Hi there - I’m considering purchasing a Onefinity desktop CNC and I wanted to ask if it makes sense for my use case. I currently have a set up of a handheld grinder held securely in place on a set of gantry rails to dry grind down concrete into planar surfaces (see photo). This process is extremely tedious, dusty, and exhausting to do by hand, so I want to utilize a CNC solution to automate it. My plan is to mount the same grinder to the CNC instead of the spindle - assuming I have an okay dust collection setup, do you think that this would be possible for me to do reliably without destroying the CNC’s ability to slide along the rails? Would I be able to get a 3d model of the mounting plate so I can design a 3d printed part to mount the grinder directly to the CNC?
Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly apprecited!
I would seriously think twice before mounting a grinder to the 1F, without some elaborate skirting modifications. With its open ball screws and linear bearings, the grit will eat the bearings alive. Another option would be to replace the linear bearings with UHMW bushings. Likewise, you could replace the ball screws with ACME screws & UHMW nuts, effectively making the machine purpose-built for your application.
Edit: The 1F doesn’t really have a mounting plate per se for the spindle, it’s either a 65mm or 80mm mount option for a router or spindle.
Edit 2.0: After some thought, you may want to consider a belt drive machine with V-rollers for linear guidance (similar to an X-Carve). While not nearly as accurate or stout as a 1F, there are no guidance or drive bearings to worry about contamination & failure.
They do make CNC machines designed to work with stone (the material not the person). Specifically tile, and even headstone carving. Understanding you are primarily interested in using one for basic flattening purposes, these CNC machines are pretty close to a regular CNC except the bearings are much more protected, and they usually have a tub or basin built into the frame that is used for water collection. This is because they use jet(s) of water to keep the dust down and keep the bit cool.
They do make somewhat small models that are not that much more expensive than these hobby-level CNCs. However, my Goolge-foo has just now failed me after trying to find them again. I remember I was interested in carving things like soapstone and porcelain tiles at one point and is how I came across them. Hope this helps with your search.
Side note: perhaps you could figure out some sort of water supply to your rig?
As an aside, I use the OF to carve soapstone with regular carbide bits. I’ve done other stone (sandstone coaster) too. For harder stone I’ve not cut but have engraved with diamond end mills. The OF is certainly robust enough.
Yes, this. The down side to my afore-mentioned belt-drive, V-roller machines is that they are probably not even 10% as robust as the Onefinity. About the only up side is that it will operate in a more ‘dirty’ environment without damage.
Where did you get the diamond bits? I was reading where other people “said” they used Dremel bits, which would be convenient and inexpensive comparatively, but have not been able to confirm this.
