NestWorks C500 - Next-Gen Smartest CNC with Industrial Power

[Stephen Williams]

This seems interesting & relevant enough to share:

Met these guys at Maker Faire Vallejo.  If they deliver, seems quite interesting.  Kickstarter is live this morning.  

I've been waiting for a CNC solution with just the right combination of features at a modest price that doesn't take up too much space or is a headache to operate.  I have also been holding out for a full 5-axis solution, but apparently that will take a few more years to come anywhere close to this price point.  5-axis CNC is hard, but I wants it.  To avoid building halves + screws for some of my designs, I would need 5-axis.

This seems to have most desired features, for 4-axis, while being half to one quarter the price of previous options.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/959480926/nestworks-c500-next-gen-smartest-cnc-with-industrial-power?ref=thanks-copy

Stephen

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Stephen D. Williams Founder: VolksDroid, Blue Scholar Foundation 650-450-8649 | fax:703-995-0407 | s...@lg.net | https://VolksDroid.org | https://BlueScholar.org | https://sdw.st/in

[Chris Albertson]

That mill is tiny.    Also have you found a good 5-axis or 4-axis  CAM system that you like that cost less than the mill?   I use Fusion 360 and the free version is limited to 3-axis work.    If I had a 4 or 5 axis mill, I’d need to write my own G-Code.

As for the machine itself.   I added three stepper motors to a Harbor Freight mill.     I doubt I spent over $1K total, and it is a bigger machine.   My HF mill is not great.   The simplest conversion replaces every hand-crank with a toothed pulley, belt and stepper motor but it works.  Here is a really old video

I have a rotary table I could add.   It would be easy, but how to create the G-code?   

If you want a real CNC mill at a hobby price you should look at Tormach.  Their smallest “real” mill is this https://tormach.com/machines/mills/pcnc-440.html

But you will still need CAD/CAM. SolidWorks will cost more then the Tormach mill.  So you are going to be using free software, I don’t see any good free 5-axis CAM

But it is OK because I’m making one-off stuff and can design the part not to need complex high-torenace machining.   And in the last few years 3D printing has taken over.  I find I can use plastic parts mostly with small matel parts at load points.    

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