X-Carve - My First CNC Experience

Hi everyone, my CNC has finally arrived couple weeks ago. I pre-ordered it about a month or two ago, it took ages to get to me. From my knowledge, INVENTIBLES packs them individually and customizes it for every customer as you can get upgrades for your CNC from day one. I got some of the upgrades that were recommended by the forum, like ACME lead Z-axis rod and drag chains. I get it with my own money, so cost effectiveness was the key. 

All components were neatly packed with bubble wrap. The whole package came in one piece. They were all individually wrapped for every step, so you only needed to open a box for the specific step. 

The online manual was very helpful. They have video instructions for every step. I would watch the tutorial and then read the written manual for conformation. 

The first step was to build the X- carriage. As the first thing to build, it was quite intimidating but soon enough I got the hang of using the eccentric nuts and fly wheels.   

All screws and parts were zip bagged and labeled so I was never confused. Also as the writing had all the components required for the step labelled, it was quite useful at first to pick up all the parts beforehand.

The quality is great! All was precisely CNCed and made. I got the tools pack as well, which included all the tools you needed to build the X-carve.; screw driver, allen keys  and hex wrenches.

Coming onto the Y-carriage, I had to mirror everything I did on side to the other. I made the mistake of misusing a set of the screws for the step motors on the X-carriage. It was a pain to disassemble and re-assemble; so take note of the what screws are used in each step. I had to find out the hard way. The X-carve came only with one set of everything, which I felt was kinda cheap of them. It would have been nice if they included a few extra screws or washers in case something does go missing or broken. However I do have to say, nothing was missing in my package. When I finished nothing was left in the bags, which does say something about the amount of detail they take to their packaging.

Assembling the Y stepper motors.

Putting the rails onto the carriage was the very best feeling, as I could finally see the end and see my baby come together. I could finally see how everything comes together. The eccentric nuts were the most annoying thing about the build, I have to say. I don't know if it's me, but it was a hassle to get them aligned and ensure they weren't too tight or too loose.I found that using a bit of cutting fluid helps with the tapping screws going into the rails.

Time for all the electronics, all the electronics all forms one pack which is a great solution to keep together to prevent cables from snagging or just general convenience as I could now just pack it away outside of my enclosure which I'm planning to prevent dust.

Finally it was time to put the spindle on and assemble the electronics. I love how they put all the electronics in a box that contains your arduino and g-shield. It was much easier than individually cabled, which I felt was really convenient. In the future, I do want to enclose the CNC to prevent dust and chips flying everywhere in my room. Hopefully this will reduce the noise it emits as well; so keep an eye out for that.

Yeah, the first project is going to be my name. I'm sure everyone does it, the first project is always going to be your name. It's symbolic, you know.

I'm sure we will see the CNC in action a bit more in the future, hope you all be back to see it with me.