNC at first will be to slot the guards or ferrules in synthetic material or wood. I should be able to use the offline controller for that and just use the z axis for depth and X or Y axis to cut the groove by moving straight back and forth. The Dremel works pretty well for this, but there is some slop to it with my height adjustment setup and with the threads for the dremel where they go into the aluminum piece. The plastic body of the Dremel at the threads doesn't lend itself to a more rigid mounting system and there is play between the holes in the aluminum and the pipe nipple uprights, so the slots sometimes curve if I push it too hard or too fast since the feed part is manually done by me pushing the vise on the rails.
That's why I was thinking of just getting a spindle setup (MYSWEETY CNC 500V Spindle Motor Kit) , attaching it to linear slide table (YWBL-WH Linear Stage Actuator Manual Sliding Table) for Z axis adjustment, and building a frame (steel tubing probably?) to attach the linear slide table to over a set of linear rails (or another linear slide table) with a drill press vise mounted to the linear rail blocks and using it like I do with my Dremel now by sliding it back and forth and adjusting the height manually with the screw. It would probably be about the same or more cost than the CNC and have less functionality. Looking at 2, 100mm linear slide tables and a 500W spindle with controller and clamp, it's around $400 on Amazon vs $466 for the Genmitsu 320 ProMax V2.
The Genmitsu 320 ProMax V2 I am considering is supposed to be pretty beefy for the price. I like the square linear rails over the round style (I tried both for my Dremel Mill and the round style sucks big time), and the V2 has the square rails and the power supply and stuff are set up nicer and the system is supposed to be pretty rigid from the reviews I have seen. I figure I can use it offline/manually for now to slot guards until I learn it better and may be able to use it for other stuff. I make tuna drop blood knives and do the guards out of 1/8" G10; it would be nice to be able to cut the oval shape of those and the slots on a CNC as a batch so I am not always doing that by hand. I would start with simple projects and work up to other stuff as I learn the 3d modeling stuff and could make up templates and possibly cut files for water jet cutting, too. I want to learn the 3D cad stuff, so I figured getting a machine for it now would be better than building up a stand alone system to do one job and then buying a CNC setup later?
Being able to add a laser to it would be a plus to use nail polish as a resist, burn thru the nailpolish with the laser and then electro etch stuff on the blade.
These are the 3 I am looking at currently. They are all metal constructions, have the square rails on the gantry and the power supply hooked up to the back of the gantry I believe (pre assembled).
Genmitsu 320 ProMax v2
Lunyee 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine 500W
AnoleX CNC Router Machine 3030-Evo Pro (has the nicer linear square rails on the bottom platform, but 300W motor and no offline control included)
