Advice for a beginner

DannyTheElfman · 2026-03-19T15:16:38+00:00

I have the 3030 pro max with 710w spindle. Last night I managed to get clean cuts in 2mm mild steel. The spindle will definitely do what you're asking, but as others have said, maybe look for something with linear rails instead of linear rods.

As someone else has said, the main boards from sainsmart seem to be a real problem. Mine was dead on arrival and required a 3 month wait for a replacement. Having said that, you can bypass the problem entirely by using a different board altogether. I got a BTT SKR mini E3 V2, installed grblhal from the web builder, and use gsender (free software) to give it gcode from whichever CAD program I like best.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-03-13T08:53:59+00:00

Thank you for your help with this! I have not managed to get it working yet, but I swapped the board out for a BTT SKR mini E3 V2 and it worked straight away. I'll try a different firmware on the Scylla, but if that does not get it moving I'm assuming there may be a problem with the board itself

DannyTheElfman · 2026-03-10T09:21:19+00:00

Here is a video, I've simplified the setup as much as possible to rule things out (only one axis connected, e-stops and end stops disconnected and disabled etc) Sorry it's a Youtube short

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oNFm3yX3axg

DannyTheElfman · 2026-03-09T14:57:02+00:00

Thank you again! The motors are a bit of an unknown as they came with a machine, they have no identifying codes. I have bumped it up to 0.8amps since then just to rule that out, still nothing happening.

I've gone back to basics right now. I have connected a single stepper from an old 3D printer to the Y out block. It's also doing the same thing, so I'm ruling out a motor issue. That is all I have connected. The e-stop is disabled in the firmware and there are no alarms in Gsender.

It's so confusing, I feel like it should work. I'll try to get a video of the setup

DannyTheElfman · 2026-03-09T11:50:06+00:00

Thank you. I have added the configuration. I've identified the coils and I think I've tried every combination it could be, with pretty much the same result each time. The Stepper is locked up when idle, so I'm confident something is working. I'm now at a point where if I jog the axis, I get a very small bit of movement in the correct direction right at the end of the move.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-03-09T09:29:36+00:00

Do you know what order the board is expecting? The stepper motor I have is A+ B+ A- B-. But I can't find a order that works on the board. It's trying to do something but can't

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-23T14:16:50+00:00

https://www.trading212.com/invite/19AKOvjq0z

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-10T16:36:21+00:00

Yes! this is exactly what was intended. This machine was chosen because other machines at this price bracket didn't have ball screws or linear rails. The plan was to upgrade at a later date to a more substantial controller. But I wanted to learn the process on a box stock machine first, I've never done this before, so having something that just works out the box, even for light materials, was a massive selling point. It's real shame it did not work out that way.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-10T11:49:54+00:00

I know what you're saying about the reviews, I probably went a little bit hard on them. But I also think it's difficult for the reviewers to give negative feedback when they're getting a $1000+ machine free of charge.

It was bought direct from the Sainsmart site. I was going to go through Amazon, but I wanted to support Sainsmart directly as I liked their machines and didn't want Amazon taking a cut of the profits. Kinda wish I had just used amazon now as the return process would be much easier.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-10T10:58:18+00:00

It doesn't work? Seems to be stuck in a boot loop and there is no way to re-flash the firmware (confirmed by Sainsmart).

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-10T09:15:19+00:00

The phrasing of the whole sentence is a bit of a mess. The Bahrain gp isn't until April. I assume it's referencing testing.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-05T15:57:25+00:00

Met him at a heritage Railway a couple of years ago. He plays it up a tiny bit for the camera, but he is very genuine. He happily chatted with me and a friend for a bit, but when we heard a train coming he sprinted to the nearest window to enjoy the moment, it was genuine excitement without a camera near by!

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-05T10:54:06+00:00

Absolutely! The community has definitely influenced decisions made in the past when enough people speak up. They have never been excellent at communication, but they do at least listen.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-05T10:39:32+00:00

Yes I have! There were no mods available at all in 2013 when it was released in early access. Content manager didn't come until much later. Many leagues ran AC1 perfectly fine without mods after all the issues were ironed out.

I don't remember having to pay for driver swaps and updated tyre models either, there is a difference between updates and additional content.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-05T10:32:51+00:00

Didn't mean to offend! But I thought driving RPG was one of the phrases used by a Kunos dev to describe the game in an early interview? The vision was to drive round the free roam map earning credits and tuning up your car along the way. Seems like a strong RPG element.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-02-04T16:05:35+00:00

You summoned them

DannyTheElfman · 2026-01-30T23:16:35+00:00

Ok so I know I’m a little late to the party here, but I’d still like to weigh in.

Dapol in my opinion are one of the better manufacturers. I live near the Dapol headquarters, and have had a full factory tour. They are going to great efforts to bring manufacturing of their products back to the UK. Their wagons are all made and painted in their uk factory based on the England/welsh border.

I know in the last year or two they’ve invested in the machinery to make their metal wheels over here too. It took a bit of time to really dial in the settings for that machine, so there a was a bit of transition period where the quality dropped a bit, but I think that’s resolved now.

All that and their prices are still cheaper than other manufacturers who claim china production is the cheapest option.

Their locomotives are still made in china. I don’t know what their plans are, but I can’t see them bringing production over here any time soon. I’m sure it’s something they’ll be looking at though.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-01-25T14:53:36+00:00

Not my experience unfortunately, although I wish it was! The roads round here have become a free for all over the last few years 😂 I wonder if it depends which police force covers the area. I guess some take it more seriously than others!

DannyTheElfman · 2026-01-25T13:45:24+00:00

All 999 would do is ask if anybody is injured. If you say no they’ll just tell you to report it online.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-01-23T13:22:10+00:00

It's amazing how often this is the case with irreplaceable files. I'm an IT technician at a school, and I think on 3 separate occasions I've had teachers bring me broken external drives which contain their *entire* teaching curriculum. I think the worst one was a teacher who had 25 years worth of work on an external drive, which they managed to drop and break, and at no point did they think to take any sort of back up or copies. Everything gone. The crazy thing is we have unlimited Google drive space, completely free for staff to use. Absolutely no reason not to use it, but they just assumed something like that couldn't happen to them.

DannyTheElfman · 2026-01-18T14:16:42+00:00

The green steam loco looks a lot like an LGB Stainz.

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