Screw Driven WorkBee CNC Router mechanical kit DIY CNC Engraving Machine CNC Milling Machine Carving Machine Tool (500mmx750mm, Sliver)

Everything arrival in great packaging, complete no missing parts, in fact I was given extra parts if any screw or nut was lost. The CNC is easily assembled, plenty of videos on line. If you are a CNCer prior to ordering this, you will be able to adjust some of the settings as you build it. The beginner can follow the directions and have a good CNC to start with. I have three right now, was looking for this Workbee design so that I can cut children furniture right from half sheets of plywood.

Shipment arrived sooner than I was expecting. Had generous padding in the box.Spent a day assembling. it not 100% with the mechanical bits, I still need to attach the bottom supports, then I will move on to the electrical bits. Have not tested the motors yet, but all the parts lined up well and were in good condition.The only issue I had, and I am hesitant to mention, was that one of the couplings was for a different diameter motor shaft. It was identical in every other way to the others and I was able to adjust the coupling in a couple minutes. Looking at the coupling I could not tell it was different with my eyes. I did not take off for this in my star rating because it hardly slowed the assembly.

Have been running the machine in a hobby capacity for several months now. Have made some small furniture pieces, decorative items, inlays, etc. Machine has performed great, with no issues.Parts arrival:All parts received quickly and well packaged. No damage during shipping. All needed parts were included...save for one erroneous bolt. I was able to work through the lack of the one specialized bolt, but it was frustrating and moderately inconvenient. That said, that was the only item that was in error and ultimately not the end of the world.Build:This unit does not come with instructions, but instead, expects you to find other online build instructions for essentially an exact same machine. Getting those instructions was not difficult and somewhat surprisingly were a dead match for this machine. There’s a good number of bolts and components as you can imagine...but just following along step by step everything went together exactly as portrayed by the instructions. Assembly was not difficult, just parts going together one component at a time. As a general note, I found all components fit together just right with no mismatches. One item that wasn’t noted in the purchase highlights, but was included with the kit was lead screw tensioning kit. Honestly, I had been a little concerned about small (8mm) lead screws being so long and flopping around at “high” speeds, but figured I’d just run the machine slow if it came to that. However, the included tensioning kit (I think they are referred to as Tingle tensioning kits) is fantastic! Once everything is installed and the screws tensioned, there is minimal wobble and things run plenty fast for my taste.Electronics/controls:As mentioned, the kit does not come with controls, but I purchased mine with steppers. I’m an electrical engineer so this part of the project was right up my alley. I designed my system around an Arduino Nano and some low cost stepper controllers. Commands are sent via shareware Gcode Sender and I use Fusion 360 to generate the G code itself.End result:Maybe you won’t find one of these machines at NASA or in a full time machine shop, but for a hobby user like myself...it’s awesome! Absolutely no issues whatsoever. It’s soooooo much more accurate than what I can achieve with hand tolls. And once I have a design...just pop the feedstock in a make yourself another widget...exactly the same as all the other ones. I love this thing. Whatever I design...it executes. Very tight tolerances (for my wood work needs...and again, WAY BETTER than what I can achieve by hand). I also designed and 3D printed a pen holder that I attach and have been using to plot out artwork and various other large format designs I need.Overall: if you are looking for just a mechanical kit, I have found no fault with this machine. If I ever find myself in need of another kit machine, I will not hesitate to buy this one again. I don’t think it is currently an option, but something that I would opt for on a future machine would be an increase of the Z axis height. Once you install a bed, and stock to machine of about 1”-1.5” you don’t have much additional vertical height left. Again, that doesn’t really kill any projects that I have but I could likely invent some projects if more Z height was available. One workaround to that would be to remove the bed and mount your work to the platform the cnc machine itself rests on. Obviously some drawbacks there, but could be functional if needed. Again, that is not a criticism of the current configuration, merely an option that I would be on board with if it existed. Hope you have as much fun it as I am having!