A new hobby?

[H2O]

My BIL and myself have been looking into cnc. He found one at a decent price and I was able to use my Shopsmith as a partial trade, which helped to drop the price a little more. Since I traded my Shopsmith, he put up the cash, so I didn't have to put out any money myself.
My BIL doesn't have any experience with the software to operate the machine, so I will do most of that in the beginning, until he can learn it. I don't know everything about this particular software, but the simple features are pretty common.
This is the first item off the machine. We still need to tram it and surface the spoilboard. We are happy with the results so far.

 

[magpens]

Now ... is this instead of, or in addition to, pen turning ? If the latter, will you be able to do 3D work like machining the surface of a pen ? Could be some interesting possibilities.

 

[H2O]

I hope it will be in addition to pen making, since my BIL said I can use his lathe anytime. However, this machine has so much potential and is fun to watch run.
Right now it doesn't have a fourth axis, but it has the capability and would only require the rotary and reconfiguration of wiring.

 

[OZturner]

Nice piece of Equipment Dan,
First result looks good.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Regards,
Brian.

 

[TimS124]

Which software are you using? Enjoy the new hobby! CNC routers can be quite a bit of fun!

 

[H2O]

I drew this in ai since the control software recognizes it. It came with rhino and solidworks, but I haven't used those programs. I browsed them and the common features seem to be there, I would just need to work with them to gain some confidence using them.
It will also recognize autocad, which I have an older version.
I just prefer ai since I'm more familiar with it, but I've read a little about vectric and it sounds interesting, just a bit pricey. I'm considering the trial version to see if the cost is justified at this time, or if we can get by with what we have.
We have what we need to successfully design and operate the machine. We will just continue with simple items until we get familiar with the capabilities of the machine.
I am looking forward to working with some non-ferrous materials.

 

[ohiococonut]

CNC routing can be very addicting. I currently have two machines now after building a larger one. Deciding what software to use can be a daunting task since some don't come cheap. Vectric's Aspire is pricey but well worth the price since it's literally all of their other programs rolled up into one. It's what I use and now they've introduced their latest upgrade, V8 which is 64bit so it's even faster. If you look at all of the included 2D/3D files it's more than worth the price. I have nothing to gain from any of this, I'm just another happy customer of theirs.