Cutting Aluminum with a 3018 CNC Router - 3018 Linear Rail Upgrade

Hi folks! I've been wanting to improve the 3018 for awhile, it's remarkable how much more you can get out of these things with some design work and a couple hundred dollars worth of parts!
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[@briangwynn3592]

I've run cnc mills for 17 years, but I'm new to home shop cnc. I got a 3018 pro, and in my infinite wisdom decided I would cut some aluminum on it. After the most tedious day of metal cutting I've ever endured, I got a usable part with professional (Accupro) endmills. The best advice I can offer to someone just starting out on this would be to buy professional grade cutting tools, and be patient. Very patient. .1mm deep and 50mm/min kind of patient. And don't be stingy with the lube; that tiny spindle needs all the help it can get.

[@briangwynn3592]

Also, I'm curious about the grade and heat treat on the material at 0:52

[@dooby1445]

I love that you're using JBweld. That stuff is honestly amazing and comically strong. There's a video here on KZbin showing it holding like 10 tons of force before the JB weld sheared.

[@xyzspec82]

I also started with a 3018 pro, I thought about upgrading it, but I knew it would not be a enough in long term. So I built a CNC from scratch. And I love it 😊

[@dustybahLs]

What u end up coming up with

[@seansysig]

I’m so impressed by the mods. My 3018 needs these stat! Also your 3D printed angle grinder fixture is very useful. I have a HarborFreight and Ryobi one, I wish someone had generated files for these. I’d buy them immediately.

[@adrianharrison5208]

I would have liked to have seen some more aluminum cutting :) using that concrete slab was a really good idea

[@donepearce]

Next mods - extend both axes (larger concrete slab) and switch from Acme threads to 12mm ball screws. The cheap ones from China are excellent. With those in place you might think about NEMA 23 motors, which will need upgraded drivers.

[@Joz104]

Very cool! Keep the videos coming!!

[@Intervaloverdose]

Nice one! I decided to do exactly this to my 3018, right after finally deciding to do the X axis first that is ;) Cheers

[@xxxtcify]

Thanks for the Y-Axis tricks!

[@MFEeee]

Nice. I had my 3018 pro in my garage for years. Bought it on sale for what I think was $120 at the time. Only made one wood cut ever. Now I’m improving it so I can then make my mill and lathe CNC. Going to do linear rails, ball screws, router and upgraded electronics to run Linuxcnc. Let’s see how it goes!

[@Northern_]

Love the mods. I have the same vise on my tabletop drill press, but it really limits the height of things that fit in there.

[@GeorgeZaharia]

so now u can mill a bigger cnc router :Osince u got 1HP spindle ;) i got the same 3 months ago... and got my 3018 pro today assembleyd... this rail upgrades is my next step :D thanks for posting this... i got the same makita model 800W xD is crazy.

[@arbjful]

The one thing I discovered vital about aluminum milling is rigidity and torque. Rigidity of the machine, working holding fixtures is important for good accuracy and repeatability, and a high power spindle for the torque required to cut the aluminum. The problem the with router style cnc is the bed rigidity. If the bed flexes then you can get accuracy issues when facing aluminum sheets. The concrete pad idea is great though

[@archilife2555]

Great ideas, thanks for sharing.

[@Someone_Should_Make_That]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed.

[@larspetersen2688]

So nice build. Maybe you should put a concrete pavers behinde the X-axis to reduce the vibration. Maybe this Anti-Backlash Nut Block 8mm would be better.

[@felderup]

i'm planning a bit of an upgrade meself, i'm going to have to start with a bigger drill press table, however, thinking through what i might do, i investigated screws, in case i wanted to make my 3018 longer than the cheap upgrade kits would allow. if i went that route i'd grab some 2060 extrusion(no feet needed) and a new screw, both 1000mm, the longest i could find on the jungle site... probably longer available elsewhere but i don't want to get too loony, i already have rail and bearings for doing that, but i'd need em back for my new machine. in case i wanted a straight upgrade, i looked into 12mm rail all round, it'd equal the cost of the original machine, but it'd be spectacular, then a brushless direct replacement spindle... still all told, cheaper than the new one that's not as wide as i'd like. a 3018 upgraded to square rail 3080 with a cheap brushless spindle might entice some.

[@xConundrumx]

Can highly recommend looking at the woodmads WM3020 if you wanna go this way instead of the 3018. It's a much better starter platform coming off the bat with linear rails and ballscrews. There is room still for improvement but it's reasonably decent without going overboard. It still is not a replacement for a purposebuilt CNC platform but it works quite well. I even upgraded mine with a 600W Teknomotor VFD spindle. That required a little bit of custom mounting work but not too bad. Of course you can get the optional 65 mm mounting clamp and use the typical round China spindles. I tried it and it works. I just have a little more faith in the Teknomotor spindle having used it's bigger brothers on other machines of mine.

[@capthowdy126]

im getting ready to do everything u are doing or have done to ur 3018 to mine, im bout in the same position as u, i have 10 fdm printers an 2 resin a 7x14 mini lathe vevor but the tail stock is trash an dont sit on the ways flat so it has to be adjusted side to side an shimmed everytime i used it but i got a wen 33013 mini mill not long after the lathe an it has become my new favorite machine, its pretty much the same as a sieg x2l or x2m but im going to try to do all the same stuff u have done an are doing in the video with mine but i was going to try to use steel in the places that needed it the most an aluminum everywhere else to try to save as much weight as i can while at the same time making it as ridgid as i could, but im not 100% on which parts need to be done in steel vs aluminum. what would u suggest. u might do it in the video but im saving it for when i get home an get a chance to watch on my desktop but i was going to do 4040 extrusions on the sides to replace the 2040 or maybe just do a solid aluminum or steel plate if thats a area that needs it but ive not had a chance to mess with it alot an most of my use out of it was with a laser instead of the router so i didnt really get to see its weak point when using the router so i may trash a few endmill just to figure out where its weak points are but if u have suggestions out side of whats in the video id love to hear them. thanks for sharing, just found ur videos going to be going through all of them. oh get a mill, u will not regret it. also if u have the money to spend get something alittle bigget than the sieg x2 machines or one like mine with the bigger table, go for something a touch bigger if u can an u will be set for a good while. if mine was 2 inches bigger in the y axis an maybe 5 in the x i dont think id ever need anything bigger but other than that, the machines are very capable so if u dont need a bigger machine then go for the wen over the sieg, it comes with the bigger table but the rest of the machine is pretty much the same, if u can get a good deal on one with a solid column that would be the best, i dont like the tilt column i tilt my work piece an im still figuring it all out so i dont know if id ever be need the tilt so i wish i would have been able to gotten a solid column one but like i said if u have alilttle extra to spend go for something alittle bigger, like a x2.7 or they have clone precision matthews an they look like they would be pretty good machines an i have what the clones cost in mine now after buying the belt kit, air shock vise collets an ive seen alot of them come with all that stuff included for less or same as what i got in mine but i didnt know about them at the time an im not going to say i regret it but if i had it to spend again id do a touch bigger machine cause alot of them will come with the vise an collets or a er collet set an i suggest r8 over mt3 even tho ive never used the mt3 there just seems to be alot more for the r8 since its the same as a bridgeport so theres alot of stuff that u can buy for it that u would probably have to do straight shank with the mt3 or thats just assumption, but its what i seen suggested by everyone an its been reasonable to buy the r8 arbor tools like shell end mills an flycutters but def get one if u have ever thought about, u can always cnc convert it with ball lead screws, id like to do that to mine at some point but i wanna try to get the 3018 to do aluminum parts first cause that would keep me from wanting to cnc convert the mill as soon. buy the mill u know u want one.

[@gordon6029]

Hahah stacking dimes. Can’t wait to see what you can make now. Do you ever do any 2.5D milling?

[@Someone_Should_Make_That]

Haha glad you enjoyed! Yes actually, most of the milling I do ends up being 2.5D, the machine is quite well optimized for it and making things out of plates tends to fit my workflow better than machining out of solid chunks of stock. Waste not, want not as they say!

[@ericinventor]

Ive got a super popular video on this exact topic, but I love your mods and might do them to mine in the next video! Great work! Do you think the cement block helped at all?

[@Someone_Should_Make_That]

Glad you enjoyed! Just checked out your video, looks like we went down the same rabbit hole! Good call with that extended z axis, I can see how that is super useful. Yeah the cement block seems to dampen a lot of the vibrations and keeps the machine from drifting all around the enclosure when taking heavier cuts, makes everything significantly quieter too!

[@Reviews-Tidbits]

How much do you have in it without the router.

[@56Moto]

May I ask how you made the scale drawing with the locations where the holes should be. Did you do that in fusion 360? Thanks

[@Someone_Should_Make_That]

Hey thanks for watching! Yes I used Fusion 360’s drawing feature to create a drawing of the part from the 3D CAD model, and printed it off to scale

[@56Moto]

@@Someone_Should_Make_That Okay thanks. I didn't know you could also print to scale with fusion. I'm going to see how that works. 👍 Have you already made a lot with your milling machine and do you like it? I look forward to future videos. I'm also working on a heavily modified 3018 (3045 in the meantime). I will continue to follow your channel.

[@JohnDoe-um8rz]

what was the feedrate for these cuts

[@Someone_Should_Make_That]

700mm/min with an 1/8in 2 flute endmill at approximately 16000rpm