Category: 3040 CNC machine

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Time to get my cnc machine up and running again!!!

time to revisit this.

As my pc died over Christmas I have been putting this off for a while but now want to make some bits and the CNC will be perfect for this so I am going to get the machine working. and do some more modifications to it on the route. this is a 3040T Chinese milling machine.

I am also going to try CNC carving and milling with fusion360 as prior I have used other packages but seeing as fusion 360 is my go-to for design. as I learned on AutoCAD it shares a lot of similarities. more on this later.

The Story so far

This is so you don’t need to go back through the site. I brought this machine thinking CNC was easy as 3d printing and laser cutting it’s not. had the machine collecting dust for a year. during lockdown made an enclosure modified the machine to add some custom made end-stops and got rewired it and had a light bulb moment. then made a custom wast board with threaded inserts.

So as I wait on components from china for the cave monster time to clean out the enclosure and add make some bits to make my china CNC machine great and teach myself some more about CNC.

the spoil board is where I got to last time before the crash. and was working on a custom dust shoe. then other projects took over so I’m now going to start to make more stuff on my machine. So this I blog of my progress. see the photo montage below.

Time to clean my machine

As the machine has been sitting for a year since I last switched it on.

Before I get started getting a feeling I am going to need to clean the cooler water for the CNC machine, Ok not terrible but needed a cleand as organic material in the bucket. out with the old and time to clean the bucket fill it with some a 50/50 mix so 5L anti-freeze and 5L of deionised water as then bucket should keep it nice and clean going forward. now to pump it through the system see the pink in pipes and check for leaks, no leaks.

Now I have a clean machine I now to set it all back up. so over to the pc well remote link to the pc as it’s cold outside. so installed a remote desktop on the cave computer and have the machine running as the control box is on.

The Setup

Now to find my note as need to revisit them and get all the settings plummed back in.

Have installed mach3 need to install a plugin for the control board and MPG luckily have saved all this all in my dropbox so just drag and drop it all into my mach3 folder.

next up remembering pin set up so port 3 pin 1 = estop pin 2 = home switch pin 3 = limit switch and pin 4 = probe plate. so into inputs check there all right and enabled they are.

following the Chinglish guide, I go through the motor tuning and select all the right bits.

Config menu ports/pins

make sure all motor axis are selected

Next select input signals copy below

as i have added home and limit swtiches this is off wha the manual said now scroll down and enable estop and prob.
all done

Now over to output signals tab.

now to click ok

Motor tuning for x y x follow below

now for A and splindle

now spindle

dont for get to hit save Axis settings after each change.

now one thing i forgot to set limits and homing that will mean your homing in revirse so on x and y dont forget to home Negtive only on x and y and your golden i have also set up the soft limits to prevent from crashing.

now to home the machine hmm it all z homes right x and y

adding edge finding and z zeroing tools scripts I highly recommend checking out

https://www.youtube.com/user/sunny5rising

The legend that is Charlie Sarsfield followed his instructions on adding limit and home switches and his tool zeroing and edge finding scripts and install them

and now to make sure the machine spins and does what it’s meant to all works fine will be adding a new calibration plate so will test the scripts work like a charm

So the machine is back to working but me being me time to modify it some more.

Upgrading dust extraction system

before I start running some projects I am going to revisit the dust extraction as it’s okay just not brilliant lots of leeks for dust. so I’m going to make this modular and dust-tight hopefully I have added some fins to my dust shoe so it should suck all the dust-up am also adding parts so that vacuum tubing that will go through a flang that I can plug my shop vacuum in and out of. so over to fusion 360 to model the flange.

outer flange

now to test fit that before I make the inner flange. well it sorts of works i forgot to attach the inner tube so is floating so now making 2 outer tubes one so made them box the 35,2mm inner and then made so it will fit over the centre tube then enlarged it out to 36.5 mm with a 45mm outer

intenal section for hose attachement
enclosuer external input

as for the tube end, I have made an inner opening end for 39.5mm and the flange end made it 35.2mm have then glued them to the flange. and screwed it to the enclosure. I forgot to take pictures doh here it is partly assembled with a vacuum hose attached from the vacuum end.

Have 3d printed a nozzle for the 40mm vacuum tube that I have a 5m length that i brought previously so I could extend the hose for the shop vacuum. I found a design some time ago and had test fitted it so I have cut down some vacuum hoses for the internals of the enclosure now going to print some clips to secure the hose internally to the roof of the enclosure.

all plummed in have ordered a new dust shoe from that has arrived fits well got to make adapter tube up infusion nothing flashy inlet side is 38.5mm and output of 36mm

quick sketch

2hrs later and it fits like a glove just need to trim down the hose lenth and install clamp

as now can plug the shop vac in and out. I might upgrade that too as is not too powerful think that will be next month’s shop if I feel it needs it.

Clamps

First up I needed clamping arms as I had a few issues with the tape method that everyone raves about. i might revisit this

so found some CNC clamps that I saw teaching tech use on a video so going to give them ago I will also test out some style ones as well as I need different ways of clamping down materials.

So new untested eSun PETG filament loaded into neon orange and away we go will check seems to be laying down fine layer 5 and only a little mess on the bed will check back later.

work fine now to re set up the machine

have now printed 3 diffrent styles will be testing them all out once I have the machine up and running. as we have some nice weather coming over the next few weeks willl get some diffrent materials as well.

3 different clamp types

I will be testing them all out I have a feeling the big one in the middle is too big for my hobby CNC machine.

have also designed my own one as well will do seprate post on that as this is already gone from being a quick post to entertaing me to another

Zeroing tool upgrade

Next up going to change my zeroing tool for a new one I have purchased off eBay.

new zeroing plate
designed to sit on corners and give true zero

as I was clever and used the power connector just need to unplug the old one and swap the wiring over now. All done and the magnet works well no hassle of crocodile clips well worth the £30

now back to the automated edge finder and tool z hight scrips now I know the XY thickness is 10mm and the z is thickness is 12mm so need to change the variables as shown below.

you will need to do this for all 4 scrips
Z script

time to test the system

test complete have moved the plate off material and hit go to zero not bad going it a little off I didn’t set the tool diameter so that might be the reason it’s away from the corner.

Setting up Chinese CNC with fusion 360

Now I could do this using a different method as having used other CNC design software in the past and still have access to it but me being me decided I would go another route as keen to learn more about fusion as it is more than just 3d modelling tool.

So time to put some scrap wood in and see how we go, going to start with something simple as I am going to use my go-to program for design to try the manufacturing side of the program that I have no experience with so going to make a pocket in some wood with a simple part to see how it works.

as with anything design related i need to take some measurements so i am going to start by measuring my scrap of pine in the machine, I make it 200mm x 200 mm x 12mm then made a note of this so when it gets to it the program will know how big the piece is. i am going to machine is.

Next, i will need to make a list of tools as all the sample tools are developed for big milling machines with quick-change collets one day when I have a big workshop I will get a bigger machine. but for the time being, mine is only 3040 well actually it’s less than that more like a 3727.

time to gather some data for tools so I have ordered a set of six tools from china and with that i have the following data. so going to add them to the system along with some end mills and facing tools that I have in my collection.

incoming bits from china

I have also found prior information on some other bits I ordered in the past so been collecting them in a file to add as well.

will need to add these as well

The tool adding can be found in utilities under tool management

Click library then click the plus icon you will be greeted with a tool selection screen

you will be greeted with a tool selection screen screen

so in this case will be adding a 6mm end mill so I select the end mill.

Time to give the tool some description vendor name as I don’t have a link or id won’t add them.

tool i am adding

No to add cutter detail so I have this information on the tool

all the information added

I have copied speeds from another package as the default 5000 speed on the tool was mega slow. so have now upped it to 16000 and have calculated a minim feed rate 17.882 meters per min now running it 650 feed rate as 18 was way slow for wood.

now hit ok as don’t have a holder template for the depth of tool 0 as I don’t think it’s necessary as will zero tool after each tool changes this is more for an auto-loading tool machine perspective.

tool set up complete

So infusion I have made this test part nothing special just make some pockets and will do more if it works this is a stage of learning so let’s see how it goes.

test part is not needed for anything just a quick sketch to see if it works

Now to switch from design to manufacturing add the tools then let’s see what they do.

manufacturing mode

Now for the set up this did seem a little daunting in the beginning think I have figured it all out I am going to only use one tool as this is experimental.

Click the setup button I am first going to move the origin from the centre to the front of the design is the same as the stock size it’s easy just click the dot on the front. as show below

Origen now front of the pice.

now the stock tab I have changed the stock to be relative to the box with no offset.

The dimensions from earlier 200 x 200 x 12 and the stock match perfectly

Next to the program number and comment.

just added a comment and then press ok

now we have this set up I am programming in a 6mm end mill so adding to the tool library.

so have programmed this six mm end mill in as the quickest one to add

first up going to perform this in 2 processes first am going to be pocketing the selected areas in the design then I will boar out the corner holes.

so to start going to the 2d pocket will then set the tool as my 6mm endmill. I will then select the 5 areas that I need to pocket out. click ok next under the 2d tool panel i selected the boar function with a 6mm tool selected each hole all 4 of them. selected ok.

I have run the simulation and it all looks like a good time to test it.

time to test it.

Time to post-process it then load it to the machine. and zero tools find the edges and we should be good to go.

The file generated not sure if mach3 accepts that but let’s have a look

Ok, the .tap isn’t recognised as a file in mach3 but I duplicated the file and changed the extension to .gcode will now load this into mach3 and see what it spits out.

loaded as you can see thinks the part is top left corner need to zero the tool to material height and find the edges using the zeroing tool and edge finder.

right zeroed the tool correctly and fount the edges got to love the auto edge and z finder. as you can see the image has been generated to fit the stock

right that’s worked will run the test programme and see what happens to wish me luck. Ok, that failed as it went in the wrong direction. I think the Origen is reversed going to change that in Fusion 360 then try again.

ok, I am a tit missed out on something from setting up in the homing limits in mach3 doh so I needed to tick 2 boxes. now homes correctly. as I am here also going to set up some soft limits so this all works right.

Away we go slow but steady think I need to mess with the speed and feed as it’s in and going down yay and the clamping just failed.

fist cut
faild clamps let go

As I have caught covid again in bed writing this so have had some time to reflect on the failure of the first run. back into fusion 360

go tool management and time to set some parameters so Spindel speed upping to 16000 and 650 meters per min feed rate I have also added multiple depths so it will now not go down 18 mm and try cutting out so now have set it to 5mm per pass switched to 2D adptive clearing.

let’s try running this test program recalculated with new clamps fingers crossed, going to use the same blank as woods not cheap and being pine won’t kill me on the dust.

first, to zero all parameters so out with the new zero tools and find the edges going to jog the too over the zero probes I have a magnet connected to the tool then on mach3 hit tool zero. the probe will go down and touch the plate touch and retract then go to jog x side of the tool and go to offset screen and hit auto x will move to the x-axis side of the tool and retract repeat on Y size using auto Y same will happen tool will move to the tool and retract system all zeroed now to remove tool and magnet off a bit. hit zero and the tool will be sitting just above the bottom left front.

z zeroed
x&y axis zeroed
ready to run

Now to start the program away we go.

working but feed rates way off so going to update .

so back in to fusion as my gcoding days are long time ago so i am letting the program do the legwork. as you can see scraps had some battle wonunds not to self dont go to zero all when tool is down in the wood hoping it will be machined over have stopped the job. time to restart it. as the rate it was running would have taken a long time machine. now upped feeds from 18 to 650 mm/min so will now run the final 4 pocket first one turned out well.

faster feed and we are finaly making dust
after a hoover a little tearout but mimal

so have removed one pocket out of the design i think will run some other processes on this modle as i go but will attach the dust shoe as well as could feel dust in the air. but think i am going to leave that for another post as this has dragged on all week.

Now that I have figured out the basics I want to try running some projects carving from an STL file. making a 2d PCB and then using a bit to drill make the holes and engraving tools to make the tracks on single and double-sided copper PCB board, make some complex parts out of aluminium and more. these will be broken into different learning posts as don’t want to bog down this blog so will be another post as I learn more about both the software and machine.

Parts Incoming just had a bumper instalment of bits. so will be a post about this soon as want to make this a quick to set up stable.

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CNC New Waste Board

New day new project after having a few failures due to double-sided carpet tape failing to hold bits down I have decided to modify my sacrificial board. saw someone do this on a youtube video so i have decided to make my own.

The Idea

Now as the board is bigger than max dims of the milling machine I am going to have to take some true measurements of limits of the machine. As the size of my sheet in the program.

I have these hammer in M5 t-nuts about 100 of them that brought a while back for this project. But then realized that the bed was smaller and my original plan would not work.

So I know the board size is 300 x 400 well according to the manufacture.  the wasteboard is actually sized as 380 x 550. Now to home the machine then figured out limits. In mach3 start off by homing all then zeroed X & Y. I then moved y and x to there limits and noted down the size in my case this was 227.6 x 387 so this is the material size. There is an extra 20 mm in x and y if I wanted as soft limits stop 10mm from each axis but happy with that as gives me room. Now on to the design side.

The design

This is double-sided job and my first attempt at one. So the first side is top side so going to my resurfacing tool to do a pass at .5mm as I know nothing has cut in that deep in the past. it will then do the edge bit

Then next up going to make a grid that is 25mm squares each square corner will have 6mm hole in it for bolt holes. To going to use v-bit to make grid followed by 6mm end mill to make holes the will stop 1.5 mm shy of the bottom of the board.

Side 1

Side 2 will have 17mm x 1,5mm deep circles over the holes to allow for the nut holders to be recessed into the wood.

Side 2

the rendered model looks a lot better.

side 1 rendered. i have lessened the grid depth
Side 2 renderd.

The process

I have already drilled 4 holes in the board to hold it in place i need to still get some shorter bolts and counter sink the nuts but that will be done after i have run the program

Side 1

This is going to be a 3 tool change process. we are going to start with 22 mm surfacing bit to a depth of 0.5mm to clean off any damage done to board it will then run around the edge of the board, the second pass will be drill function using 6 mm end mill. Finally will run v bit to make the grove grid. and outer border.

Side 2

One pass 6 mm end mill and the job is done. this pass will cut 1.5 mm depth 17 mm diameter circle so the trended inserts can be countersunk.

Running the program

Side 1

So first up the skim. in with my surfacing tool and time to zero it. do love the z probe script written by Charlie look at my review on the CNC machine for more details. right all set up to go have no idea on speeds and feeds on this. ok first and the second attempt failed miserably think i know why my rpm was far too slow so gave up for the night. new day new vigour lol did some light reading overnight and found my Spindle will go up to 24000 rpm i was running way slow for bit size so have adjusted tool to 18000 rpm from 1800 will try this again today.

Ok i am dumb i have miss calculated the size of material doh re-run the edges then hit the soft limits so did some recalculations and then rehashed my board completely.

Luckily being CNC no damage done so the board adjusted the gcode and off again i went with the board skimming. so process 1 ended up as 3 processes dont worry have made adjustments to the master files.

Some pictures of the resurfacing process. in process.

  • Away we go.
  • doh size is wrong
  • Resized to to proper dimentions
  • dam it it soft limits
  • Right 0.5 mm down and done only 3 more processes to run and we are done.

The re designed board:

Side 1 redesigned.
Side 2 re designed

Next up the grid. so out with the 30 mm surface tool. in with the v bit and time to zero the tool.

  • V-bot away
  • think i need to work on speeds and feeds as very slow.
  • All done for tonight need to hover it but thats tommorow.

right holes tomorrow and then time to flip the board. hopefully will line up not sure if i should enlarge cut out just as the flip is the unknown hopefully will work out

Now to swap tools and put the end mill in and zero the tool. before running the 98 holes that need cutting. all ready for me to press start later. as the son had his nap got vacuum over the baseboard.

cleaned and ready to drill.

Disaster forgot to enable the spindle when on a destructive path gouging through grid i then reset but it had moved waste board and then ended up drilling through the bed in 2 places destroying 6mm endmill in process. managed to save it by flipping board so going to start again and not be so tired when playing with CNC machines.

Redone first 3 stages now for the flip going to finish off by drilling manual thought 2 halves as not to risk damage.

drilling done.
side 1 done.

Back on track and only another evening to waste on the board cnc humour.

continuing on with 6 mm end mill so no need to zero the tool final run of the cnc machine for this project. Well, i thought that was going to be the case but no i was wrong.

going to be glad to see the back of this project lol.

Right, this has gone a little wired on me as most of the circle are circle but some are not i think its to do with the soft limits stopping the bit from moving i think i am going to have t rethink side 2 of the board. Depth has not penetrated the holes so going to have to drill each one manually. oh and final fuck up they are not central to where i drill through the board.

So back to program and time to rethink design. the joys of doing things your self lol ill be worth it in the long run though lol. going to skim the board by 1.5 mm and then should be able to finish off machining of the board. I hope.

side 2 remixed for the 3rd time

will run that tomorrow as had enough tonight and it is 1 am again one day i will go to bed early. its a curse.

Another day first up out with an electric drill and six mill drill 98 holes to do drilled and now am going bolt the board down and run the skim and dam it, I have miscalculated the skim by 0.25 mm so time to modify the program. and run it again went well till dust shoe dropped had to kill the cut 20mm from the end of the run. Right enough is enough mach 3 g-code editing here we go figure out where it turns to run the last side edited the code to start there and away it went job done.

all skimmed ready for t nuts.
front re done

98 t-nuts to hammer in to the wast board and its done.

can see the damage it di in the first run and the skim i had to do and now hammer time.
all hammerd in now to flip it hope none fall out and mount it back on the bed.

The finished item only took week to run in the end all a good learning curve as most projects are already thought of my next project for the machine just need to get some aluminum and some M5 screws. also going to make some 3d printed ones as well.

all done at last.

Now to make some clamps over to fusion 360 to make my own as don’t want to spend out when i can design and make it my self metal and plastic

So that will be then next project should have 3d printed side done buy end of the week. that will be part one part 2 will be me teaching my self fusion 360 manufacturing.

keep reading.

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Ok time for a new project well finishing one CNC enclosure and loose ends on the CNC machine.

Started stripping out the old hardware going to use a perspex window mounded to the unit with some flat head threaded rivets. Screw knobs 6 on the big window. then going to buy a A3 sheet if perspex and drill the 2 corners and cut a window out of the tool end with the same side panel but hinged on the top end. with to thumb knobs.

going to find some brackets to print to make the enclosure more scure.

will make sense when you see it.

Still not sure if i need a better dust collector going to get a mask as mdf is nasty stuff.

Going to re-run line vacuum line as it pulling the board also going to look at 65 mm dust shoe. to print.

But will work on that going to mount a camera on the outside of the enclosure looking in as the go pro went flat on me last night. then should be able to get good footage.

will start the documenting of it all tomorrow.

Starting to look at doing some fun stuff think i will get some hard woods to play with.

started looking at some dust shoes last night found one i realy liked the look of but its missing the brush part of the shoe. lots of people asking designer for it. no responce unlike most people who would just find another one. i desided to remix it with the brush attachment.

So pulled stl in to fusion 360 i then used it to reffrence shape and made the rest as i whent looks nice now to test it so first job of the day when i get to the man cave is to load the printer with some Petg and print this out.

this is the original design https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2915093

orignal design

the part i designed is in grey on the image below.

bit in gray is what i designed as was missin from download
divits are for 6 x 2 magnets

I also made a inlay for brush strip to be inserted.

now to print it all

Just waiting on the wife to wake up from her sat morning lie in and will put some petg on the printer and start the print looks nice and compact so hoping will be more effective than the last shoe. as was a little bulky also means i can leave brush off and show you the cutting in action. as just held on with magnets. more later.

first part done now to test fit before i go any further.

First part printed will test fit it in a short while need to still dial in the other printer would be doing this with both running.

fits like a glove will now print the cavity part back in 4 hrs if i am still up and then will do the final part the bit i made and hopefully it all fits together. by tommorow will have a working dust shoe so far its nice and compact need to find some brush for it as mine is too big.

after diner will mark drill and make large observation window and make a mock-up for tool change window. then going to fire up my birthday present from wife a mini router and cut the window out that will probably be tomorrow if time allows. will then order some 4 mm A3 perspex and do i attempt to print my own hinges, hmm maybe i will to save some money.

also going to look for a enclosure camera mount or something that will suite my application.

So a bit of graft with some research more later

Ok! I sat down mistake I know just printing tonight will get this one off the bed then i will get the next one printing so by morning i should have a working prototype now to look for brush for the shoe.

second part done

Right 10 min cool down and will go remove it from the bed and start on the last part hopefully will all fit together.

away we go night all back tomorrow for more fun.

from design to production in less than a day do love 3d printing.

Morning all well afternoon had a lie in this morning was a late one. but parts are finished off. Will go down and see it fits before i apply the magnets as i have limited supply.

Just need to do a test fit. and find some brush. in fact that what i am going to do now.

It fits like a glove going to make a custom brush for it shortly might cut a broom down and hot glue gun the bristles in place.

  • Perfect fit now to add metal and magnets
  • underside

will post remix shortly on Thingiverse and make public will post more images shortly once done hoping to do more on the enclosure later.

to make the above you will the following parts off Thingiverse.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4460116

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2915093

Right Fitted the hardware and magnets have fitted it to spindle works well and is nice and compact has great suction too. just need to make the brush up next. not sure the best way to do this might buy a roll of PVC door blind material 2mm. and cut it down then make slits all around for brush part. limits are spot on got to love fusion 360 love my hobby licences free to makers and such a powerful tool i still need to do a course on it and learn its full potential.

Hardware and magnets inserted no need for glue limits spot on.
fits like a glove
zoomed out shot will do test tomorrow

Have started to drill holes for rivets i will then drill 2 fixing holes and mount perspex on to thumbscrews will drill these holes slightly bigger as gives me movement after i have drilled it then will drill a further 4 holes to racking so six screws in total. Drill batteries went flat waiting for a charge. before i mark and drill other holes.

2 holes drilled 4 to go then rivet time.

Think i will then move the suction hole to the top of enclosure might cut vacuum hose using 40 mm pipework to run a cleaner line to vacuum. going to do a test cut and see how it performs now with the different shoe.

Going to do that tomorrow as getting late again. will take a couple more shots later when i go take the battery off charge.

2 rivets in the hole just need to squish them need to change the head from 3 mm to 6 mm might actually do all the 3 mm holes first so i can then just concentrate on the 6 mm.

time to sleep back tommoorow.

Right been working on a day job in the man cave but have had time to drill and rivet all the side access holes.

I am going to get some cheap opaque 4 mm perspex from the local DIY store. and some insulation foam tape to stop dust coming out.

But that will be tomorrow as will be going out to the office. so will stop on my way back.

found a sacrificial broom to cut the bristles out of and glue into the shoe well that’s if i can get it to fit. The plan is to cut each bristle in 2 and put masking tape around the middle to holder them together till glued.

Will post images later. Going to run test cut tonight need to do some side projects for a friends gift but won’t cover that just in case he sees it.

Test run worked well wow the cave heats up and the vacuum is very noisy might have to see how to get a quieter vaccum.

Away way we go going with less dept and and more speed.

It turned out well going to need to do some minor sanding then to paint it.

all v bit cuts done just end mill pass to run

Just need to run the cut out pass but will that tomorrow happy with my progress going to get some different woods to play and some aluminum.

New 4 axis mpg.

Managed to install new MPG had some issue installing as it was not quite registering as in showed up on the PC but wouldn’t move. was about to send a shitty email to the ebay seller but. held off i consolted google and came up a blank i then remember last one dident like usb 3.0 plugs so I tried that. it then worked i will now to set up the macros as then can press button to do actions.

Did find a video on adding custom macros as want as the system uses it uses its own z prob script. the video showed how to get the mpg to work with 3rd party macros. to add z probe function and a few others. so i will start making a list of macros to add to the mpg. that might be a job of the day as the weather is not on my side today.

Will be going to the local hardware store later for some perspex and wood later. i managed to mark out the base board for its window cut out if the rain lets up later will cut it out when my son has is nap. as then can start putting things together. ready for perspex sheeting later.

little hard to see pencil marks but theirs a window there this is for quick access for changing tools.

right i will update more later if i can get it cut out today. the sun came out and the son finally slept window is now cut now to wake the boy.

Tool change window. now to seal it all up and make it dust proof it.

Tonight will screw it all together and make it as dust proof as possible. more later on this.

back from DIY store, i couldn’t get any perspex so got a sheet of 6 mm MDF will make it out of that for time being COVID-19 limited supply’s.

have marked it up ready to cut sheet down and add holes and rivets then will use foam backed tape to act as a gasket, will then use 3 x M6 screw knobs to hold sheet in place.

Cut the sheet down using my bosh multi tool cut though the MDF like butter. The MDF is temporary till i can get perspex. The joys of covid-19. i then drilled the fixing holes for the panel i then held up the MDF in position. I marked thorough the drill hole on the mdf. i then drilled the marked hole. I then fitted first flat rivet in the hole and fixed it in place with the rivet gun. then placed the MDF back ant attached it using the plastic M6 knob. I then marked up the renaming 2 holes. I then drilled them both and applied rivets to both holes.

New tool door quick access.

I then attached 6 mm insulation tape all around the window to stop dust escaping

lots of foam tape to help dust escaping.

I have also attached cabinet edge blocks through the enclosure to seal it up. need to get some more duct tape to seal to the racking.

its nice and snug

will take some pictures shortly but happy with it so far just need to play some more the system i think I might get a 1m hover extension pipe so it can be plugged in and out.

will measure that tomorrow and have a look at options.

have reprogrammed the mpg script so my z zeroing prob will now work on the mpg just need to figure out what custom macros i am going to install to it.

and it works liking this.

with to door off it gives great access to the front with 3 turn screws about 3 turns to release front and six to do the sides.

door open

I have a few bits to add to this project but they can be done as when i will update and post.

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At last a proper review of 3040T Chinese CNC machine

Why i got this machine?

As some one who loves his 3D printer and laser engraver/cutting machines. that all operate on g-code and x and y and z axis thought a CNC machine would be the next bit of kit to get and should be a doddle to progress in to.

Well, its been my biggest doorstop for a long time and with the help of a few videos and the terrible instructions that came with it i now finally after a years have a fully operational machine. I brought the machine at the end of 2017 as got a good deal on it. was shipped over from Germany turned up in 3 boxes. Was a scary thought as the first box turned up on day one second and 3rd came a day later.

Why review this now.

This is being placed here as a help guide for others as limited information on these machines and not much help for the beige machine not the one with black control box same name but works using a serial port controller.

I went with the USB controller version as did not have any old school pc machines kicking around with water-cooled spindle.

the software link was emailed to with Mach 3 rnr motion controller plugin and some instructions for a 3020 machine in Chinglish.

So i built and set up the machine according to guide. spindle fired up and had movement. went full-on with a complex engraving program machine started and crashed into x and y-axis hit estop nothing happen pulled the plug. the fear across my face what was i doing wrong. then tried something less complex again was not working for me axis were flipped and not working right.

My son was born so my life was turned upside down. so it was stored in a part completed enclosure.

Every time the wife travelled down to wales or i had a spare moment or so i tinkered with the machine not getting any ware i then took control box apart to see what the controller was.

it’s called MACH3 USB controller card red card there is not much on it found pinout for the board.

From that, I figured out i could add limit and home switches using, figured out that IN1 was E-stop IN2 was limit switch IN3 was home switch IN4 was for a probe.

Added some wires and drilled out a hole to run the wires out. tried touch ground and end nothing while trying to configure in mach 3 first auto-config wouldn’t work as not serial card nothing was showing on the diagnostic page. gave up again.

Was driving me nuts was seriously thinking about selling it. bit the bullet and re-read the install guide started with a fresh install on the newly built pc. looked at each screen grab page noticed that pin was all set to port 3 with different pin number so e-stop was port 3 pin 1. hit estop machine stopped eureka moment. I then followed these and added 2 and 3 and 4 for limit, home switches and probe.

i then tried to configure soft limits to solve crashing issues. no joys kept on crashing not working correctly. was driving me nuts thought well my 3d printer and later both use limit switches might try that.

I ordered some micro switches were not sure how to install them as all things i found on Thingiverse were for older machines or wrong machine type. again life and time got in the way fast forward to the lockdown of covid-19 as stuck at home and finished off my backlog of jobs in the mancave.

i desided to give my self a week to get it working or sell it. after watching a few videos i desided to remix a microswitch holder giving it adjustment then armed with some M3 tape i stuck mu limit and home switches in place in series so 3 for homing and 3 for limits.

mach3 works that the home switches after homeing become limit witches. so if tripped E-stop is activated. cool cannot damage the machine.

i then revisited softlmits and realised the error of my ways looking at the videos realised that safe zone 1.0000 was 1″ and i was running in mm so 1mm is noting now set to 10mm so has a chance to stop before hitting limits.

so now had fully operational machine. will drill and tap all my switches eventuly but for the time being it works dont fix it.

Would i recommend buying a small hobby cnc?

3040T yes i would but be prewarned as will all Chinese product there if no support unless helped by the community. you will need to understand your bed and zeroing where your material placed on that bed.

i am still working out which software will be easiest for me to understand when it comes to designing love fusion 360 not used the CAM side of it yet. have just made some suff using freeware and free trials.

Thanks for helping getting my machine dialed in.

For end-stops and z probe and edge finder script would recommend Charlie Sarsfield you tube channel got me thinking on how to fix stuff. also has a edge finding tool for zeroing the machine i am yet to install this. but on my list of mods.

would also check out GruBrew channel for tips on limit and home switches and google for series wiring of micro switches.

If you are in the same boat i was please feel free to contact me and will gladly pass on my knowledge.

Posted on

As last week went to pot

Not setting any goals this week as its a busy weekday job and some RNR. I have got to go pick up some screws today so i can mount my baffle board to window for more tools and space for parts. then got to re assemble gun rack for my air soft weapons and hang some other bit. on new baffle board.

Then depending on time, it’s on to the Prusa Mk2s MMU as I am on a roll of fixing stuff the last couple of week. If I can/cannot fix it will be starting the mammoth print of bits for the Haribo edition as again its bits taking up space that can be used other projects.

Will also be my first time running PETG as a material. hopefully will be easy learning curve.

On other current projects:

Wist, I wait for the EZout probe to clear customs. I am going to run some more calibration prints probably tonight. as did try doing bigger print but had some issues with print sticking to the bed. probably just a tweek to the z hight offset.

over the weekend I have built octopi set up that I am currently getting up to speed via TeamViewer for plugins and adding stream feed to the studio might give it a quick test later see things are running right. once I have finalised that will clone the card and do it for the Prusa Mk3 using the pins off the controller board.

What next up in the cave:

Getting limit switches wired into the CNC machine. then I need to learn how to use it so will probably do this via stream so hopefully will get some help with getting all going.