New to CNC Routing

[alienwraps]

I have a sign shop in Texas and currently own a HP 60" latex and a HP 98" FB700 flatbed. I have a friend that just upgraded to all new equipment and he gave me his old 5x10 Accu-cut router. It is about 10+ years but still looks and seems to work like new.

I do not know much about CNC Routing and I am wanting to learn.

The company who built this router is still around and is local. However they want $500 to become a customer and $150 an hour to talk on the phone, $150 hr to drive to my shop and look at the machine, and they want me to upgrade the control boards ($3800) from serial to Ethernet.

The router works I'm just looking to learn how to use it and what bits should be used for the different materials. I also want some accessories like the dust cover to hook to my dust collection system

Any info would be great

Jamie

 

[letterman7]

Hourly service rates aren't bad for a router. And I guess to have you as a customer they want to charge that to get you 'into the system' - essentially you're paying for the privileged of their knowledge. Read up on the CNC threads for speeds and feeds, lots of information on other forums as well.

 

[Z SIGNS]

It's a new toy for you.

Find out what makes it tick by practicing over and over.

Gets some bits and some cheap substrates like home depot pink insulation foam and go to town.

Stay at work after hours and do all the research you can the info is out there

 

[artbot]

i'd bet that there's a lot of members on cnczone.com that are familiar with that router. as for the serial vs ethernet. just use it how it is. until you're slammed with cnc projects and want to start shaving minutes off of each set up, you shouldn't spend any big upgrade bucks.

if i was to spend some bucks, i'd looking into getting some high end bits. there's no comparison how an industrial bit cuts in speed and finish compared to some standard bit. or maybe look into the software side like v-carve. communication is pretty low priority compared to cut quality and quality routing software.

 

[player]

Is the guy that ran it still available? Get him over to show you the ropes.

This is the main cnc forum:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/

 

[MikePro]

steel bits = worthless.
spend the extra buck and get carbide tipped, so you don't have to throw away bits every couple hrs of cutting.

cncroutershop has a great resource for your settings/bits for different materials. Otherwise, dive-in to the youtube rabbithole and see what else you can come up with.
link for tech data here

 

[artbot]

i've for decades gone to the high end tool supply places and bought nice amana bits and such that cost $35 to $50 each. and i thought i was splurging. then i had this limac for a bit
and we were putting onsrud bits on it (maybe $80-$125 each?). they were flying through the material like i've never seen. think table saw speed. but then when you'd make a boo-boo you'd
also snap that nice bit.

 

[DSC]

The company who built this router is still around and is local. However they want $500 to become a customer and $150 an hour to talk on the phone, $150 hr to drive to my shop and look at the machine, and they want me to upgrade the control boards ($3800) from serial to Ethernet.

T0 me the $500 seems reasonable, but the hourly phone rate seems a little egregious...

We have A Kern (bought second hand), and they charged us a one time $2600 or so to be a lifetime customer.. We can call anytime and that is it .. (the $500 seems like a good price)

For our CNC (Multicam)(bought second hand) they charge about $1300 a day plus lodging and per diem so the $150 on site fee is comparable.. (no one time fee)

We did not have to pay anything to Shop Bot for tech talk on the machine when we purchased it.. They were more than happy to help..

I don't know much about the boards, but if the machine works with the current boards and I were in your shoes, I would get it going and upgrade once the machine is making some $$ ...

I will also second everyone on spending $$ for good carbide bits.. Onsrud are great .. Easy online ordering etc.

Good Luck!

CNC is a lot of fun!