I want to use my cad files with this CNC machine

And now i have to defcide for 420 or 600 model of the machine.

I totally agree that any pulse train generated with hardware support, and this can be a dedicated microcontroller chip, will be much more accurate than a software loop. I just don't see the problem that needs to be solved. My little Atom based LinuxCNC box can run another router with rapids in excess of 100 mm/s at 0.00625 mm/step. That is about 16000 steps per second and I haven't noticed any lost steps. This is way beyond the 30mm/s limit of a Stepcraft. I am completely happy with the LinuxCNC performance once I had found the right board.

totally agree...

I guess when we look at performance in terms of

- ease of setup
- compatibility with existing PC systems
- Driver reliability
- device stability
- machine performance
- GUI
- etc its a little different

- it would also be interesting to see the accuracy an cycle time of the toolpaths for some 3D work- but agree - largely beyond the scope of STEPCRAFT use.

But agree - if you can figure out the setup then there is no reason why Linux CNC can't be used with excellent results.

Hi Emil,
and you have to decide what kind of spindle motor to use. Keep in mind that you can't use a Kress. It won't fit and the weight is too high anyway. I think the official limit is 1.2kg. The Proxxon IBS has a design problem and won't last very long. Mine died after three months.

Wilhelm

What the proxxon is crap and they sell it in the shop 🙁 I already put it in the order basket. is it common for it to break down or you got a bad one?
What should i pick instead of the proxxon? then i also need to find another utiliuty for vacum away the dust?

It says 2014 editon in the shop is this a newer improoved model, or the same you had?

There is not much to choose from. Even the new version of the Proxxon has a problem. The 2 ball bearings are not enough to decouple small movements from the motor. In the end the bearing of the motor gets stressed out.

Ready to run and with the weight/power limitations there is only one spindle which is better, the stepcraft hf spindle.

Is t he metal peice holding the tool to short or whuy is there problems to fit other tools?

What about the dremel? And what model?

It is not a matter of fitting into the tool-holder.

Other available spindels meant for milling are too big, too heavy, too expensive, too loud. Other people here say that the quality of a Dremel is even worse than that of the Proxxon.

If you have the ability to build turned alu-parts the best option is to use a proxxon with the selfmade 7 ball bearing head from james here in the german part of the forum.
See here

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CNC-400W-Brushless-Spindle-Motor-ER11-Mach3-PWM-speed-controller-Mount-PSU-/121554573154
Something like this would not work out then?

Or can you buy that upgrade as a kit?

Maby its just the easiest to buy the proxon now to get started and then upgrade later to that expensive spindle stepcraft supplies.

Is it easy to dismantle the proxon and change bearings to some better ones?

This one has a max. speed of 12000 rpm and you will loose a lot of space in z-axis in comparison to proxxon.

The bearing that would have to be changed is the bearing of the motor itself. I don't think that it can be changed easily. There are guys that swear on oiling this bearing with each regular machine maintenance to extend the lifetime.

depends what kind of motor can. maby you could balance the motor if the motor bearing is the one that goes. But that depends what kind of motor it is if its easy or not. for the price i guess its a brushed motor and that would be a pain to dismantle. Ok i have motor oil at home Allways put some in the bearings on my brushless motors.

Ah well ordered the StepCraft 600 with proxxon and everything.
Also ordered lpt header backplate for my i5 mainborad.
My brother is giving me an old i7 he is going th throw away maby that one also has lpt header port on the main board.

I saw this live dvd for linuxCNC required dualcore or better to run as it was supposed to. That or an old unsupported ubuntu version 8.05 or something, with an older version of linuxCNC.
Tested the newer one on my 1.6ghz laptop with lpt got realy bad latency-test score.
My p3 800mhz gave me 10000/14000 score when not running other apps when i disabled bluetooth and sound support.

Ah well waiting like a kid for his christmas pressent.

Laptops don't work well with LinuxCNC, probably because their power saving features.

Multiple CPU cores can also cause trouble. Even on my Atom system I only run with one (1) core.

Personally I find Ubuntu distributions easier to work with than Debian if you are used to Windows. I started with the CD based on Ubuntu 10.04 with LinuxCNC 2.5.4. With a LAN or Wifi connection it is very easy to upgrade from there and currently I am running 2.6.5. Just do not update Ubuntu itself in any way.

A score of 14000 is ok. Give it a try.

Wilhelm

I hawe Ubuntu on my laptop. Used linux since 2001 or 2002. But used win7 as my main of since win7 came out.