[zerodin]

Hi All,

I'm new to this board, so please forgive me if I am asking a silly or repeated question..Just a quick one really..

In our (small) workshop, we have an increasing need to machine small 3D parts from plastic and sometimes ally. I'd say perhaps a few different parts per week. We currently put in orders to the local engineering shop who are more used to skimming cylinder heads, and they're pretty reluctant to do anything for me because of the small quantities etc., etc.

So, to cut a long story short, I've got a couple of questions about the CNC 6040 - numbered for ease of reply:

1) Can the 6040 machine parts from aluminium, or is that asking too much? I am assuming plastic is ok.

2) If I got a Gecko control card, how reliable and accurate am I likely to get?

3) I've got a budget of about £2000. Are there any other machines I should be looking at, in this size category?

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm glad I found this board - its huge! Don't know where to start reading! :rainfro:

Cheers,
Dave

[alvyalvy]

I would recommend getting a jcut or jquick cnc since the one you've mentioned, correct me if I'm wrong, seemed to be more hobbyist in nature. I presume you are on a budget when you come in to explore chinese machines, else you would want to look at american or even german cncs. I nearly wanted to buy a High-Z german cnc machine. As it boils down to budget again, i went for a jcut which i received a few days ago. so far the tests look promising in the backlash and repeatability section. USB controller from china.