Hi, I'm excited to purchase my first CNC. I am an avid woodworker and looking forward to this new capability. A general question on what I should purchase. Assume I need to order this: LEAD1010 3 - high torque motors Motion Controller Power supply 611 Dewalt router - does this router wrong good? No idea on what router bits I should get to begin with. Any suggestion? Do I need the XYZ Touch Probe - Assume it is good to add but probably dont need at the beginning?? Can you get a Laser? Assume want 7W to be able to cut wood? Okay, question on software - assume comes with Open Cam and Open Control. I read that it interfaces with Fusion 360. Do I need to order V Carve to begin with? What I would like to do is be able to take pictures of 2D figures and have it generate the G Code for it. Not sure if it has this functionality. Thanks for your help, Jeff
You need 4 steppers. Two for Y, one for X, and one for Z. The Dewalt is a good router. I have a garage full of Dewalt tools and they are all high quality. That being said, I use a Makita on my CNC. I also have a lot of Makita tools. OpenBuilds sells many different sets of ruter bits you can look through. I had many in my garage from regular wod working I started with. You do not need the touch probe. There are many ways to set the Zero points for your three Axis. It just makes it easier. You can add a 7 watt laser, but if you want to really cut wood, a 40 watt CO2 laser is your best low end bet. I can't see a 7 watt laser cutting wood of any thickness very well unless you use many passes. The lower wattage lasers are more for engraving and raster imaging.
Thanks for the info! surprised on needing 4 motors for Y axis. I watched the setup video and didn't notice it. Okay will look for 40W CO2 laser.
4 total. A 40 Watt CO2 laser will be impractical to add to a CNC router. They are made of fragile glass tubes that are about 700mm long. Then you need mirrors. See this recent build for a better understanding of what goes into a CO2 laser build. A diode laser will work great for everything but cutting thicker materials and is easily added to the existing machine.
