Should I buy an all-metal frame CNC or a cheaper CNC with a frame of aluminium & hard plastic combination? #1944
Replies: 8 comments 18 replies
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My recommendation is to overshoot with on machine rigidity and I would
highly suggest a machine with linear rails and bearings and ball screws vs.
V-wheels and belts. You'll thank me later.
…On Mon, Jun 16, 2025 at 7:31 PM HKPhysicist ***@***.***> wrote:
Hello Friends,
I am going to order my first mini CNC in the coming few days.
At first, I just plan to mill about 10 to 20 stock ABS plastic enclosures
which I bought from digikey.
Now my question is:
Should I buy an all-metal frame CNC or a cheaper CNC with a frame of
aluminium & hard plastic combination? Do those cheaper CNC work well for
hard plastic workpiece?
Thanks for your precious experiences ^^
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I think @HKPhysicist is going for trapezoid leadscrews. imho these are even worse than belts, especialy when paired with cheap motors... (high backlash, low speed, high friction = unable to achieve precision or feed/speed ratio needed for plastics). I would still prefer ballscrews over belts, but if you must have belts, then i reccomend steel core belts (over kevlar core), as wide as possible. |
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balls screw is very high-end! :O |
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but there are relatively cheap options nowadays... |
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I have found a cheap China mini CNC with all ball screws and all metal frame; but its controller is expensive MACH 3! :( |
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Are you talking about Mach3 software? It's $175USD presently. Not terrible.
You could get yourself a grblHAL or fluidNC controller for around $60 and
use an open source gcode sender like bCNC, gsender, UGS, etc. Or are you
talking about Mach3 controller hardware, which can be had for around $35USD
these days, USB version?
Can you send us a link to the machine you're looking?
Also, I am not in complete agreement with Tomas regarding acme screws, I
used a machine with acme screws for many years and made accurate parts,
it's all about the backlash nut you use, I had the ones from Open source
and they worked great although they did need to be adjusted about every 40
hours of use.
Anyway, what's your budget? We can help steer you to the most robust
machine for the money. I have built over 10 CNC machines over the years:
Belt, v-wheel, linear bearings, ball screw, acme screw, mach3, grbl,
FluidNC, open and closed loop, etc. All of my current machines are running
FluidNC and I use bCNC as a gcode sender.
…On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 8:17 AM HKPhysicist ***@***.***> wrote:
I have found a cheap China mini CNC with all ball screws and all metal
frame; but its controller is expensive MACH 3! :(
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If T screws are also good, then I only need to focus on the all metal frame and there are so many choices. |
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I also want it good looking like Genmitsu. |
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looks like lead screws, not ball screws tho... but the photo is not detailed enough. |
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It is possible as China is notorious of their counterfeits! ;) |
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a larger photo. Is it a fake ball screws? |
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Is that one really 29.70 yen?! What's delivery?
That's a solid little machine for thar price. Is it a mach3 controller, is
e shocked. Probably grbl based, no?
…On Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 09:53 HKPhysicist ***@***.***> wrote:
I also want it good looking like Genmitsu.
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only the accessory is 30 yen. That site does not show all options to public. They told me that was Mach3. |
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BTW you can easily replace Mach3 electronics if too expensive. That's what i did back then... sourced frame with motors separately and then buyed cheap microcontroller board with stepper drivers from aliexpres for like $15 and flashed GRBL myself... because the frame manufacturer only offered expensive board. |
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I prefer the MK ESP32 CNC controller which has a built-in wifi connection! |
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I thought that was crazy! How much for the CNC?
…On Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 10:50 HKPhysicist ***@***.***> wrote:
only the accessory is 30 yen.
That site does not show all options to public.
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Taobao is for China customers. You can try Aliexpress which has warehouses in America and Europe. Prices are some what higher but still cheap. |
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RMB2,300. I also like this one except its controller and dull appearance. |
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I find this one which fits your taste. They do customisation. https://aliexpress.ru/item/1005004003407813.html?sku_id=12000029547697508 edit: fixed the link |
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Unfortunately, none of your links are working for me. Maybe try a different
way to add a link?
…On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 11:23 AM HKPhysicist ***@***.***> wrote:
I find this one which fits your taste.
They do customisation.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004003407813.html <http://url>
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I sent the link to your email address. |
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I have locked on this one - nice appearance, small size but T screw. |
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I have found another all-aluminium frame with 16cm x 10cm x 10cm working area. It fits much better for milling electronic enclosure. |
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might not be good to mill plastic... since the feeds will probably be too slow. (trapezoid screws) |
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T screws should be enough for rough work like electronic enclosure. I am not milling F-35B engine. The red one above is good for milling USB-C slot on the end of a box. The Z-axis is tall enough. Both are very handsome though. |
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Hello Friends,
I am going to order my first mini CNC in the coming few days.
At first, I just plan to mill about 10 to 20 stock ABS plastic enclosures which I bought from digikey.
Now my question is:
Should I buy an all-metal frame CNC or a cheaper CNC with a frame of aluminium & hard plastic combination? Do those cheaper CNC work well for hard plastic workpiece?
Thanks for your precious experiences ^^
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