On: Blender 2.83 LTS

[justinclift]

Hell no. My local Makerspace has various low end CNC machines ranging from an old 800x800mm XCarve (3 axis only), that's useful for teaching people and using cut-offs from the wood workers.

We have a donated 4-axis machine as well, we've been getting up and running. Replaced the proprietary controller board with an Open Source one, and mostly just need to calibrate it and figure out an effective post processor.

[foldr → justinclift]

If someone is letting you use their CNC machine for free, then sure. But whoever is paying the costs associated with maintaining that machine and buying materials is going to be paying more than 60/month.

[justinclift → foldr]

Again no. I'm the person maintaining those machines. The maintenance cost is practically zero. Occasionally (every few months) we may need to buy a set of 1/8" bits (for $10).

Entry level CNC machines can be assembled pretty cheaply. eg PrintNC:

https://github.com/threedesigns/printNC

For materials, we have several wood workers in the Makerspace and can either use their off cuts, or buy a sheet of MDF ($10) that lasts a few weeks.

[foldr → justinclift]

Doesn't it cost about $1000 to build a printNC? And if you are just cutting sheets of wood or plastic, you don't really need a proper CAD package.

[justinclift → foldr]

The cost depends on the components you choose. Picking cheap components, and being careful, you can probably do one for ~US$500 (rough guess).

That machine would last several years. Though hobbyists do tend to upgrade their machines over time (eg add a 4th axis).

> And if you are just cutting sheets of wood or plastic, you don't really need a proper CAD package.

You might be surprised what you can create from MDF sheet, and/or 2-by-4" offcuts. :)