Could you help me out here? I am looking for a cnc mill for making some small aluminum parts, small quantities, I don't have the budget or space for a full fledged mill, besides parts are small and simple to warrant a full fledged machine. I am now stuck between a sherline mill and foxalien vasto, which do you think is better? The parts that we make are mostly 10 mm thick, max 20 mm (cutting is not more than 5 mm), we use stock like 50x50x6 mm aluminum L section, 38x19 aluminum busbar etc. The features are mostly holes and slots
Looks very nice! I see in another comment that you're using a 1.5kW spindle. Did you make your own cable for it? Also, did you make any other upgrades?
I got my spindle as a kit. BulkMan3D sells spindle kits, that comes with the wire, 1.5KW spindle, and VFD driver. Plug and play pretty much. I just had to make sure it was a 65mm diameter, as the 80mm spindles wont fit the stock holders. They come in air or water cooled..i prefer air, since I dont want to manage a water loop. The air ones run cool even after hours of use. The down-draft they push sorta helps push dust and small chips around which is nice for a vac system. On the VFD, you can change the settings so the spindle-on is controlled by a cheap relay off amazon. So you can still use the vasto's spindle out and just rewire that 24V to trigger a relay ( i dont remember if its 24 or 48 volts ) this isnt required though. As the VFD has a start/stop button and speed control. So you can run it manually just like a dewalt/makita router. Other than that the only stuff i changed on my vasto was I lowered the table 10mm and added extra supports. Just to make it more rigid. Not required, but it helps keep chatter down when metal cutting
@@PhxSt0rmz Thanks for the details! Did you solder the wire connector yourself, or did the cable came pre-terminated? Could you also clarify what you mean by lowering the table 10mm? Lastly, are you happy with this machine and would you recommend it over other brands/models in the same price range for milling aluminum?
@@jphalip I pre-ordered mine and the individual wood slats would flex up/down separately. This got fixed on all future machines sold, as they now interlock. So I rebuilt my table. My only minor regret is sorta wishing I bought a larger model. Although it does most my needs fine, there's times I wish it was a little larger. But then I have to wonder is it still just-as-rigid as the small one? I had to cut/solder the VFD spindle connection myself. Someone out there might sell one thats pre-assembled but I know my BulkMan3D one, you had to solder the wires and build the connector yourself. Didn't require anymore tools than a crimper and solder iron though. And I haven't tried other models. If you want to do metal, the main thing to look for is making sure the machine is NOT using belts. Belts stretch under load and dont repeat as well. You also want linear rails ( Not wheels ) for rigidity. The Vasto isnt the only machine on the market that has ballscrews ( not acme rods ) and linear rails. Shapoko I think did too, but it was a lot more expensive at the time I bought mine. The X axis gantry is also pretty rigid on the vasto. the side orange plates are over 1/2" thick solid aluminum. I've been pretty happy with it though. I never really ran into a limit with the machine. Its always been the tooling itself
@@PhxSt0rmz Awesome, thank you! The Vasto does seem like it has a lot of great features for a decent price compared to the competition. I do like the size as I have a small workshop. I'm currently thinking between this and the MillRight Mega V2, which is more expensive but is American-made and would have (supposedly) good support in the long term.
@jphalip Right now mine sits on a 2x4ft table. The machine overhangs by about 4 inches..and the steppers another 3 inches. It puts a decent gap behind the table/wall because I wanted the machine flush at the front. Since I clamped a monitor to my desk, I have a 2x2ft area almost of just empty table space. Which, i guess is handy for misc stuff. But part of me wishes this 2x4ft table was a 2x4ft machine. Since i installed drawers under the table, for tools and such. But, I guess thats just me being picky haha
Any will work, its all user preference. I prefer controlling/loading programs with Candle CNC. I use Fusion 360 to do my toolpaths, since its free & I'm already accustomed to using Fusion at my work, as I've been in the CNC trade, industry, for >10 years.
SpeTool 2Pcs 1/4" Shank Aluminum Router Bit 3 Flute End Mill 2-1/2" OVL SPE-X Extra Long Life a.co/d/eYSkMMH This is the tool I used in this video and my other video. I do aerospace CNC for a living and most all our finishers/roughers for high speed machining are 3 flute endmills. TitanCNC also has a video that explains 3 Flute is the best for aluminum as its a good balance of chip evacuation for roughing, and a good finisher. 1 flute will evac chips the most, but wont leave a good finish typically. 5 flute leaves a good finish, but is poor at removing tons of chips. Mind you, although I can do 14MM depth of cut, this is ONLY for profiling a perimeter. If you tried to cut a slot at that depth, where 50% of the tool is engaging the part, it wouldnt go well. Maybe if you back the speed off a ton. The first section of the video is that type of cut, so I only took 0.5mm off per pass, since we learned in my past video, 0.8mm depth at 2000mm/min, completely stalled my spindle
@@PhxSt0rmz thanks have take time to explain all this information. It is precious. Will try what to you do. It is my first time I play with CNC. Need learning curve.
Lot of this was just making do with what I have. Now I run a metal fixture plate with MODVISE & mitebitte jaws to hold my parts, so i can cut them faster.
Impressive!! Your CNC skill is really awesome!
The fact that you can hear a 1.5kw spindle slowing down tells you how Ridgid the machine really is
Vasto go brrrrrrrrr 😹😹👌👌
Thanks for this video
Could you help me out here? I am looking for a cnc mill for making some small aluminum parts, small quantities, I don't have the budget or space for a full fledged mill, besides parts are small and simple to warrant a full fledged machine. I am now stuck between a sherline mill and foxalien vasto, which do you think is better? The parts that we make are mostly 10 mm thick, max 20 mm (cutting is not more than 5 mm), we use stock like 50x50x6 mm aluminum L section, 38x19 aluminum busbar etc. The features are mostly holes and slots
Looks very nice! I see in another comment that you're using a 1.5kW spindle. Did you make your own cable for it? Also, did you make any other upgrades?
I got my spindle as a kit. BulkMan3D sells spindle kits, that comes with the wire, 1.5KW spindle, and VFD driver. Plug and play pretty much. I just had to make sure it was a 65mm diameter, as the 80mm spindles wont fit the stock holders. They come in air or water cooled..i prefer air, since I dont want to manage a water loop. The air ones run cool even after hours of use. The down-draft they push sorta helps push dust and small chips around which is nice for a vac system.
On the VFD, you can change the settings so the spindle-on is controlled by a cheap relay off amazon. So you can still use the vasto's spindle out and just rewire that 24V to trigger a relay ( i dont remember if its 24 or 48 volts ) this isnt required though. As the VFD has a start/stop button and speed control. So you can run it manually just like a dewalt/makita router.
Other than that the only stuff i changed on my vasto was I lowered the table 10mm and added extra supports. Just to make it more rigid. Not required, but it helps keep chatter down when metal cutting
@@PhxSt0rmz Thanks for the details! Did you solder the wire connector yourself, or did the cable came pre-terminated? Could you also clarify what you mean by lowering the table 10mm? Lastly, are you happy with this machine and would you recommend it over other brands/models in the same price range for milling aluminum?
@@jphalip I pre-ordered mine and the individual wood slats would flex up/down separately. This got fixed on all future machines sold, as they now interlock. So I rebuilt my table. My only minor regret is sorta wishing I bought a larger model. Although it does most my needs fine, there's times I wish it was a little larger. But then I have to wonder is it still just-as-rigid as the small one?
I had to cut/solder the VFD spindle connection myself. Someone out there might sell one thats pre-assembled but I know my BulkMan3D one, you had to solder the wires and build the connector yourself. Didn't require anymore tools than a crimper and solder iron though.
And I haven't tried other models. If you want to do metal, the main thing to look for is making sure the machine is NOT using belts. Belts stretch under load and dont repeat as well. You also want linear rails ( Not wheels ) for rigidity. The Vasto isnt the only machine on the market that has ballscrews ( not acme rods ) and linear rails. Shapoko I think did too, but it was a lot more expensive at the time I bought mine. The X axis gantry is also pretty rigid on the vasto. the side orange plates are over 1/2" thick solid aluminum. I've been pretty happy with it though. I never really ran into a limit with the machine. Its always been the tooling itself
@@PhxSt0rmz Awesome, thank you! The Vasto does seem like it has a lot of great features for a decent price compared to the competition. I do like the size as I have a small workshop. I'm currently thinking between this and the MillRight Mega V2, which is more expensive but is American-made and would have (supposedly) good support in the long term.
@jphalip Right now mine sits on a 2x4ft table. The machine overhangs by about 4 inches..and the steppers another 3 inches. It puts a decent gap behind the table/wall because I wanted the machine flush at the front. Since I clamped a monitor to my desk, I have a 2x2ft area almost of just empty table space. Which, i guess is handy for misc stuff. But part of me wishes this 2x4ft table was a 2x4ft machine. Since i installed drawers under the table, for tools and such. But, I guess thats just me being picky haha
Which GRBL s/w is good for VASTO?
Any will work, its all user preference. I prefer controlling/loading programs with Candle CNC. I use Fusion 360 to do my toolpaths, since its free & I'm already accustomed to using Fusion at my work, as I've been in the CNC trade, industry, for >10 years.
The tooling you use are specificial for aluminium ? Can give me more details?
SpeTool 2Pcs 1/4" Shank Aluminum Router Bit 3 Flute End Mill 2-1/2" OVL SPE-X Extra Long Life a.co/d/eYSkMMH
This is the tool I used in this video and my other video. I do aerospace CNC for a living and most all our finishers/roughers for high speed machining are 3 flute endmills. TitanCNC also has a video that explains 3 Flute is the best for aluminum as its a good balance of chip evacuation for roughing, and a good finisher. 1 flute will evac chips the most, but wont leave a good finish typically. 5 flute leaves a good finish, but is poor at removing tons of chips.
Mind you, although I can do 14MM depth of cut, this is ONLY for profiling a perimeter. If you tried to cut a slot at that depth, where 50% of the tool is engaging the part, it wouldnt go well. Maybe if you back the speed off a ton. The first section of the video is that type of cut, so I only took 0.5mm off per pass, since we learned in my past video, 0.8mm depth at 2000mm/min, completely stalled my spindle
@@PhxSt0rmz thanks have take time to explain all this information. It is precious. Will try what to you do. It is my first time I play with CNC. Need learning curve.
@@PhxSt0rmz I will check your other videos
Why not leave small tabs to keep that from happening?
Lot of this was just making do with what I have. Now I run a metal fixture plate with MODVISE & mitebitte jaws to hold my parts, so i can cut them faster.
what was that bracket for that you made?
This holds my 40W optical power 455nm laser module. XTool, needed a way to mount it to my linear rail. Does the job great and looks ment-to-be!
What spindle have you got on this?
1.5KW VFD Spindle, Air cooled, 65mm diamater, bought off BulkMan3D