ubit-rc.de - 6040Z CNC Router

Like every model maker i have long wished to own a cnc router. The cost of such a machine, however, are not insignificant. Finally in fall 2017 i decided to buy a 6040Z CNC Router from chinese factories. ATTENTION! There are myriad of different versions of this machine. On eBay, for example, beige lacquered versions are offered which are made mainly of sheet metal. This versions should be avoided. The versions with "bare alumninum" with a total weight of over 50 kg are much better. I ordered one with a 1,5 kW spindle. The delivery arrived from a german warehous in a couple of days.

The first impression of the machine was quite good. The mechanic build quality is pretty solid. The controller box contains individual driver modules for the stepper motors that can output up to 4 A. The factory setting is only 2.7 A - rather defensive. This should lead to a longer life of the components.

I choose a controller with parallel port to be able to adopt an arduino if i like to. So far i have not docked one and use the control box directly from a windows xp pc.

Inside the controller box is a Nowforever E100 frequence converter (vfd, inverter). There is no connection between the controller board inside the box and the vdf. That means: You cannot control the spindle from the pc. However: The E100 inverter can communicate via the ModBus protocol. This was the first thing i change with the machine.
Read more about this here.

Although the controller board has terminals for limit switches, none are connected. My second step was adding limit switches.
Read more about this here