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  #1  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 09:07
SteveEJ
Just call me: SteveEJ
 
Brighton, TN
United States of America
Hello from Memphis, TN Area

I am trying to decide which direction to go with a CNC machine. I am a home user and preparing for life after second retirement. Are there any MechMate builders in the central USA that might be interested in chatting?

Thanks,

Steve
Brighton, TN, just northeast of Memphis.
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  #2  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 11:10
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
Sounds like a situation I am in.

The problem I have is determining what I want to do with it. I have seen folks that do 'art, start a 'hobby business', or a 'real business', or just enjoy building 'stuff'. Anything from wood turning, furniture building, supporting another hobby like model rail-roading, or model aircraft building. Sometimes making stuff for personal and educational use, sometimes for sale. ... Materials you want to use, like wood, soft metals, steel, rock (marble, granite, concrete?), or foam. These you need to be able to handle in economical quantities, and from 'reasonable' sources (buying lots of wood from a hobby shop or metal from internet sources can be expensive compared to other supply channels, small quantities might be the right answer depending on your particular situation).

Now decide what tools you need or want to use to do the 'job'. And then you need workspace. A garage, studio, etc. Safety equipment includes proper dust collection is easier to do and cheaper overall if it is 'built in', or so it appears.

Now, do you want to build or buy your tools. If you need what they can do, the MechMate can save a lot of money, but does require some time and material handling. In the same realm is ShopBot, Ez-Router, and many others. But their cost is typically 3 to 10x of the MechMate.

There are smaller machines like at Build Your CNC, or K2 or many others, some are aluminum, some are MDF. By the time you get done, they still seem to get into the MechMate arena of $$ from what I can determine. For the most part they are less of a machine, but there are reasons for every spot in the market. One answer is not right for all. For my $$ I think MechMate is the best for the effort/money available for someone that doesn't know exactly what they want and doesn't want to roll their own from scratch.

I live near Nashville, and am also trying to figure out what to do next. I have not started a build ... yet.
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  #3  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 11:50
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
I have seen people build up the MDF type routers and they do work, but the price tag is close the the MM. I myself did not want to spend 80% of the cost to get 50% of the machine.
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  #4  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 14:39
SteveEJ
Just call me: SteveEJ
 
Brighton, TN
United States of America
Thanks for the response

Thanks for the response.

A good friend has been in the cabinet business for many years. I have another friend that has been a welder for many years. One thing that they both said.. "Wood and Welding is a dangerous combination". This brings me to a bit of a dilema. Since I have a wood shop, actually part of a garage, where would I weld the pieces? This would be something that I would have to work out if I was to go the build route.

One area that I haven't read about yet is overall total cost. I am considering about 5K for a Legacy CNC and was wondering what a MechMate cost would average with controllers, etc?

I really do need to think about this a good bit before I sink into it as I am the type of person that goes all out when I do get started so I need to make sure that my decisions are sound up front..

Sorry for the rambling but I am interested in finding an average cost for a good setup and average build time.

Thanks!

Steve
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  #5  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 15:04
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Steve, I build mine in my yard, as I agree, Wood and Welding is a dangerous combination. Once the welding is done, you paint (also a good candidate for outside).

I then assembled inside the wood shop, but no further welding or grinding was done inside the shop.
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  #6  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 15:26
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
Average cost, $4K if you are good at scrounging, $8K or so if you just go buy stuff. It is always easy to spend more.
It looks like nominal cost is $5 to $6.5K. ... Good Oriental Motors steppers run about $1K for 4, and so do the Gecko's. So there goes $2K right there.

BTW, these are 'gut feel' numbers from reading posts and don't have an empirical basis for that claim. I don't see much of a way around the stepper and gecko costs if you are going to 'do it right the first time', without gambling you need to replace them if you get something else to start with.

As a replacement for the Gecko & OM motors, I asked MotionKing, they have 4 motors and controllers delivered for a little over $800 vs $2K. It is tempting, but still I am hesitant.

And you asked about build time. ... Shortest I remember is 4 to 6 weeks, longest is multiple years. Depends on you, your motivations, supply availability, and 'distractions of life'. 6 mo to 1.5 years is often seen. You might look at Gerald's 'serial number' spread sheet. It has some of that information there.

Last edited by servant74; Sun 26 July 2009 at 15:34.. Reason: forgot some of the answer I meant to include...
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  #7  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 15:56
SteveEJ
Just call me: SteveEJ
 
Brighton, TN
United States of America
Thanks Jack.. Exactly what I needed to know.. That puts it in the same range as the Legacy 900 with the cnc upgrade. Although the Legacy 900 cannot handle the larger sizes it is still a good option to consider. MechMate looks really good for slightly different reasons.

Steve
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  #8  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 20:36
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
Steve,

The MechMate has the option to build it any size you want. ... IMHO, building the gantry (Y) the largest you might ever want is a good long term investment, and building the table (X) the size that fits your current needs or work area.

So if you need to get a larger table it is 'easy to do'. The table has no 'active' components on it, they are only on the gantry. So if you need a bigger table, just build one and re-use the controller and gantry at minimum extra expense.

I can't take credit for this, it is an all to obvious observation that Gerald made.

So if you now need a 2x4 system, make the gantry 4' wide, and table 2' long (plus needed lengths from the plans to make it work, then when you need a 10x4' just replace the table. Extending a table might be possible, but I don't see how to do it 'neatly and smoothly' at this point.
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  #9  
Old Sun 26 July 2009, 21:09
skippy
Just call me: Paul #72
 
Queensland
Australia
Another thing to remember If you build a Mechmate you know how it works and better you know how to fixed it yourself. No service fees etc
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  #10  
Old Mon 27 July 2009, 06:29
SteveEJ
Just call me: SteveEJ
 
Brighton, TN
United States of America
All very good points! Thanks.

Steve
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  #11  
Old Mon 27 July 2009, 16:48
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
But you do have a great ''service support consulting team" right here!
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  #12  
Old Mon 27 July 2009, 16:59
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
I went and looked at the Legacy Woodworking site, where the Legacy 900 is you mentioned. Not that you can't do the same thing with MechMate with a little effort, but the Legacy seems to be more of a 'specialized tool'. It would be pretty easy to put a lathe with an additional stepper driving it or an 'indexing table' to allow for the rotary use.

I didn't notice if there is any specialty 'rotary' software, if there is, that might push a decision one way or another.

For the equipment side, the 'right vote' is for the tool you need (or want ... depending on your justification! )
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  #13  
Old Tue 28 July 2009, 06:02
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Jack,
The specialty software you mentioned in the earlier post is mostly referred to as 4th axis software. Art at turningaround.org has links to some very neat wizards that let you do decorative carving on columns and such without the need for "other" CAM software other than the wizards. If you want to do high relief carving (like a statue or totumpole) then you will need other software on the 3d modeling and CAM engine side of the computer.

Popular choices are:
RhinoCAM with 4th axis module.
(requires Rhino modeling software and the CAM plug in)
ArtCam by Delcam
Carve3d by Vectric.
- there are others, but these I have used recently with success.

Each of these has a price point and features that show the burden of the cost.

Personal note:
(I use RhinoCAM for continuous rotary 4th axis tool pathing and have learned to use it...albeit a fairly steep learning curve)
For simple 4th axis like machining (rotation every 90 degrees's or 4 face machining) I use Carve3d.....really simple...really fast toolpathing....you can learn it in a day! (but it has it's limitations)

Mechanical
Adding a 4th axis is quite simple on the mechanical side.

Making or having made the 3d geometry on the software side requires a bit of talent - or money.


PS.
Many have added 4th axis modules and you can find good examples of what others are doing here on the MM forum and Shopbot forum.

I might add that a true rotary axis is not necessary for some high level 3d carving - just a taller gantry height for the part your cutting. Options, all can be achieved with the Mechmate with a little prior proper planning.

Good luck.
Sean

Last edited by smreish; Tue 28 July 2009 at 06:04..
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  #14  
Old Wed 29 July 2009, 20:29
SteveEJ
Just call me: SteveEJ
 
Brighton, TN
United States of America
Thumbs up 4th Axis?

Sean,
How did you attach the 4th axis to the MM. Is it a welded attachment or does it attach to and sit on the existing table? Do you have any pictures?

I guess I need my buddy to help me with the welding part.. I can do the mechanical and electronics/programming part.

Thanks,

Steve

Last edited by SteveEJ; Wed 29 July 2009 at 20:30.. Reason: Not sure where thumbs down came from! Not intentional..
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  #15  
Old Thu 30 July 2009, 02:57
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
SteveEJ

It can be welded or attached as a when I need it I attach it.

Many people place the unit at the end of the table running along the Y and others attach along the X.

If you want to see pictures go to Sean's build. He has documented his indexer there.
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  #16  
Old Thu 30 July 2009, 07:24
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Nils,
Do you have any pics of your indexer on your build thread? Dont remember seeing it there?
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  #17  
Old Fri 31 July 2009, 19:18
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
My indexer thread started about here
Sean
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  #18  
Old Sun 02 August 2009, 08:22
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Heath,

I don't have an index but I have looked at them and understand where people put them.
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  #19  
Old Sun 02 August 2009, 10:26
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Nils,
Sorry, I misread your earlier post. I thought you had made one for your table.
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  #20  
Old Sat 05 September 2009, 12:34
odysseyyachts
Just call me: Brian
 
Arlington, TN
United States of America
Nearby in Arlington

Hi Steve,
Brian here in beautiful Arlington, TN , just down the road from you. I'm looking into building one of these bad boys....what did you decide to do?
Cheers
B
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  #21  
Old Mon 07 September 2009, 05:40
SteveEJ
Just call me: SteveEJ
 
Brighton, TN
United States of America
Hello Brian,
Well, because of space limitations I have bought an ornamental mill that is cnc controlled. It has a smaller footprint and a built in 4th axis. It should be here in about three weeks so I am getting the shop ready for it and finishing up some projects I have started with my CarveWright.

If you would like to see it after it gets here let me know.

Thanks for the response,

Steve
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  #22  
Old Mon 07 September 2009, 18:54
Art
Just call me: Art #2
 
Lancaster,Texas
United States of America
Glad to help

Phone # on my site. www.turningaround.org Feel free to call 0800-2000 7 days.
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