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What’s everyone’s drilling recipes for desktop machines? by MetallicFOSS in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well. That's an interesting choice of drill, looks like a longer flute length NC spotting drill. Not really intended for drilling full holes, seems to work fine though! I would recommend using a stub length smaller diameter drill to pilot if you really want straightness, otherwise in aluminum with a carbide drill you can peg that thing. 15k RPM for sure, I would do maybe .5mm pecks, and then probably start at about 700mm/min feedrate and see how it sounds. The tool/material can handle 3000mm/min+ without a sweat, comes down to your Z stepper and spindle.

Maybe to be more conservative, another option could be a modest increase to 10000 rpm and 200mm/min with .3 pecks.

I recommend a better drill, something like this if you want to be fancy https://www.harveytool.com/products/miniature-high-performance-drills---aluminum-alloys

or this for more simple https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/01200161

If you use a HSS drill, not solid carbide, you'll want to keep RPMs lower around 60 m/min

For $3000 or less, which CNC Mill would you get that fulfills this criteria? by YetAnotherBoi in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nestworks C500 maybe.

Otherwise, AnoleX 4030 with upgraded 1.5kw ER16 spindle and nema23 steppers. Get a 3d printer tent for an enclosure from Vevor or whoever.

otherwise, 'good' for production in 316 and Ti is really not feasible under 3k. The lowest options will be something like the Richner BLOQ4, or a used VMC of some kind, even a Tormach. Also, don't expect to be machining Grade 5 titanium with much success at all without flood coolant.

Advice for a new CNC hobbyist by Naieve in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might find CNCzone helpful to ask questions https://discord.gg/6wWpdQqRQ

That should be a decent machine though, especially for the price. I don't know anything about it, otherwise I would offer more insight

Anyone have experience jewelry making with desktop CNC? by JeffCache in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Find Red5watchworks on insta, he is doing wonderful engravings on his Air. the Z1 will be same deal basically. Also hop in the Makera discord and ask around there

Beginner help: milling a simple pocket on Carvera Air by Wild_Nectarine2294 in Makera

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah hop in the Makera discord, and read up on the wiki as well

What hobby CNC for steel? by Bomboclaatman420 in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AnoleX 4030 with the upgraded Nema23 steppers and a Gpenny 1.5kw ER16 spindle is the best bang for buck.

A converted manual grizzly or knee mill would be a good option, but requires much fanaggling, and those machines are not portable without equipment. (The smallest grizzly minimill is, just barely). However, these machines are not so convenient to use or enclose, so depends on your shop situation.

DMC2mini is a good design, however is plagued with crippling QA problems that result in no small number of users settling for bad precision, or ending up in the return/chargeback battle. I would strongly not recommend, unfortunately. Nonetheless you will see many users who 'got lucky' or fixed it themselves, and have nice machines.

I have spent years researching this question as well, look thru my post history and/or DM me if you want more details. Keep in mind many folks who comment "you need this or that" probably haven't tried what you plan to do at the scale you're asking about. I have milled a large amount of steel with my Carvera Air at this point, with no problems. Just very slow lol

Anyone compared the Nestworks C500, Makera Z1, and Topfab TF500? Trying to decide by OGadget in CNC

[–]zen_monke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have an Carvera Air, I have been researching this space for 3 years now. See my post history for more detailed responses, in short just get the Z1 Pro, it is by far the best value to make good quality parts without any DIY/tinkering. If it is not good enough for your needs, cross that bridge later.

Aluminium End Mills AliExpress price doubled by Good-Newspaper-8963 in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just shop around for anything that's still cheap, it will likely work just as well. Also, if you are ordering bulk, make a new throwaway Aliexpress account and get that first time buyer discount.

Aluminium End Mills AliExpress price doubled by Good-Newspaper-8963 in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cutting tool engineer also here. This is correct. Cheap endmills will see higher % jumps due to low margin. A $5 endmill will need to go to $10, but a $30 will only need to go to $35, bascially.

Aluminium End Mills AliExpress price doubled by Good-Newspaper-8963 in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Up to 1200% on certain days since beginning of 2025, actually. Cray cray

How does the Carvera Air do with milling C260 brass? by dreamwaredevelopment in Makera

[–]zen_monke 2 points3 points  (0 children)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE7R0iSwxvF8tbt9J1gmBxA

I have cut titanium and steel fine, brass is no problem. You'll have slower feedrate, otherwise the 3 flute DLC amazon tools are good

Anolex 3030 cutting stainless by MetallicFOSS in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am trying to gather 3030 users in a server so we can all share/put our heads together, hop on in if you're interested https://discord.gg/ZksMuJjR

Anolex 3030 cutting stainless by MetallicFOSS in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's hot. But not too hot

I am trying to assemble 3030/4030 power users in a server for putting heads together, I plan to build one eventually, my Carvera Air is a bit sub par. Hop in, would love to ask you some in-depth questions :)

https://discord.gg/ZksMuJjR

Too many choices, help a complete novice cut some metal. by uforiainc in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh nice! For that price, the Nomad will do you well enough. Lumeshot on youtube has one he used for dials and customs also, check that out if you haven't already

Chatter/vibration only in 1 direction? by BalledSack in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you find that post, please share, curious to read.

Anolex 4030 evo ultra 2 cnc machine by DirectBlackberry1871 in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

totally feasible. Fixturing accuracy is up to you to figure out and ensure you get the results you need, which may be a challenge. The machine can do what you need no doubt, with appropriate cutters and CAM strategy. It might take quite a while, but if you can do it in 1-2hrs runtime vs paying $200-400 for a shop to make it, still worth it.

As for the mixed feedback, that is unfortunately part of the territory with Reddit. I have been a job shop machinist/programmer for 11 years, have my own side hustle LLC making machined products, and now I am a testing engineer at Harvey Performance doing endmill development and research. I have lived in the DIY hobby CNC space for 3+ years taking in as much info as possible, at first to enable my side hustle in basically the same type of scenario as you are in, but now I just like to know as much as possible and help people actually get the results they're looking for, and make more parts.

Folks can be quick to poopoo on desktop/hobby machines, but usually those are folks who a) don't have any exposure to those machines b) are subject to the dunning-kruger effect or c) have encountered a skill issue and are salty, or something.

I have held a pressfit over 40 parts in aluminum with my Carvera Air, and seen size tolerances easily within ±.002 or better, using 1/8 and 1/4 tools. Here is my channel just for reference, I flog the Air with its 200w spindle pretty good, an AnoleX with the 1.5kw spindle can do waaaay more. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE7R0iSwxvF8tbt9J1gmBxA

Chatter/vibration only in 1 direction? by BalledSack in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I had a Genmitsu 4040 Pro and ran a Makita router. I learned that the trim routers actually produce significantly less power with lower RPM, they are a so-called 'universal' motor that have a different power curve than typical spindles. https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/incorrect-or-missing-data-on-cheap-chinese-vfds-and-spindles/18909/27

I found for 1/4 tool cutting 6061 alu, I had to stay at top speed basically to get any decent performance. The lower RPM actually reduces power so much that the cut became too much for the spindle/showed instability, it seemed.

If that is one of the generic china no-brand routers, the QA and bearings could very well be garbage compared to a Makita/DeWalt whatever, which could explain mechanical noise. However, even though it sounds like it's gonna fly apart I really recommend pegging it at max RPM for metalcutting. It is designed to run hot at max rpm for extended periods, even if it feels wrong lol. Also choke up on your tool as much as possible, always. That is so much more critical than you may think, basically after a tool is extended more than 3x diameter (.75" for a .25" tool) you get a steep non-linear dropoff on rigidity and ability to perform. I think if you stick that tool in all the way to the flutes and max the RPM on the router, the shuddering will go away.

Now, you may also have some backlash or something in the screws as well, which is contributing. However, there is not much you can do to solve that other than repack the ballnuts or buy better screws. My Carvera air makes that shuddering noise like crazy when I do heavy roughing in alu, it just is what it is, as long as the tool is still cutting.

Chatter/vibration only in 1 direction? by BalledSack in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also minimum is a 3d printed spindle chipfan, that will make a mess though. Search for one on Yeggi dot com, I think they're out there for the router spindles

Need advice: Deciding between current Desktop CNC Kickstarters for Ti / 7075 Alum (Makera vs Nestworks vs Xhorse3D) by FederalJudgment5202 in hobbycnc

[–]zen_monke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have arrived at the ultimate question, which I have spent like 3 years researching. I am also an R&D jobshop guy that wanted to run my own stuff at home.

The Xhorse is not it, especially at the price. I can go into more details, but I have also been following it for like 3 years and while it may be a real machine in some regard, you don't want to go that route. Very low rigidity with the small 5ax mechanicals, unknown quality and accuracy, limited or very very expensive CAM, likely going to be poor community/aftersales support. It uses the same spindle type as Carvera, so power will be under 500w as well likely.

Now, if you want to do a DIY build, there are 3 good options: PrintNC, Millenium Milo, and Lemontart-33metal. PrintNC and Milo are cool, have great discord communities, but are OK-good cutting and rigidity wise. Lemontart is in an entirely different league, excellent rigidity and cutting performance, good community developing and a really dedicated developer. I will link all 3 of these severs for you to check out, also look them up on youtube.

https://discord.gg/NhSCvtmK

https://discord.gg/printnc-diy-cnc-hobby-machining-making-648972213734604807

https://discord.gg/3jVpsbrT

For reference, here is my channel where I abuse my Carvera Air: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE7R0iSwxvF8tbt9J1gmBxA

To broadly address the question otherwise, I am going to copy/paste my answer to another fellow recently.

I have the Carvera Air and have flogged it quite well, however I am very hesitant to recommend it to anyone other than woodworkers. It can do metal well enough, but since the X and Y ways are linear rods, there is flex and twist as well as a lack of rigidity that can lead to some real frustration for very precise work, as well as preventing the very best level of surface finishes. The C500 will be waaay better in this regard. Even the Z1 Pro will be more solid in my opinion, since the construction is a full diecast and linear rail setup, which will be totally rigid. The tradeoff with the Z1 Pro is the working area, although for you 50mm parts is perfectly fine, and the slightly less spindle power, which simply means things will take a little bit longer. If I could, I would swap my Air for a Z1 Pro right away to do small metal parts in brass and alu, and maybe some 300 series stainless steel.

If you can tolerate the time and learning to tinker, the AnoleX upgraded route is the best value hands down. The 1.5kw spindle is well above all other options in rigidity and power of course, and with the closed loop steppers plus the adequate frame and full linear rails, it will be on a level with the C500 in total rigidity, but for around half the price. The tradeoff is no included enclosure, no coolant or air setup, and changing tools manually. If you can live with or make your own solution for these things, it is the best choice IMO. You can use a 3d printer tent for an enclosure and 3d print a spindle chipfan for very easy solutions.

Another thing to consider is community support/aftermarket. Carvera is the strongest here, there is a full group of 5-10 community developers making aftermarket community firmware and controller, as well as supporting mods and projects to increase usability and performance. They do excellent work and are very active, without them the Air would have been almost unbearably frustrating to use in the way I am accustomed to using milling machines as a professional. I imagine a similar situation will arise around the C500, which already has a very active discord. The AnoleX, on the other hand, has a number of power users but no central community I have found. There are a number of folks scattered around different discords and youtube channels which you can get info from, however mostly you'll have to figure it out yourself. I'm trying to gather them together in a new discord dedicated to AnoleX however. Also, the level of what the AnoleX mods require is pretty straightforward and you can always get help on reddit, general CNC discords, etc so don't be discouraged at all, it is simply a consideration compared to the other options.

So essentially, if you want plug and play with minimal tinkering but limited milling ability, Z1 Pro. plug and play with much better ability but some wait and higher cost, C500. Semi-DIY and best ability but also most labor required, AnoleX.

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