Quote Originally Posted by aarggh View Post
Christine, the first obvious problem you have is the use of the Dremel, they're a fine tool for general polishing, grinding, engraving, etc, but pretty much worthless for any worthwhile degree of CNC machining. They're too low power, and the runout is abysmal, you will never get a decent tight tolerance with a Dremel.

This seller supplies a really dirt cheap but beautifully made spindle (as well as a fantastic little machine called the Sable-2015) that with a little modification to your Z plate that will be far more appropriate for machining:

ER11 Spindle for Sable 2015 SPD ER11 ENGRAVER Mill PCB's Engraving | eBay

So far as the machine goes, it's not a terrible design at all, all machines suit a purpose and price range, but you will have some work ahead of you to stiffen, and make the machine more robust. For example some really easy things to improve the design without too much cost, or effort, would be to add right angle support brackets to the thin plates that bolt the Y axis to the extrusions under the MDF spoilboard. And also along the top and ends of the X axis to make the gantry sides a lot more rigid. Just replacing the Dremel alone will vastly improve the quality of the finished work.

It's all very doable, you just need to look at all the points that can possible flex under load, and brace, support, or fix them (usually at a right angle) in a way that minimises this as much as possible, but I wouldn't go the route of wholesale replacing of components, I think you'll more than likely end up having expended vast amounts of money, while having a machine in various states of disrepair and thus unusable. I'd recommend beef it up as much and as simply as you can, if it still doesn't cut if for you, (pun intended!), then look at another more suitable machine and relegate this as a dedicated engraving machine, which I'm sure it would be perfectly fine for.

cheers, Ian
Yeah I'm looking at some other machine options rather than just waist time and money. I did purchase the quiet cut spindle upgrade which is a lot better.