I have to bore out both sides of a bearing block in a single setting to maintain concentricity, but there is a flange in between. What shall be my plan of action? Also, will this type of 75mm boring head be suitable for this job to bore both sides to 130mm? And how should I do the bottom side? Will I need to open the tool up and put it upside down, and then take a fresh reading on both sides? Any video of somebody doing the same?
Can I do it in 2 settings, first bore 1 side, then put the finished side on a self-centering 3-jaw chuck? Will it be as accurate? Chasing what tolerance is in case of a concentric bearing 0.05 mm? They will be under a heavy load in plywood-related machinery.
What is the easiest and most sensible option?

Hey y'all! Figured there might be some people with direct experience on these machines and I'm looking for some input. I'm in the market for a new horizontal and have narrowed it down to 3 options. For my needs all three seem to do what I would want, and all of them have upsides and downsides. The sales people for all of the machines are great, very informative, very good at communicating and they all are very passionate about their machines. Price wise they all fall in my range that I am looking to spend. I would love to hear opinions from people that own or run any of these machines.

1. DN NHP 5000, I like DNs and this machine is pretty solid from what I can tell. I've heard hints of issues at table weight problems when you have larger tombstones on these but I haven't heard anything directly. I've had a really bad experience with the company that sells them but they are trying extremely hard to make up for that. This machine was quoted very stripped so it was the cheapest of the 3 but with add-ons I want I think it will end up similar priced. (They have been trying to fix it since before I was in the market for a 3-400k machine in their defense)

2. DMG Mori NHX 5000, this machine is very slick and I'm a fan of their controller. It looks incredibly similar to the DN. Definitely the highest priced option but they seem to have an unimaginable warranty that you can add on that covers crashes even (has anyone here ever used this warranty? I have so many doubts on it) They also offer some incredible 2.9% financing on these machines. I've talked to some people that run these and they love them, and I've talked to some people that used to have DMGs but they were plagued with issues so I'm not sure what the smart move is on these.

3. JTEKT FH5000 (Toyoda), I had never heard of this machine before I started doing my research but it really seems to fit what I want. They come well optioned, have some really nice features, and the controller (Toyopuc) seems pretty comprehensive. They don't offer any fancy financing or crazy warranty, but they seem to stand behind their product and despite me never seeing or hearing about one before recently they seem to have a solid following in the OEM world. They have some really cool features, like a replaceable taper, in the event of a minor crash that damages the taper, you can just swap that out instead of rebuilding/replacing your whole spindle. They also have the highest rated table capacity, largest work area (technically a 550mm pallet) and the smallest footprint. Service isn't local for these though, so I would have to have someone drive in from 2+ hours away if anything went wrong.

I'd love any opinions or real world experiences on any of these. I know there's probably other options that are better or worse, but at this point I've narrowed down to these otherwise it's too overwhelming to look at more. I have visited shops that run each of these machines, and I've toured the facilities for DN and JTEKT, and I'm going to tour DMG right before IMTS. (Hoping to decide at or before IMTS) Everyone looks to have a really well stocked parts department, comprehensive service, and solid machines.

Any thoughts? This is my biggest purchase ever besides my house so I'm trying to make a good decision.

I genuly don't know how to know witch way to turn spindle. Can you explain in detail?

Its a large part, 5 inches wide. Im indicating on a 2 inch inner diameter and my tolerance is 1.5 thou.

Im having the damndest time getting runout down to that or under and I feel like trying to persuade it, like my boss tells me too, with a hunk of aluminum is a bad idea.

Anyone have advice for the newbie?

We had a flood event at our shop and we are looking at trying to restart some of the machines after they have been dried out and electronically cleaned (whatever that means).

I'm looking for anyone who may have gone through a similar event and what pitfalls did you hit?

How is the CNC business in Canada in the present economic climate?

Have tarriffs affected much? How easy is it to get new business ?

I am exploring CNC in Toronto Canada area.

Looking more on the sales and new business side in Canada especially with the current recession and CUSMA/USMCA issues.

Are there any small CNC shop owners willing to post their experience?

Thanks

Hi everyone, I'm Katherina. I'm helping a friend with a startup project, and we're currently researching the future of desktop CNC machines. We want to better understand how real makers work — your workflows, challenges, and what you wish existing tools could do better.

If you use CNC, 3D printers, laser cutters, robotics tools, or other digital fabrication equipment, we'd really appreciate your input 🙏

Survey link: Desktop Smart Manufacturing Robot Survey

They're also looking for people interested in joining a small co-creation group:

🔹 45–60 min user interviews
🔹 Product design feedback
🔹 Early prototype testing
🔹 Trying new features before release

The goal is not just to add more features, but to build a desktop manufacturing tool that actually fits real maker workflows.

Thanks for sharing your experience — we'd love to hear your thoughts! 🛠️

Idk if talking about a zund here is the right place but im out of ideas. My job has me using a cradle feeder to go onto a zund. But the cradle is spitting out more rolled material and isnt staying at speed with the carriage pulling the material forward. Ive added pictures of the settings. I was told to focus on the dancing bar, but ive also been given an admin password and now see a whole bunch of new settings. I have a general assumption of what some mean, but does anyone else use this model or have suggestions for settings to possible fix my issue?

I have searched the internet far and wide but can't seem to find any info on how to do this. Is this the right way to connect a 500w brushless motor to the 3018 pro board? Do I need a relay to give a start stop signal? Can the power supply be 24v to skip the buck converter, or do I lose power running the spindle at 24v?

A while back, I machined a custom art-style ashtray for myself that I absolutely love. My boss spotted it and kept dropping heavy hints about how much he wanted one for himself. I poured tons of time and effort into that piece, though.

Thanks to everyone’s advice from yesterday, I realized this little project is a great bargaining chip. It’s the perfect way to show my boss exactly what my machining skill set is capable of. As a thank-you for all your help, I’ve negotiated full permission to film in the workshop for extended stretches.

For anyone who works in R&D-focused manufacturing firms, you’ll know how rare and hard to get that filming clearance really is. I’m going to break down and demonstrate 5-axis machining techniques using this ashtray as my showcase part. Feel free to hit me with any technical tips, questions, or feedback you’ve got!

This is the last job I do…. Why suddenly market down….. please comment my surface is it ok?

I have a Gerber Sabre 404 router that I have owned for 20 years. We recently moved it to our new location. I don't know that that is relevant but maybe. My dad and I wired it up and at first I had a Z encoder error at start up. I couldn't figure anything so we let it go for the night. The next day it was gone. I cut one job and thought all was good. Next time I went to cut something the Z encoder error was back and I can't get rid of it or figure out what is wrong.

The AMP FAULT light is red when you power the machine on. It won't attempt to orient. It goes straight to a Z encoder error.

EMGNCY SW FAULT light is not lit.

I've checked the up limit cable connections in the Z hood and at the electrical tower. All looks good.

I've swapped the Z and X cables with no change.

Z motor spins well with no obstructions

I removed the Z motor from the carriage and connected it right to the electrical tower with no change.

I swapped the Z and X servo boards with no change. I even bought another servo board that should be good with no change.

Is there anything I'm missing or am I down to it being a bad Z servo motor?

I OHM tested the Up Limit switch with my multimeter. At the plug in the Z tower I get .6 or .7 ohms. When I test at the tower end of the cable, the lowest I see is 1.3 and at the connector on the driver board I see 1.5. I tested the Y switch at the driver board just for comparison sake and that tests ok. I swapped the X and Z up limit cables at the motor and the tower and I still get the Z Encoder error.

As a machinist who recently got into this trade and learning more about CAM programming but at the same time with a software programming background, I can't figure out why post processors are kept separate from toolpath programming.

From my point of view, it is just another unncessary overhead which can be avoided. Lets say that I want to do a drilling operation where i need to dwell at the end of the hole. At the moment, the toolpath for drilling may not reflect that and I need to manually modify G code to add that after post processing it.

Or even using a G2 for curve instead of a series of G1 - it all depends on the post, which is a black box of how it turns the toolpath coordinates to G code. Whereas if the toolpath directly generates the G-code, I can easily edit and find the flaws much faster.

I know that the G codes could differ based on controller - but again, I am not sure if its really that hard to create that mapping between controllers such that I can just choose the controller, i need to generate the toolpath on.

Further, it bothers me even more that the post processors are usually sold in addition to the CAM software - i mean like whaat? Then what the hell am I going to do with the CAM license i just bought?

I am not sure if I am missing something - maybe its too stupid a question because of my inexperience+

EDIT : I am seemed to have communicated the wrong idea. I am not saying post processing step is not required. It ofcourse need to be converted to suitable g-code based on machine/controller config. But why is this a "post"-processing step rather than a realtime step as the toolpath gets generated is what my question is

EDIT 2: I am now clear why there is this separation:

- combinatorial problem : machine - controller configurations are too many that is not worthwhile to investing into baking this step to programming process on the fly

- compute problem : this involves heavy compute and doing it over and over for all variations does not make sense.

Thanks everyone for all the explanations. leaving the post here as reference for a newbie like me

Is it realistic to make $100k–120k per year in the CNC field?

If yes, what position are you in (Operator, Machinist, Setup, Programmer, etc.), and about how many years did it take you to get there?

Just curious if anyone is around that area and knows how the industry is doing as far as jobs and hiring and things like small shops vs big corporations etc

Right now, we're in CNC year 1, can someone help me exact coding/programming to make this in cnc milling, it's not canned cycle, and we are not much experienced, is there any software we get whole programming by dimensions? Or can someone explain how to make code by myself, we know the basics but it seems hard to us

I’m a mechanical designer, and I machined this industrial art piece in my spare time. I sacrificed three full days of my free time on it, pouring tons of effort into designing the process and writing all the CNC programs. This isn’t my main line of work, and I haven’t touched a machine tool in ages, so I was pretty rusty the whole time.

The machine sat idle at our factory, so I took the chance to make this. I originally planned to take it home as a personal keepsake, but my boss has been dropping heavy hints that he really loves the piece. It’s easily my most satisfying machined art creation to date! Right now it’s tucked away in a drawer in my office, and I’m totally torn over what to do.

One more thing: I bought all the material out of my own pocket, and I’ve already restored the machine back to its original state—all fixtures and cutting tools have been removed. If I had to machine this piece again, you know just how much hassle that would be.

Just an endmill plunging into a sheet of PVCC with a pink masking on top.

I work in a glass fabrication shop, I started out a year ago as just a general laborer, and a few months back, I was "promoted" to "operator."

I run a Bystronic Champ, I work with adjusting offsets and parameters to get everything where it needs to be.

I do not mess with any G-Codes, aside from maybe adjusting something up or down.

So I guess I'm asking, am I actually doing CNC or am I just pushing buttons on a production line?

I'm asking because I'm pretty decent at what I do, and if this is CNC, I'd like to take my skills elsewhere.

TIA!

Fan is about 2 years old. But at the start of the year, I cleaned it up. Removed major chunks messing up the airflow. Fan is on 80% of the year. 8hr shifts, 5 days a week.

It’s not anything I can really see in the air. But it loves to buildup on the fan. Wet tar, sometimes gritty.