CNC Desktop Router Reviews

[tmj]

I'm looking at a 'Genmitsu' CNC router 4040 pro (Amazon), with the fourth axis accessory, for a home 'desktop' sized unit. I have a router at work, but I'd rather work on my hobby projects at home, at my leisure, and not have to bother with going to my place of work to use their 'HUGE' CNC router for small sized projects. Not very convenient. Does anyone have any experience using this specific Genmitsu 4040 Pro router? Suggestions for other routers would also be appreciated provided you have firsthand experience using the model that you recommend. 4th axis is also a huge selling point for me.        

Edited October 19, 2023 by tmj

[Nirvana]

 I don't have sort of CNC experience, but after watching some videos it seems to be a fair entry level machine.
There were some well-founded negativity, of areas that could had been better designed.

But overall for 600 dollars it seems like a fair investment for hobby purpose. 

[targa4403]

1 hour ago, tmj said:

I'm looking at a 'Genmitsu' CNC router 4040 pro (Amazon), with the fourth axis accessory, for a home 'desktop' sized unit. I have a router at work, but I'd rather work on my hobby projects at home, at my leisure, and not have to bother with going to my place of work to use their 'HUGE' CNC router for small sized projects. Not very convenient. Does anyone have any experience using this specific Genmitsu 4040 Pro router? Suggestions for other routers would also be appreciated provided you have firsthand experience using the model that you recommend. 4th axis is also a huge selling point for me.        

I would upgrade the spindle motor to a more powerful one.  You can purchase a Z axis assembly that allows this to happen.  

[Cleat]

I'm learning the Genmistu 31018 Prover (has a laser and a router).  The laser configuration is easier to learn.  For the router, I've been trying several open source software (CAD/CAM/controller control).  I got it to work but I still have stuff to learn.  I started writing myself a manual to document how to do various procedures.  

 

Mine has a working area of about 6x10 inches (260x155 mm), I'd prefer a bigger working space but I have limited space and I think this setup is good for learning hobby CNC processes (Genmistu offers an expansion kit to make the 3018 into a 3040).

 

I wrote controller manuals for industrial CNC machines so I know the basics and G-codes.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Cleat

[modeller_masa]

It depends on your purpose. In my case, the laser cutter does a major part of my work, like cutting strips. I purchased several CNC routers, but I use them only when I engrave or carve 3D shape, or use it like a milling machine when I cut gratings. I would invest more money in a large and stronger laser cutter. I'll pay only $200 for a CNC router, or buy 4 or 5 axis expensive router to carve figure heads. (Actually, the figure heads can be made by a 3D resin printer. )

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I’m watching the same on eBay, likewise proxxon machines. I can’t advise on either as I have no experience but wanted to throw in these observations. I do a lot of 3D printing, using both resin and filament printers. I’ve been able to make almost every part of my current build (Cutty Sark) using this tech, with a few tricks and turns along the way. But, there are some parts where, above all, you need the part to be strong. This is where a milking machine would be the solution. Or a milling machine. (I thought I’d leave that particular auto-correct in, as it made me laugh so much. And people think AI is going to rule the rule? The outcomes may be more interesting than we expect.) You can resin print with the necessary material properties but you have to shift from hobby machines costing a few hundred $ to industrial equipment or paying a lot for someone to print for you.

 

I’ve also just taken delivery of a laser machine that would retail at maybe $500. For that money it’ll cut 12mm (1/2”) timber but still only engrave metal. I believe it doesn’t actually etch metal, just burns the surface to achieve a colour change. The point being, getting the laser equivalent of a milling machine costs way more than I’ve spent. Whereas the Gemitsu is available for around $400 - $500, and the proxxon for a bit more. So personally, sooner or later I expect I’ll go for it and possibly a little lathe as well.

 

 

[tmj]

The search is over. I decided to drop the 4th axis idea, for now, and purchased a different 500W 4540 3 axis system, not Genmitsu. Amazon will be delivering it Monday.   

 

[thibaultron]

To use the laser, it is critical to buy or build a case for it!! The laser can reflect and injure you or more specifically your eyes!!! There are laser safe tinted sheets that can be used as windows, so you can view the process. These lasers while "Low Power" compared to industrial ones, can still cause burns and eye damage.

 

When designing or buying a case, allow for the table or work piece that will extend past the frame at each end when at full travel.

[tmj]

1 hour ago, thibaultron said:

To use the laser, it is critical to buy or build a case for it!! The laser can reflect and injure you or more specifically your eyes!!! There are laser safe tinted sheets that can be used as windows, so you can view the process. These lasers while "Low Power" compared to industrial ones, can still cause burns and eye damage.

 

When designing or buying a case, allow for the table or work piece that will extend past the frame at each end when at full travel.

Thanks Ron. No laser module, just a rotary router. I take all of my laser projects to work.  

[thibaultron]

You mat still want to build an enclosure, though. The routers create a lot of dust!

 

I have a write up on the one I built for my machine stsrting on this thread page.

 

 

[tmj]

Thanks Ron! I'll tune into the thread!

[tmj]

Lots of 'heads-ups' and nice to know info shown in your thread. Thanks for sharing! I can now only wonder what assembly/operational difficulties will come with 'my' new machine. 

 

Ron, do you use Fusion 360? I just got Fusion and currently see a steep learning curve in my near future. While I can model quite well, and fast using Autocad, Fusion 360 is looking totally different to me. Can I do my 3D modeling in Acad and then just import those completed files into Fusion to create the G-code and toolpaths?

   Tom...  

[thibaultron]

I use SketchUp for my 3D work. As long as you can create STL. or OBJ. files you can use the output for the CNC.

[tmj]

Yes, Fusion will allow me to save my files in the STL file format. I'll just need to learn enough about Fusion 360 to import and save my 3D Acad files as such. This will help me get started faster while I go about the process of learning Fusion 360 in more depth, I hope! 😶

[Gregory]

2 hours ago, tmj said:

Ron, do you use Fusion 360? I just got Fusion and currently see a steep learning curve in my near future.

You may have picked up on this in another discussion,  But this Kevin Kennedy guy has some great Fusion 360 tutorials.

 

I'm slowly working my way through them.  From lesson 1, I have learned about features I may have never stumbled upon by myself..

[Kevin-the-lubber]

1 hour ago, tmj said:

I'll just need to learn enough about Fusion 360

 Tom, this may help https://diyodemag.com/education/exploring_3d_part_1_beginners_guide_to_fusion_360 although if you're using AutoCad it may be a bit basic for you. Either way, yes, the learning curve is steep but generally rewarding. Top tip: when F360 hangs for more than 10 seconds, ctrl+alt+del, most of the time it doesn't find a way out of the jam and the hoping and waiting is plain frustrating. Main thing that makes it hang; patterning, especially in drawings. It hates it.

[targa4403]

43 minutes ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

 Tom, this may help https://diyodemag.com/education/exploring_3d_part_1_beginners_guide_to_fusion_360 although if you're using AutoCad it may be a bit basic for you. Either way, yes, the learning curve is steep but generally rewarding. Top tip: when F360 hangs for more than 10 seconds, ctrl+alt+del, most of the time it doesn't find a way out of the jam and the hoping and waiting is plain frustrating. Main thing that makes it hang; patterning, especially in drawings. It hates it.

Is Fusion 3D free?  It's an online software, correct?

[tmj]

Many thanks, Gregory! I'll definitely look him up!

 

Kevin, I've been using Acad since release 10 for DOS. Due to this I thought it would be a very simple transition, but I was wrong. The commands appear to be the same, but the way in which they are being used in Fusion seem to be of a totally different animal, at least for now. I poked around in it for about an hour today, my first exposure to Fusion, and I finally had to shut it down before my head exploded! Way different than what I expected! I'll definitely look into 'your' link as well. I'll eventually get the hang of it; it's just going to take a lot more time than I thought it would...     

Edited October 22, 2023 by tmj

[tmj]

5 minutes ago, targa4403 said:

Is Fusion 3D free?  It's an online software, correct?

Yes, there is a Fusion 360 'Personal Use' license that is available for free. Go to Autodesk.com

Edited October 22, 2023 by tmj

[Kevin-the-lubber]

There is one thing I’ve just remembered. When you set up for the first time, you can set mouse behaviour to be the same as whatever software you’ve come from. In my case it was Tinkercad and I’ve never got around to learning the F360 default settings.

[Nirvana]

On 10/22/2023 at 4:23 PM, tmj said:

Yes, there is a Fusion 360 'Personal Use' license that is available for free. Go to Autodesk.com

The free version is somewhat hidden but once you have it is easy to get started but difficult to master. I am using latest version of SU pro and latest F360.

[tmj]

6 minutes ago, Nirvana said:

The free version is somewhat hidden but once you have it is to get started but difficult to master. I am using latest version of SU pro and latest F360.

What is 'SU pro'? More spelling, please. What does 'SU' stand for?

[Nirvana]

11 hours ago, tmj said:

What is 'SU pro'? More spelling, please. What does 'SU' stand for?

SketchUp Pro, which I pay for annually. 

So currently I am running  the latest. 

Able to do all types of cutting if needed.

[Gregory]

What carving software is everyone using?

 

I have been looking at Vcarve and/or Meshcam ..

 

They both look very robust, and they have less pricier versions that should meet the needs of a hobbyist.

[tmj]

500W 4540 sized Router, assorted tooling (including a surfacing bit) and a preliminary dust control system. It's all here now! 

I believe that I finally found the Fusion 360 info that I was desperately seeking... without having to learn things about Fusion 360 that I do not currently need to learn. I only want to use Fusion 360 as a 'nesting' program and to set the tool paths and generate G-code for my 3D work that was previously developed in AutoCad. Fingers are crossed... "I'm going in now!"

 

    

[tmj]

28 minutes ago, Gregory said:

What carving software is everyone using?

I'll be watching this. The only reason that I am starting off with Autocad is because that's the only CAD software I've ever used. I've also never used CAD/CAM for 3D and wood, only 2D and metal. There could very well be better choices out there.  

[Kevin-the-lubber]

It'd be good to get your reflections and a bit of a running commentary as you go along. Part of what's stopped me leaping in is that I don't relish having to learn yet another bit of difficult software.

[JLG]

I use AutoCAD for my line drawings, or to create the sketches as Fusion likes to call them. Once you have the linework you want to put into Fusion go to paper space and create a viewport with that linework in it. I typically scale it 1:1 to my drawing. Meaning the Zoom 1/1x command. Then use the command "exportlayout" to create a dwg file from that viewport. This has several purposes the main one being maintaining the scale and not having a sketch that's miles across because of an errant object out in space. It also removes any weird version specific stuff from 3rd party extensions. In Fusion you can use the Import command to import a DWG and it will bring it in as a sketch. You can open it and do all of the extruding etc to create the 3d model. You will find that closed polylines are the secret to creating easy 3d models from the line drawings. Using an stl requires 2 unnecessary conversions and can mess up scales and cause other issues with Fusion. I use autocad for the same reason you mentioned, I started on AutoCAD 9 and it's just easy for me to start a drawing with an AutoCAD drawing.

 

The AutoCAD and Fusion combination is a good way to go if you already know AutoCAD. It is good to learn the basic drawing stuff in Fusion for editing purposes, but I just picked most of that up over time. You can import another sketch from AutoCAD into a Fusion project if you need to add a construction line etc. and don't want to take the time to learn to do it in Fusion.

 

The only downside of drawing in AutoCAD instead of Fusion is you don't have the drawing work in the timeline so you can go back to the beginning, change the radius of a hole and have it automatically update everything you did afterward. That's a pretty advanced level of using Fusion to be doing that sort of stuff though.

 

Youtube has a bunch of videos by Lars Christiansen, he works for Autodesk, and I have been able to answer almost all my question by searching his videos. Even on the CAM side.

 

What software a person uses is more a matter of just personal preference. Whatever a person is proficient at is typically what they tell everyone is the best when in reality it's just what they know the best.

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by JLG

[Kevin-the-lubber]

10 hours ago, JLG said:

What software a person uses is more a matter of just personal preference. Whatever a person is proficient at is typically what they tell everyone is the best when in reality it's just what they know the best.

You’re probably right there, for a good while I thought about changing horses as some of the shortcomings of F360 really frustrated me, but over time you get so used to avoiding the potholes that you forget they’re even there. My guess is there are comparable bugs in every package, these are, after all, the most incredibly complex bits of software.

 

One of the things that has kept me using F360 is the timeline. In my view this is probably it’s best feature, especially for modelmaking work, where I often need to make it up as I go along and have to tweak the design several times until I get it right. Mind you, it’s a skill in itself to plan the design workflow so that everything downstream does just update, rather than break.

[tmj]

I'm still struggling to figure out just how Fusion 360 works. My knowledge of traditional AutoCad doesn't seem to apply... and watching Youtube videos isn't proving to be of much help either. I guess I'm just going to have to 'bite the bullet', turn in my "Man-Card" and actually resort to reluctantly reading the written instructions! *sigh*