Hello all! Our new 4896 should be delivered in a couple weeks! We’re super excited but also a little overwhelmed, as this is my first CNC.
We are getting the 4 x 8 with the 4hp manual spindle, and the 45w laser. I did not order a vac table. I’m getting the composite nailer.
The main plan for the CNC is to cut out parts from plywood to make cabinets. We will also use it to make fun stuff like board games.
So far, we have prepped the area where the CNC will be erected. I have a 650CFM dust collector and a 26gal air compressor. I have 220v / 30amp power run.
What else should we be doing in order to prepare for the machine?
Do most people design parts with AutoDesk Fusion? what is the best way to learn this software.
I know I need to plan a spoil-board. I’ve watched several videos but not sure which to choose.
Just my two cents but if you are mainly cutting 4x8 sheets of plywood and you’re invested in the composite nail gun, don’t bother doing anything else. Just use Avid’s basic mdf spoil board file that creates counterbores to attach the spoil board to the cross members and leaves the rest smooth. Then you can just nail down the plywood where you see fit and get to cutting. I have gone down the You Tube wormhole (which is an immensely helpful resource) and I have gone all in on several designs for “ultimate spoil board”. From embedded t track, to dog holes and side clamps, to a full grid of threaded t nuts, I’ve tried them all and more and I would be happy give you some detailed feedback on their pros and cons because work holding is not half the battle, it’s most of the battle. There will always be one off exceptions to any rule but from what I’ve seen, the composite nailer is second only to a full vac hold down but in alot of ways is way more flexible.
I’ve got a 5x10 and I did some prep that might help…
First, download the mechanical drawings from avid that tell you how much floor space you’ll need. Mark off that much space on your floor with masking tape and walk around it, thinking about workflow and material handling. Big machines are hard to move.
Second, decide if you want to build your cnc as documented or as a “mirror image”. In my case, one side was against a wall so mirror imaging it put the cables along the wall, leaving the working side clear. This also affects where cables, electronics, and the PC end up.
Third, consider cleanup. If you can’t get around your machine (again, mine is against a wall) figure out how you’re going to get back there to vacuum up dust etc.
Lastly, plan on flattening your spoilboard as the last thing you do before cutting plywood. Your machine will NOT be flat, just expect that. Flattening as-built means you can run your bits at Z=0 and they’ll cut the plywood but not the spoilboard.
If you don’t have set of 6-8” ball-nose metric allen wrenches for your cordless drill, buy some
Thanks rockstarsmurf, that sounds like good advice. I’d like to keep it as simple as possible.
So, Lets say I have a piece of plywood that is 2’ x 2’ and I want to put a 3” radius on all 4 corners. It sounds like you’re saying T-track and Dogholes are not necessary? If so,
How would I hold down that piece of wood if I don’t have T-tracks and clamps?
How would I place that piece squarely on the workspace if I don’t have dogholes?
Thanks DJ. You bring up a good point. I didn’t know it was possible to erect it mirrored with the controllers / cable on the left side of the machine. This actually might work out better for us. I’ll consider this! Are there any cons to building it this way?
Do most people put their HOME position in the left front? It seems to be like it would be in the way for loading sheets of plywood on to the work surface. I noticed some people set the home position to the rear left, which might work better for me. Are there any disadvantages to this?
This photo represents how I’ll mostly be working with the machine:
The only part that required a bit of tinkering was the back of the carriage, as it’s not symmetrical so you have to use the same bolt holes for the cable anchor, which means the wires loop back a bit. Not a big deal.
The Avid electronics expect your X and Y motors to be X and Y motors, not Y and X motors, so your origin is going to be in their “front left” (your back left). It’s possible to rotate the coordinate system by swapping X and Y but you’ll have to redo all the software internals to get it to do that cleanly. You can offset the origin, so that the machine homes to a different corner, but you’ll end up setting a WCS origin based on your cad anyway.
In my case, the computer is on the short edge so the coordinate system “looks” right, but the sheet loading is on the long edge. I just took a photo of my machine in its homed/sleep position, from the long edge (ignore the mess, I’m a messaholic):
But If I was doing cabinets I would look into specialized software to do so…
Vcarve is great but still not faster imo (for drawing..but from a file to cutting Vcarve is fast)…So I start every project in Moi3d then to Vcarve.
This was done in Moi3d and rendered in Blender…but Blender takes way too much time…so I think the visuals of Moi3d and Sketchup is good enough to present to the client without wasting time.
Please don’t do this, we ship a shielded cable with the controllers and shielded cabling is really essential in proper and reliable communication with the controller. ONLY get a longer cable as an absolute last resort, and if you do make sure it’s a very high quality shielded one.
Ok everyone, back to your regularly scheduled messaging.
It sounds like you have already gotten good advice for most of what you asked, but I did have a few things to add.
Do you already have a good level, a set of hex bits, and some loctite?
You didn’t mention a dust boot. Do you already have a plan for connecting your dust collector to the CNC? I haven’t personally used it, but I suspect the one Avid sells is pretty good.
I don’t know if you do any 3d printing, but there are an assortment of things to organize your cnc tools, or affix them to convenient locations that you may want to print.
I don’t know how much you plan on using your laser, but good ventilation is a must with it.
