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Blew through $1200 on a CNC router that burned up in 45 minutes
Picked up a cheap 6040 CNC router off Amazon last Saturday, thought I was saving money. Plugged it in, ran a test carve on some pine, and the spindle controller started smoking after 45 minutes. Smelled like burnt electronics and the whole shop filled with this nasty plastic smoke. Has anyone else had one of these budget Chinese routers fail right out of the box, or did I just get a lemon?
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miaprice5d ago
Oh man, that sucks but... is it really that bad? Spindle controllers can be replaced for like $50 on eBay. I've had a 6040 for two years and the thing is basically held together with hopes and dreams, but it still runs. You probably just got unlucky with a bad solder joint or something. Give it another shot, the cheap ones are fine for hobby stuff once you fix the obvious issues.
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anna7174d ago
Totally agree, it's like playing CNC roulette with these budget machines lol. My first 6040 had a loose screw on the Z-axis that made it shake so bad I thought it was gonna fly apart, but after I tightened everything and replaced a iffy limit switch it's been running fine for like a year now. The stepper drivers are kinda weak, yeah, but for the price you can't beat it once you do a little tune up. Feels like half the battle is just fixing the stuff that should've been right from the factory.
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skyler_johnson324d ago
Yeah mine had a loose limit switch wire that kept tripping mid-cut, drove me insane until I just soldered it direct instead of using the connector. Once you go through and loctite EVERYTHING they get surprisingly solid.
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