Life, The Universe and ... Everything!

In its original design, the 3018 "Woodpecker" CNC Router, a cheap entry-level unit found on eBay and AliExpress, will happily tell the stepper motors to keep moving along the axis, even if the work bed or spindle carrier is bumping against the end of its range of movement. This is because the router doesn't actually have any absolute measurement of where it's current position on the axis is. It assumes it is at the "home" position (machine coordinates 0,0) whenever it is powered on, and will ...

So There I was Browsing The Internet ... ... when I came across this mini CNC router going for cheap on AliExpress . It's a "3018" model, which means the work area is 300mm by 180mm, and is large enough to handle the parts for my 737 overhead panel. And the best part is the price, it is USD115 + USD50 (Fedex International Economy) shipping. The same design is sold under many different names, and it is also known as a "woodpecker", "linksprite" and "beautystar". The frame is made from 2020...