mcwdoit CNC Router Machine Kit, 3018 Pro GRBL Control 3 Axis DIY Engravering Milling Machine, Desktop Carving Cutting Tool Set for Wood Acrylic Plastic PCB MDF, XYZ Working Area 11.8 * 7.1 * 1.8″

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - for those looking to try CNC for 3-axis wood or soft metal (works OK for aluminum bracelet & bag tag engraving so far) at an entry level price. It was packed very securely. It arrived quickly. All parts were present with a few extra of some small (and probably easy to drop/lose) fasteners. With the included offline controller and bits, I was able to do my first carve in about an hour after I opened the box. Customer service answered my emails within 24hr and all of my questions were answered completely. Software: The included software installed easily on my Windows 10 PC and worked with the included USB cable without problems. Hardware: After my first couple test carves ( What can I say? I HAD to try it out right away! ), I got a bit geekier and losened all of the mounting points, and rebuilt it on a marble counter top so that I knew I was starting with a flat surface. I shimmed the uprights on the gantry so that they were also flat with the counter top ( I used the included flat-stock wrenches as the shims to ensure level with the counter and the same height ), and after tightening down the gantry, I ran the still slightly lose aluminum table all the way to negative Y limits and positive Y limits, securing the mounts that were at limit in both situations to ensure that the mounts kept the table square. I ran the spindle to the corners of the table and measured the distance between the bit I had installed and the table. I adjusted the table guide rails as much as I could and tightened them down. It was almost completely level (within a couple thousandths ) Next step, I may punch shims out of transparency sheets and reset the table mounts to account for the difference. For now, I used a flat end mill to plane some MDF as a waste board, giving me a "machine flat" work surface ( made a big difference engraving designs across 6" of Al. ). The new control board ( grbl 1.1f compliant ) is covered ( the old one was not ) and includes a fan. Both boards have connections for a laser attachment. Both boards have open connectors for the offline controller, homing/end stops (easy to find on Amazon and appear to be really easy to wire), and for a touch plate for Z zero setting. The laser attachment will be somewhere in the $100-150 range. The stop switches should be less than $10 ( though you'll have to make your own mounts ). The touch plate is also less than $10. So far, I've done 2.5D relief carvings on MDF and maple, engraving in a few Al stocks. Next, I've ordered a laser head to attach and I'm looking forward to trying that out with the also included laser grbl software. (See UPDATE below & pics) With good leveling, it should be easy to carve PCBs similarly ( there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for that as well ). I'm looking forward to trying the laser, particularly for vaporizing coating on metals in a negative photolithography fashion, allowing me to electro-etch metal plates, jewelry, etc. If this machine is assembled without attention to level and adjusting, the results might not be perfect. But, the design itself, without a lot of geeky adjusting, will get you pretty close. With a little more attention, like I described above, it's a pretty solid entry-level machine, and can give some professional looking results on soft materials within the limits of the work dimensions ( pretty big compare to previous generation machines ). UPDATES: Have really gotten into this machine for v-carving, 2.5D milling, & laser applications. Really love the opportunities to make modifications & expand relatively inexpensively as a hobby & creative outlet. Have recently combined 2.5D milling topo maps with leather laser engraving in a project.

I am glad I bought it; zero regrets. This is the first basic CNC mill I played with. I got a great set of parts that were easy to assemble into a working system and I learned a lot. Now that I have disassembled it (see below) I can reuse parts for other robotics projects. On the "pros" side, it works to make very shallow cuts in wood (probably engrave aluminum, too; I did not try it). Anything else is very imprecise, occasionally random. Steppers and spindle are strong enough to allow for good milling of wood and probably for a (slow) milling of aluminum. Rods are accurate. Frame is OK (I would add two strips for extra rigidity of attaching X/Z assembly, but it is OK as is). But couplers for stepper motors and spinner attachment are really bad. This should be easy and cheap to fix, and could turn this unit into a much more capable CNC. Couplers for attaching stepper motors to positioning rods move if there is any resistance, that is when milling more than a hair deep. This should be trivial to fix; there are many ways of good attachment for two metal items together that cost pennies. The spindle attachment is even worse -- spindle goes into a wobbly plastic ring. Any lateral force moves spindle assembly around and the bit off vertical, killing precision. Same as with couplers -- OK when engraving, but deeper milling is inaccurate. It would be more expensive ($20-$50 maybe?) to add a rigid spindle attachment but would allow real milling, not just engraving. Bottom line: at least 4 stars, and many good parts. But could be much more capable.

Good packaging and easy assembly, assembly instructions in the manual are easy to follow, assembly took me may be 2-3 hours, no additional tools required. The only two small issues I had were: 1. I had to force y axis lead screw through the nut as the thread was not cut to the end 2. There are no instructions on polarity of the spindle, so I had to figure out what will be correct connection to make it spin in the direction that I needed. On positive side quality greatly increased compared with earlier models (based on YouTube reviews). There is absolutely no play in spindle assembly. I didn’t really expect much when I ordered the machine, but it turned out perfect for the small project I had. I was able to cut 0.75 oak board in to the design I needed. I really love that you can run your jobs off SD card in the remote. Now I do not have to bring my laptop in to garage, I don’t have to make sure it will not suspend, or crash, or loose connection. Just copy NC program on to the disk and run. Creating programs is not easy and requires going through bunch of YouTube videos, often containing outdated information, so you need to be a sort of person that doesn’t afraid to experiment and tinker with things, there is no easy button here, but I was able to get from 0 to designing my parts and figuring out how to cut them on the machine in 3 days, and while I am computer literate, I am not CAD/CAM engineer, all I had some previous experience with small laser cutter.

I have been playing with this machine for about a week now and am impressed with all it can do. Assembly is not 20 minutes as the say in some videos, but an hour or two. Nothing too difficult for assembly and wiring. The Software(Candle) speaks to the device and also allows manual control via g code or buttons. I have now cut out oak, pine, and MDF. This CNC is incredibly accurate and does move along reasonable quickly when cutting. You will not blast through the material and a slow and steady pace is needed - 777 mm/min feed rate with 1mm cut are easily achieved. One thing I have found is that it vibrates at times and you need to check the machine over on a regular basis ensuring everything is still snug. I really like this CNC and am already cutting parts of my own design. Prior to this machine I had some exposure to CNC g-code and understand the logic behind the code needed to control the machine, but am by no means an expert. This CNC is easy to work and fun to work with. I am excited for the future and what all it is going to now bring - did I mention I really like this little machine

Great little machine for learning

My primary use for this is wood carving. I found it to be easy to assemble and easy to use (once you figure out how to generate the proper g-code files you want.) The only real downside I found was the 775 7000 rpm spindle. It really needs a 12000 rpm spindle. You can still get it to cut but slowly. Unfortunately, I had to return the unit I had due to a defective controller board. It stopped functioning an hour into a 5 hour rough cut. I learnt a lot from the short time I had this. One of the things is that most of what I wanted to do was too large for this cnc. I will probably get another later for small projects.

Very poor instructions. No ability to contact seller for help and the software doesn’t work

This is a slick little unit that is ideal for beginners. Within a week my family and I were able to design and create quality items with absolutely no prior experience and no upgrades required. Our only regret is that we didn't get one sooner.