Hi all,
Extream newbie with my just finished WorkBee.
Great Forum, made build a lot easier!

Best,
Jim.

 

Nice work @Jim..... What will you be making with your CNC?

 

Thank you,
Hoping to get to grips with some simple boat name plaques among other things. We do a lot of local commercial fishing boat reg numbers in vinyl and this would be a nice additional service to offer.

 

Jim Great work.

Ryan, I believe I got my issue sorted. I changes units to inches in UGS and Aspire. And I also found that my Z axis wasn't low enough and Aspire pre programed a safe limit of something like 12mm which was tripping the kill switch. I was also trying to cut and 18mm piece of wood. Not a good one to start with. If I keep the safe Z travel about 6 mm off the surface all is good. Also removed a M6 line in my Gcode which was triggering a Error 20 in UGS. Thats a tool change function which is not supported. So now its just down to hooking up a vacuum and I'll be digging in.

Thanks to all who lent a hand.

 

Hi all
looking to order up a workbee soon,

Has anyone fitted a spindle to theirs? If so what one?
Would much rather go down the spindle route due to noise and not having to mess with changing brushes etc.
I do have the dewalt router already (had it a few years now) But wow it's noisy!
also, anyone fitted a laser on theirs for engraving? can it be done?

Cheers James

 

Very nice build Jim!

@Kyle Barrett: Glad to hear things are sorted, please reach out if you need anything else! We are getting our installs of Aspire and Vcarve up and running so I should be able to help a bit more with that in about a week.

@jmac80: Welcome! I currently have a 2.4kW spindle/VFD on one machine and a 400W spindle on another (previously had one with a dewalt on it , and one with a no-name router). The VFD is super quite, expensive, and will probably need a custom mount. I have no complaints about the cuts but I would recommend running the spindle speed directly from the VFD as it lets you adjust speed real-time. The 400W spindle is OK, it is relatively cheap, rather quiet as well, and can print a bushing to use it with the stock mount. It does get bogged down when cutting polycarb or hard wood but it does ok. If you run a dust collector the vacuum will be louder than both these spindles. All in all, on the next build I will probably go back to the dewalt though. For laser engraving Jtech photonics makes a laser that is compatible and has a 3D printed bracket to attach to the front of the stock router mount (haven't used one but get a lot of people who do).

 

I'll cut it in half and make a wobbly 5-axis Workbee

Ryan (Ooznest) has very generously offered to sent me a new axis! I'll be cutting again in no-time

 

Anyone looked at the 840 stepcraft cnc machine? it's either that or a workbee 1mx1m for me,
I like how the step craft has add ons for 3d probe, tool changer, laser, tool length etc.. but is it worth it?

 

All,
I wonder, what is your preferred method of attaching your wasteboard to your Workbee rails? I have used method one from the manual which is the higher setting, any suggestions for me as this is all very new to me.
Thank you,
Jim.

 

my spoiler board is over 18 mm thick. was an inch when I started. I drilled a pocket down about half way and then used a drill to make a small drill hole. I then put a new M5 screw down through the board and used a drop in tee nut to attach. I have one in each corner. I also squared everything up to. Can't wait to start cutting.

 

Of course, drop in tee nuts,,, thank you Kyle.

 

Thank you guys.

 

Not sure if you can see them but I took a few pics., My board is 48" wide by 50" deep. One M5 in each corner. Holds it down nice. Next step is I'm going to surface the top to make it nice and smooth. It got a bit banged up just me moving around.

 

Nice! So there were plenty of extra drop in tee nuts in the kit to attach the waste board?

 

I got the full kit and I had an entire extra bag. I think it's intentional At over 18m its pretty high so my z-travel is really restricted. But as I mill the table down more I'll be able to cut thicker items. I struggled to cut a board that was 3/4".

When I surface the table I may take of 4-6mm/ .25 inch.

My unit conversions jump around alot as I'm more accustom to inches although here in canada we should be using metric. Not sure what most folks use on this forum.

 

Hi Ryan
On the ordering page for the workbee black anodised is an option, Is that the actual long rails etc, so would kind off look like an xcarve?

 

Wow, what a machine! Well, that's me hooked.
My first carve.

 

Ryan,
1/8 inch ball from starter kit!

 

Nice pic and well done Jim ......... must be real happy with that.
I just ordered my full WorkBee kit from Ryan at Ooznest just before Christmas, can't wait to get stuck in

Just one question though guys .............. why is it every cnc build I see has the motor/spindle mount so far up the Z axis ? same as Jim has on his assembly.
When I receive my WorkBee I'll be trying to install the spindle mount right at the end of the Z axis, hopefully that should give me a little more cut depth, or is that not recommended due to stability ?

BTW, really impressed with your carving of the boat Jim



TURK

 

Turk,
In the manual it shows two settings to mount the spoiler board. I chose the higher method one setting but I think I may change to the method two so to have a greater Z range.

 

@T4Concepts / TURK -

Think of the Z axis, include the router/spindle and the bit as a large lever on the gantry. When the Z axis is down, router is low and bit is driving into material, there will be a force on the gantry. So I suspect what you are observing is trying to keep rigidity by mounting the router/spindle a little higher on the extrusion. It is still a level. The key is to be careful that the bit and material height doesn't interfere with the extrusion used on the Z axis.

Also, just as Jim mentioned too, you can configure the height of the spoiler board when you build your unit.