Millright CNC

[Donna Tedesco]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I was on this forum and forgive me if there was any kind of no-soliciting rule here (I can't remember), but I just wanted to see if anyone is interested in buying my CNC machine. I have a Millright M3-- bought it, took me a LONG time to put together (it came in 1000+ pieces, was complicated but I conquered it!) and finally got the circuit board and everything working, got the thing moving in 3 directions, and then never returned to it. So I've never actually used it for real, but it has all the parts and the router, is put together and should work if you're willing to figure it out! To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the open source UGS controller software-- it's nice that it's free, but it's not very user friendly and is just extra time to tinker and explore that I don't have right now. But I can see some people really geeking out on it! (I'd like to eventually buy something that uses Carbide controller or just return to the shop and use those machines when I'm able to go again.)

Please write if you're interested or know anyone who may be. I'm flexible on price.

Thank you and hope you're all doing well!

Donna

[Donna Tedesco]

Thanks, Travis for sending me the link-- passing it on! this is what I have:

MillRight CNC M3 Kit Bundle | Mill Right CNC | Affordable & Reliable CNC Machines

I got it with the Dewalt router, Starboard ST finish, and homing switches. 

[Doug LaRue]

Hi Donna, if nobody has mentioned this, that machine( Millright M3 ) runs a controller board very much like what is in any Shapeoko machine and is running GRBL much like the Shapeokos so you are not required to use only the UGS software which Millright documented. I hope the CNC classes at the SDFWA are teaching users about GCode and the fact that all toolpath files are just text files with GCode statements and any 'GCode sender' app will work with both Shapeoko's and your Millright and many more.  USG, which stands for Universal GCode Sender will also control the Shapeokos since it's just a USB connection to the machine and GCode files/commands being sent to control the movement.  As for toolpath generation, what Carbide Create does, that too is 'just CAM software' and there are many which will do that too. One pretty user friendly one I've been trying to push people to look into is Kiri:Moto( http://grid.space ) and it can create toolpaths for Shapeokos, your Millright M3, my Chinese 3040T and dozens of other standard GCode based machines.  It's great when a class teaches you what buttons to click in certain apps but it really should be explained the class is product specific. But IMO they really should also explain a little about what's going on and especially so since the Shapeokos are based on open source software just like dozens of other machines on the market. I get that the SDFWA has Shapokos but not everyone can spend thousands on a machine but  there are lots of $500 machines doing the same thing the Shapeokos are doing and using the same 'firmware' on the controller and controlled by that same stuff called GCode.  There should be a 2nd level class which takes 30 minutes and says, hey that software is what came with the machine but there's lots of options out there and hey it's just sending GCode files across the USB serial cable just like all these other CNC machines.

So UGS( Universal GCode Sender ) is not the only interface for that machine.   I'm hardly an expert at this but with the plethora of in expensive CNC machines now available to the public, we might want to gauge interest and do a few zoom sessions on this stuff. 

[Donna Tedesco]

Thanks, Doug! That's helpful to know-- I didn't actually realize that. I was even having problems downloading UGS and getting weird errors (which I didn't get before) which related to Java versions and all this other stuff so even before getting the controller working it was a whole process. If there was a class to help navigate those issues and learn to use UGS or similar interfaces better via zoom I'd definitely reconsider and try to use the M3. Right now I'm just feeling a little helpless and Millright's support isn't really set up well for more consistent help or education.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SDFWA Digital Tools" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sdfwa-digital-t...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sdfwa-digital-tools/e1d659d2-ce2f-4af9-b9f8-2fb95167ab90n%40googlegroups.com.

[Doug LaRue]

When I picked up my desktop 3040T CNC I had no software and no clue how to use it and it sat for 2 years until I was ready to dig in and figure things out. I found out I could connect a $10 Arduino board to a $5 parallel port connector and put GRBL on the Arduino board and Bob's Your Uncle.  What you purchased didn't require all that shenanigans but it gives you the same thing. ie a CNC machine with an onboard controller waiting for GCode commands to tell it to do something.  I started using bCNC which is another open source GCode sender application  and that was the first thing I used to start moving my CNC. Later, I read about CNCjs and was pleasantly surprised with it and used that to make my first part.  Getting the GCode sender application installed is key since 'something' has to send those commands to the machine.   Noone has been doing CNC SIG sessions that I've seen notices on so maybe I can talk with Travis about doing a Zoom SIG session specifically talking about and showing a GRBL based machine using UGS controlling a desktop CNC.  It will probably take me a couple of weeks to dig out my CNC, get the software setup and plan out the session so it's not about me crashing the bits into the machine.

FYI:

https://winder.github.io/ugs_website/

https://github.com/grbl/grbl

https://github.com/vlachoudis/bCNC

https://cnc.js.org/

https://grid.space/kiri/