CNC recommendations

[cip 123]

Hey all,

Currently have a 1000x1000 Workbee CNC and as a first CNC it’s alright definitely a good learning experience. Was looking at replacing it with something a bit higher end.

Ideally I’d like to upgrade to rails, a proper spindle etc. I know there are those who have modded the workbee with these additions but I’m not super enthusiastic on the electronics and overall design of the workbee. Feel free to just tell me to upgrade the workbee but it’d be nice to hear more experiences with different machines.

Building one from scratch would probably be my last option I’d ideally like something that isn’t so labour intensive as hunting all the parts etc.

If you’ve got any recommendations that would be great, I am in the UK and budget under 10K obviously it’d be nice to keep things lower.

 

[Brocephus]

The Indymill is a DIY CNC so you're going to have to chase down parts, but you can make it whatever size you want by just modifying a few parts.

Otherwise this video might be helpful:

Happy hunting!

 

[Omzig]

This came up on another board i sometime visit

CNC at home - what would I need? - Making & Modding Discussions on theFretBoard

Right, walk me through it - with specifics where relevant please!

thefretboard.co.uk

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/207981/trent-guitars-from-the-workshop/p6 (setup and use info with pics about 2/3 of the way down the page)

Seems the ITECH K6090T was the only solid "budget" unit at about £5k UK

From poking around online it seems the Itech is just an imported and rebagded chinese

Quick-fulltek K6090T​

K6090T ATC | Jinan Quick-Fulltek CNC Machinery Co., Ltd.

Small desktop CNC, save your space, improve your efficiency, assist you to achieve your ideas, hobby making favourite .

www.quickcncrouter.com

Seems those go for about £2.5k (not inc VAT+Duty shipping fees) On alibaba or you might beable to buy one direct?....£1.5-2k saving but i doubt you get the same level of support Itech will give.....


Highline Guitars upgraded his CNC to the X-Carve Pro (he has YT videos on this) which looks like a right moster unit but it's $10k USA and there doesn't seem to be any UK distros for it atm.


For Me Myself and I, i'll be grabbing the QueenBee Pro/Ultra Upgrade kit for my Workbee V1 clone from Ali in the next few months, I already have a 1.5kw water spindel on it (which is SO bmuch better that those shitty Plam routers) I did buy some rails and 10mm ali plate to cut my own upgrades but milling everything myself and ordering al the bits started to be come a PITA so i'll just get the Kit as it seem to resolve my one major gripe with the Workbee...the V wheels.

 

[cip 123]

The Indymill is a DIY CNC so you're going to have to chase down parts, but you can make it whatever size you want by just modifying a few parts.

Otherwise this video might be helpful:

Happy hunting!

Will Check it out Thanks!

This came up on another board i sometime visit

CNC at home - what would I need? - Making & Modding Discussions on theFretBoard

Right, walk me through it - with specifics where relevant please!

thefretboard.co.uk

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/207981/trent-guitars-from-the-workshop/p6 (setup and use info with pics about 2/3 of the way down the page)

Seems the ITECH K6090T was the only solid "budget" unit at about £5k UK

From poking around online it seems the Itech is just an imported and rebagded chinese

Quick-fulltek K6090T​

K6090T ATC | Jinan Quick-Fulltek CNC Machinery Co., Ltd.

Small desktop CNC, save your space, improve your efficiency, assist you to achieve your ideas, hobby making favourite .

www.quickcncrouter.com

Seems those go for about £2.5k (not inc VAT+Duty shipping fees) On alibaba or you might beable to buy one direct?....£1.5-2k saving but i doubt you get the same level of support Itech will give.....


Highline Guitars upgraded his CNC to the X-Carve Pro (he has YT videos on this) which looks like a right moster unit but it's $10k USA and there doesn't seem to be any UK distros for it atm.


For Me Myself and I, i'll be grabbing the QueenBee Pro/Ultra Upgrade kit for my Workbee V1 clone from Ali in the next few months, I already have a 1.5kw water spindel on it (which is SO bmuch better that those shitty Plam routers) I did buy some rails and 10mm ali plate to cut my own upgrades but milling everything myself and ordering al the bits started to be come a PITA so i'll just get the Kit as it seem to resolve my one major gripe with the Workbee...the V wheels.

I was actually just checking out the iTech and saw import cheaper models as well, I wonder if there are any major difference between the Chinese and the "iTech". I did see someone with the Chinese one replacing some parts after having some troubles with it and a picture of some not very high quality parts. But I definitely like the design of the 6090 over the workbee. Good luck with your upgrades! If you're ever looking for upgrades Blue OX solutions on ebay has some good workbee upgrades, I upgraded the outer and inner plates on the Y axis for more depth. Just if you need.

 

[Omzig]

I was actually just checking out the iTech and saw import cheaper models as well, I wonder if there are any major difference between the Chinese and the "iTech". I did see someone with the Chinese one replacing some parts after having some troubles with it and a picture of some not very high quality parts. But I definitely like the design of the 6090 over the workbee. Good luck with your upgrades! If you're ever looking for upgrades Blue OX solutions on ebay has some good workbee upgrades, I upgraded the outer and inner plates on the Y axis for more depth. Just if you need.

£2.5k is a lot of a mark up if it's just rebadged! even with UK based support and servicing.....

Just looking at this Itech Video on YT



and apartfrom the Itech Logo it looks just the same as the Quick-fulltek K6090T image i posted above!...seems the S+S site also has a 2nd hand/Pre used section, if those unit's are fully serviced and gtee that might save you a few bob.


I brought all my Workbee clone parts from Aliexpress, same stuff here in the UK had about £600-800 mark up, as far as i could see it was all just either imported direct by those sellers reboxed and shipped out to UK buyers or in some cases even drop shipped (given the 2-3 week shipping times....) Just checked the Blue OX thx and yes they have some nice upgrade parts, but i think i'll just grab the QueenBee Ultra Mechanical Frame Kit off of ali and swap in my current nema motors/drivers and then sell on the org standard V wheel workbee frame on ebay, if i get half or the upgrade price back i'll be happy

Might be worth giving that trent guitars guy a PM or if he's up for it a visit so you could check out the machine, don't ask don't get

Keep us upto date if you do decide to go for one either import or domestic, id love one myself but no way i could get one down into my workshop even if i had the space for it!

 

[Winspear]

UK and under 10k is perfect for my suggestion - Get in touch with StoneyCNC. I've been running their JBEC Pro 1200x600 for nearly 7 years now in hard plastics 20-30 hours a week without any more than cleaning and lubrication. Just finished a guitar with it in richlite with very tight tolerances. Runs up to 6000mm/min, rpm up to 24k on the pro spindle and full horsepower down to 12k. Great customer service , had the machine delivered by hand and was working on it later that day.

Machines | Stoney CNC

www.stoneycnc.com

 

[cip 123]

£2.5k is a lot of a mark up if it's just rebadged! even with UK based support and servicing.....

Just looking at this Itech Video on YT



and apartfrom the Itech Logo it looks just the same as the Quick-fulltek K6090T image i posted above!...seems the S+S site also has a 2nd hand/Pre used section, if those unit's are fully serviced and gtee that might save you a few bob.


I brought all my Workbee clone parts from Aliexpress, same stuff here in the UK had about £600-800 mark up, as far as i could see it was all just either imported direct by those sellers reboxed and shipped out to UK buyers or in some cases even drop shipped (given the 2-3 week shipping times....) Just checked the Blue OX thx and yes they have some nice upgrade parts, but i think i'll just grab the QueenBee Ultra Mechanical Frame Kit off of ali and swap in my current nema motors/drivers and then sell on the org standard V wheel workbee frame on ebay, if i get half or the upgrade price back i'll be happy

Might be worth giving that trent guitars guy a PM or if he's up for it a visit so you could check out the machine, don't ask don't get

Keep us upto date if you do decide to go for one either import or domestic, id love one myself but no way i could get one down into my workshop even if i had the space for it!

Searching google you can come across a company called Jinan iTech who sells (or sold) the 6090 for the 2K-ish price. The name sits a bit too close to iTech for me to think it's anything more than a rebadge.

I did pm SMP guitars who mentioned Trent as well and he said Trent runs it pretty intensely so no doubt it can handle what I need.
I got my Workbee from Ooznest and while the additional support from them has been totally necessary it's always been quite the mark up for the machine price.

The 6090 is definitely high up the list so will let you know any updates anyway.

UK and under 10k is perfect for my suggestion - Get in touch with StoneyCNC. I've been running their JBEC Pro 1200x600 for nearly 7 years now in hard plastics 20-30 hours a week without any more than cleaning and lubrication. Just finished a guitar with it in richlite with very tight tolerances. Runs up to 6000mm/min, rpm up to 24k on the pro spindle and full horsepower down to 12k. Great customer service , had the machine delivered by hand and was working on it later that day.

Machines | Stoney CNC

www.stoneycnc.com

Thanks, I'll check them out!

 

[cgmorrison]

I bought the Onefinity Journeyman for a little over $3k a couple years ago and couldn't be happier. Super simple to set up and it's more than sturdy enough for guitars and plenty capable for milling non-ferrous metals once you upgrade to a proper spindle and VFD.

 

[cip 123]

Update if anyone was following for Info.

The iTech CNC. It was scosarg/Scott+Sargent (the UK supplier) who replied to my email about dimensions etc for the machine. When I asked where it was built there was no reply.

Given similar machines can be seen from China and googling iTech will lead you to a company called Jinan iTech who also sell the 6090 you can probably draw reasonable conclusions as to what the iTech actually is. 5K from Scott+Sarg, 2-3K from other sellers online.

I'm still checking things out, don't know if I'll be able to stretch for the Stoney with bills and stuff. But I figured this was a worthwhile bit of info to have on forums.

 

[Omzig]

Update if anyone was following for Info.

It's become much the same for anything tech wise, a lot of the Workbee CNC suppliers also skipped over the "Where is this stuff manufactured" ? in the end i built my unit part parts off of ebay and Ali and it came in at about £600, full kit from Ooz was £1200-£1400 at the time, sure i didn't get the support they would have supplied but much like the prices you've found above a saving of £2-3K is over 50% which is a lot of saving, that's a big chunk of change for a support service you might not even need....
(even become the same for guitar parts...wilko bridge in black...ali price £45 inc shipping VAT...UK price £90....same frecking bridge X2 the cost.

Tough call but for me id take the saving and slog through any support issues myself (im bone headed like that) just make sure you pay with a method that has you back, Directly with CC if you can becuase i found out that paying with CC via Paypal cut your purchase warrenty in half to just 6 months and paying by BT give you Zero claim back options...Talk to your CC company to see what they have to say.

Good luck

 

[ElysianGuitars]

I really think DIY is the way to go, you can control the quality of the parts, the design, and you'll know the machine inside and out, front to back. You can build it as stiff as you want, and not have to worry about whether your machine is made from cheap parts that will fail quickly.