Desktop CNC Mill on KickStarter

[Bernie Fraser]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1029697729/evo-one-desktop-cnc-mill-made-for-anyone?ref=discovery

Had a look at this desktop CNC Mill on Kickstarter and I like the sales pitch. Looks like they have put some thought into the design of it.

[Jack Clague]

Looks good, like the Nomad but bigger working area, hope they do well.

[Art Mann]

Cute little toy!

[Gary Hair]

It looks nice but why in the world would anyone use a single flat piece of material to hold the z axis? It can't possibly be rigid enough to do precision work - I know this from building my own cnc router! Not sure why they would use plywood for the enclosure, it's not going to last long if you use any kind of coolant/lubricant when machining metal. Seems like another Glowforge...

[Keith Winter]

I don't know anything about cnc routers but when I see this all I can think is expensive toy that will break quickly. Looks like a kit you'd order out of the back of an old popular science magazine and be sorely disappointed when it actually arrived.

[Kev Williams]

Just what I need, a sub-miniature version of what I have 9 of already. I can't think of a single use I'd have for that...

I don't think it would be prone to breaking easily, however, if the prone-to warping, shrinking and swelling wooden sides are actually structurally supporting anything, it won't be long before everything is out of plumb/level/square...

[Bert Kemp]

I'm sure 2 people will order them:D

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I'm sure 2 people will order them:D


They have sold 29 already.

I'm amazed at the number of people that will spend $2000-$3000 on Kickstarter.
And I'm also amazed that there's such a larget marker for these machines, which are little more than toys.

Having said that, this machine does look much better than most, but it's still just a toy, due to the tiny spindle.

[Art Mann]

I pity the poor guys who didn't do their homework and invested in this thing when there are many more robust alternatives that have been on the market for years.

[Dave Sheldrake]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et9a7MwxLs

I'll just leave this here :) (nothing to do with me by the way)

[Gary Hair]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et9a7MwxLs

I'll just leave this here :) (nothing to do with me by the way)

I used to like you Dave... right up until you post this and I find out the KS campaign is over and I can't order one until next year...

How very impressive it is, even though a bit small-ish, but it looks like a fine piece of machinery! Most impressive, especially for a kickstarter campaign, is that they delivered their first batch ON-TIME! No delays, no bs, no kidding!

As soon as they have them available to ship I'll be ordering one for sure!

[Mike Clarke]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et9a7MwxLs

I'll just leave this here :) (nothing to do with me by the way)

I am impressed.
I love some of the Youtube comments:

"When he was repeating "a tool to..." I was praying he wouldn't say "make the world a better place" lol."

"I'm throwing money at the screen but nothing is happening!"

"It is awesomeness to the power of 5, perhaps only love can cut better than this machine."

[Art Mann]

That machine is very interesting. I haven't seen anything like it on that small scale. I wonder what kind of precision it can achieve?

[Bernie Fraser]

I saw that one Gary when I was looking at the Evo-One and it looks great.

I have put in on the Kickstarter campaign for the Evo-One and am still happy with my decision. Six months ago I was researching Roland engravers and saw a model I liked. I then searched Google for reviews and saw some posts regarding failure of the spindle motor. Surprised me as I had not even considered spindle reliability before looking at engravers. It may have only been a issue with one customer but they had two spindle motor failures. I would have to try and find the post I read but it was six months ago.

The reason I went with the Evo-One was because of the bed size, the testing they did on their spindle motor and the enclosure. I plan to have it located in a spare bedroom so containing the waste material would be beneficial. I want to produce engraved Brass plaques that I can paint fill so the size is more than enough. This would add to the laser engraving of pet photos on granite or Marble I can currently do with with my Trotec. My day job is a helicopter mechanic and I have produced some work aides with my laser and think I can do some more with the Evo-One. The other area I thought the Evo-One will be useful is producing wood presentos and also cutting holes in DuraBlack. I have some other ideas and I think this machine would be more than capable.

I don't know any CNC or 3D programming even though I did my apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist back in 1987 so I will need to learn the software the Evo-One uses. Back then the company I worked manufactured railway bogies and we would machine the castings and other components in a production enviroment, with deep cuts and high feed rates. One milling machining centre would change out its own tools and rotate the job as it ran through the program. The CNC lathes we had would flood the work area with so much coolant we couldn't see the casting. I understand I'm not going to be cooling these milling bits or producing 300 components in a shift and I'm OK with that.

I think as long as I can see a use for the Evo-One and it fits in with the space I have available for a machine. And I think I can get a return on it I am happy.

[Dave Sheldrake]

I used to like you Dave... right up until you post this and I find out the KS campaign is over and I can't order one until next year...

How very impressive it is, even though a bit small-ish, but it looks like a fine piece of machinery! Most impressive, especially for a kickstarter campaign, is that they delivered their first batch ON-TIME! No delays, no bs, no kidding!

As soon as they have them available to ship I'll be ordering one for sure!

I said that to the guy that told me about it too :)

Real engineers porn :) it's small sure but the facilities it has for a pocket machine........I was really really impressed

[William Adams]

The PocketNC folks seem to’ve punted on the software though, and’ve chosen to work w/ AutoDesk to achieve their goals.

Probably the Evo-one folks are using a variant of Grbl. It supports a fairly broad range of G-code, and can be made to work well w/ pretty much any CAD/CAM software, so there should be no need to limit oneself to the bundled software.

[Kev Williams]

Pretty cool machine, but I have to Scrooge out on this one too. Can't think of a single lucrative purpose for it. I simply don't have time to build miniature V8 engine blocks that nobody will buy... ;)

[Dave Sheldrake]

Pretty cool machine, but I have to Scrooge out on this one too. Can't think of a single lucrative purpose for it. I simply don't have time to build miniature V8 engine blocks that nobody will buy... ;)

True Kev but it would be fun though :) I have full spec cnc lathes and mills but I'm going to get one of these little ones just for fun :)

[Gary Hair]

Pretty cool machine, but I have to Scrooge out on this one too. Can't think of a single lucrative purpose for it. I simply don't have time to build miniature V8 engine blocks that nobody will buy... ;)

I'm sure it would be too small to make anything useful or that it could be a money-maker, but I would sure be happy having it to play with! Just think of the fun I'll have re-learning 3D modeling and designing all sorts of miniature crap that nobody but a few geeks would ever care about!!