Not sure which direction you decided to go @Rodrigo @Nordseele but I just got an email for the Carbide3d annual sale which gives a discount for packages shipped outside North America.

Don’t know how it works out vs Robotshop after discount, shipping, tax/vat, currency conversion, but heads up in case it helps.

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Thanks ! Yeah I’ve received this email too but I have to investigate a little bit more before buying one. I want to cut and engrave wood I know it does that well but I’d also like to cut and engrave aluminium panels for eurorack, I need to be sure 100% sure I can do that with the Shapeoko before getting one… It’s also difficult to have a clear understanding of all the additional tools necessary and what cost it represents on top of the machine itself :slight_smile:

It can definitely do aluminum, both cutting an engraving. I’ve done a bit with hammond enclosures for pedals (totally stock machine), and there are users on the C3D forum doing insane things with solid block.

Agree that the “stuff” is a hidden cost. At a minimum you’ll need cutters, collets (depending on what cutters), some sort of vacuum system or enclosure. Depending on where you intend to put it, an enclosure is great to help manage the dust and noise.

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I have no experience with CNCs, but I have made a number of Eurorack cases with a laser cutter. A budget laser cutter will limit you to materials not much thicker than 1/4". For a portable case that might take some abuse on the road, you might want a more robust piece of wood. That said, I’ve been satisfied with my 1/4" plywood cases.

Yeah I saw that. I ended up ordering one at the start of the month (which I haven’t even opened up the box due to a big performance tomorrow).

I did get a 10% off since they had a short sale, so that was a nice perk.

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Finally got it assembled and wired up (definitely more complex than putting together a 3d printer)!

I still need to square and tram it, along with all the other fine-tuning stuff. Thankfully Winston Moy recently did a video on that stuff:

(I actually need to do a bunch of upgrades for my 3d printer too. I ordered a bed leveling thing, a little camera for the raspi that drives it, etc… Just need to get around to it)

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Here are a few of my 3D projects:

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It looks like too nice of a space to be putting that, perhaps… I’m envisioning woodchips and dust everywhere…

Cool! That’s pretty timely! Just about to strt an Arc clone!

Tell me about it… it’s across the room from my 3d printer too, so not ideal.

For now I plan on babysitting it with a vacuum smack up against the cutter sucking everything up, then medium-term will be a proper dust shoe, and long-term will be an enclosure (+ dust shoe).

The way our place is laid out for now, there’s basically indoor-ish space, or outdoor-ish space that’s cold/damp, so not a good option for now.

How’s it working out for you?

I’ve not actually done much yet. I ordered the dust shoe around christmas but it hasn’t arrived yet (I basically ordered it to my folks place in the US and then they will send it over in a care package with other random bits like that).

I did recently upgrade all my 3d printer stuff, with a new hot end, auto bed-leveling etc… and that shit’s amazing. Huge difference.

I also bought one of those official raspberry pi cameras to hookup to my octopi but I can’t seem to get it working. I’ll troubleshoot that some more.

Which hotend did you get? (I have an Ender 3 and might want to upgrade)

I got a Micro Swiss one, so one of the slightly fancier ones.

It’s hard for me to say what difference that has had on its own as I did a whole bunch of other things at the same time, but it definitely heats up much faster (I had damaged/removed the “sock” on my stock CR-10s hotend).

In terms of bang-for-the-buck, I wouldn’t say it’s super high though. Having some capricorn tubing, all metal extruder, and auto bed-leveling are easier/cheaper upgrades. Same goes for the actual nozzle as mine had gotten quite gunked up.

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I was thinking of trying one of the micro Swiss clones from AliExpress (which are really quite cheap).

Finally finished the “Janko keystep” print and assembly. This was several days worth of printing:

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Ah that’s cool. I wasn’t aware of that. I’m sure it’d be an improvement.

Totally get that. I was really daunted when it first got here (not that I’m ultra confident now…) and it took me awhile to get my feet under me. Bummer about the suckit – I’ve heard their wait times are getting longer and longer.

It’ll happen, looking forward to seeing what you get into!

A cool project that requires some 3d printing: a Lego microtonal guitar:

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On the topic of CNCs - for anyone looking for a more low budget solution and are willing to put in the work required I can highly recommend Nikodem Bartnik’s plans for a 3D printed CNC: https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-3D-Printed-Dremel-CNC/

I haven’t kept up with the project but at least it used to have a pretty active Facebook group too where the design was improved so that’s probably worth checking out before diving in.

I use a 500W chinese spindle for mine and with some practice and experimentation I am now able to get a very consistent result for making Eurorack panels out of 1.5mm aluminium. Also, my wife uses it for cutting out copper for jewlery making. I’ve also done some small woodworking projects. It’s really fun to work wood in such an accurate way I find.

The machine has its limitations. It’s probably not as rigid as some commercial machines, although I think people have improved on the design in this regard. Also, the surface on mine is limited to ~16cm wide projects, but that’s ok for my needs.

I use CNC.js to control it, it’s a full featured web based CNC controller.

Kindly,
Terje

A small album of results:

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