[Git_tard]

Looking for prices and sizes that can be of use building electrics. Only CNC machines I've ever dealt with were mostly Haas mills and lathes, and a few swiss machines. Know virtually nothing about router tables. Can anyone lend a helping hand and share some info?

[osoloco69]

We would like to be able to scan an existing shape as well. Looking in the $5k or less range. Already have computer workstation for the project.

[aarggh]

Looking for prices and sizes that can be of use building electrics. Only CNC machines I've ever dealt with were mostly Haas mills and lathes, and a few swiss machines. Know virtually nothing about router tables. Can anyone lend a helping hand and share some info?

It all depends on your scale and budget, if you can't afford (or don't want?) a local premium build, a Chinese one would be a good combination of price and performance. A 6090 (the A version is better) would be a really great start, but if budget doesn't quite extend to that, then maybe a 6040 might be the go and upgrade to a 6090 when finances permit. The 6090 with preferably a 2.2kw spindle/VFD would be more than ample reliability and power for guitars, and you could invest a little in a rotary axis to be able to more or less do 3D, up to a point. Just put in "cnc 6090a" and "cnc 6040" in Ebay, and sort by lowest price to see what i'm talking about. I don't think there is any other cnc machines that even come close to the quality and price of these. Just be warned, buying a 6040 means you'll also need to buy a replacement controller, (I use a Gecko G540 for $275) as the ones that ship with this model come with a controller that is garbage. It's no big deal and very easy to swap out, but it is a factor to consider the extra $275 or so for a 6040. The 6090 is a whole level above though. I would highly recommend it.

cheers,
Ian

[Git_tard]

The 6040 with a good setup on ebay is still really reasonable. They had no 6090 results returned, though. Thanks for the info, Ian. This machine will save us a lot of money, we were thinking it was going to be way more expensive. I do have one question, though. Do you think that 6040 is going to be able to do neck-thru pieces? I'm saying it's not going to be long enough, but if I could cut one end of a long piece and then turn it around to cut the other end, that would work. Is this a possibility with the 6040 or 6090? I guess it depends on the workholding mechanism itself.

[aarggh]

The 6040 is a great machine, bar the crap controller that needs to be replaced of course, but I'm not sure what you mean about thru neck, can it do fairly deep routing, yes, your limited to the router bits you can use. If you get a model with the 0.8kw spindle, it's ER11, so 7mm bits are the max. Ideally you want a 1.5kw spindle though, it will still be ER11 but will have all the grunt you'll want in a machine that size.

Whatever you do, don't buy a 6040 machine that has one of the brushed DC motors for a spindle, a proper spindle/VFD is the way to go!

The 6090's are not that much more considering the massive difference in build quality, funnily enough there doesn't seem to be many on Ebay right now, but this one is representative of them, bar a few differences I'll explain shortly:

New 6090 CNC Router / Engraver Machine 23.6"x35.5"x4"WorkSize FreeShip WorldWide | eBay

The machine above seems to be a little overpriced than usual, normally they are around $2750 inc shipping. This particular model I don't actually like a great deal, as it has very narrow side supports for the gantry, this will cause a degree of flex due to the lower rigidity, leading to accuracy and performance problems. The table is quite good though, being a solid machined cast, so that's terrific, but I also can't see the rails and ballscrews, the 6090A has good Taiwanese linear rails, not round rails as I suspect this machine may have. It also comes with a 1.5kw spindle, which is adequate, but given the capability of this machine a 2.2kw would be far more appropriate.

This is another machine that fits in between the 6040 and the industrial type 6090:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CNC-6090-...item4aba4be3b4

Bit expensive for my liking though, and no decent pics to show what the whole machine looks like, i'm a bit sus on stuff like that.

So far as turning workpieces around to machine both sides, that's really easy, as part of the machining on the first side, add in a couple of locating holes going right through into the spoilboard, then use steel pins the same size as the holes to flip it over, so long as your model has the two sides oriented right, it will be perfectly aligned every time. The steel pins are really cheap on Ebay, maybe a few dollars for a dozen or so.

If your material is really thick, you could just run the gcode for the alignment holes on the spoilboard, then when you do the material, even if you don't drill the holes right through, you can get deep enough to fit a couple of locating pins on one face, so you can flip it over for machining the underside.

cheers,
Ian

[Git_tard]

By neck-thru I mean the neck goes completely thru the body, as in the central length of the instrument is one long piece. That's what I meant by turning a piece around to work a different end. This is really great info. It's very helpful so far. Thank you very much.

[seansear]

Git_tard, check your PM's

[MilkoLippe]

Hello there. I am at the point where I am going to buy the LXM 0609 router with mach 3 support and rotary axis. The ultimate goal for me is to build very nice guitars and necks. My question is: Is there anyone who ever tried to make the neck on the rotary so it can be made directly without the need of turning around the wood to machine the other side? And if anyone did build a neck using the rotary. Did it work properly?
What I notice in the youtube video's is that when using the rotary usually the X axis stands exactly in the middle right over the centerline of the rotary.. Usually the Y and Z move plus the A(rotary) are moving. When making the guitar neck using the rotary I would say that the rotary only needs to turn once 180 degrees to machine the back part. How is this done? Why does the X axis usually will not be used when using the rotary? If anyone has the system working to build a neck using rotary please post a vid ;-)

[mactec54]

osoloco69

xzero cnc have a router that seems to be ideal, for guitar machining, get the linear rail model, if you have any interest, not the round rail machine

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/xzero-...o-cnc-297.html

[mykaguitars]

Carl Bruce makes an amazing CNC router. I had mine custom made for guitars at X36" x Y25" x Z7.5"

I tried everything and this one was the best in terms of performance. The price can't be beat for what it does. None of the chatter that some of the other hobby grade machines have. Rock solid and perfect for serious guitar work.

Here is a thread I started a while back:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/commer...ml#post1553564

~David

[Tkamsker]

I did an Extruder prototype in Wood on my 4th axis this may be close to your application ,.. You Need to reduce Cut deepness in the length Cut. ,.. I use DeskProto for the gcode i have x y z d a axis ,.. Thomas my Router is awesome (German Quality ) ,..