【2.5W】CNC 3018 Pro Engraving Machine with CNC Touch Plate, Mini 3 Axis CNC Router Machine GRBL Control Wood Plastic PCB Milling Machine with Offline Controller

This device is sturdy but a little daunting to assemble. This was my first venture with a CNC devices so I was starting at the bottom. The instructions are rather inadequate but there is plenty of advice online. In order to make something with it, you will also need a design program and another to convert that design to "g" code which the onboard controller can use either from the Windows Candle software (supplied) or the little, less versatile, offline controller. Both of these additional programs are available online, some free. I still have some distance to go before I produce my first project.

Mine come with no board and the box wasnt in a good condition, so the customer service sending me a board they are awesome i wish i bought this machine first than the other rubbish i had from Vevor so yes i will recommend this company for all the support you need from parts to advice .

Good for what it is.Perfect for the beginner.

Limited assembly instruction spent hours following videos on line to calibrate still did not work properly made of cheap bake a lite and aluminium software is crap fan very noisy anyone thinking of getting one steer clear.

Great service. Assembled easily.All tools included.Great value.

Assembling was easy but does take a little longer than "20 minutes". The problem was actually using the Laser, it wont mark the wood or it burns the wood. The laser just would not calibrate. Also it is a pain to adjust the focus on the laser. I would AVOID buying this.

Having already had plenty of experience using a 3D printer, moving into CNC engraving and laser cutting seemed a good step.The CNC 3018 pro here was the best value I could find with a reasonable cutting area size and the options of different spindles and lasers.Assembly and set up:Assembly was very easy. Despite the fact the item is delivered in parts the assembly only took around 20-30 minutes and that was mainly screwing pieces together. Wiring was extremely easy with everything self explanatory.CNC Cutting / Engraving with a bit:The bits included are small but then so is the machine. My test engraving worked perfectly although a bit did snap (my own fault as feed rate was too high). The z axis touch plate makes homing really easy.Laser Cutting / EngravingThe 2500mw laser works well for cutting card and cutting 3mm softwood plywood. Placing the card on a sheet of glass before laser cutting gave a really clean cut. Plywood cuts and engraves well. Focusing the laser was relatively easy. Tip, use a black piece of card or paper to make this easier. On a side not I've found white card will only cut not engrave with this laser.Offline controller:I've only had a short play with this so far and it's relatively simple to move the machine. I've not tried cutting from this yet as I prefer to use a laptop to have more control.One thing I've found is the learning curve is very steep. Coming from 3d printing I naively assumed that going from 3d model (from thingiverse) to machine would be as easy as a few settings in a slicer. This is not the case, there are far more setting that need to be set and tweaked to be correct. There are plenty of youtube videos to learn and it just takes time. Also mistakes are far less forgiving than 3d printer and can result in broken bits and much more wasted material.This is not by any means a perfect machine but it is a relatively low cost entry machine that can be easily upgraded and can be used as a good learning machine if you do decide to move to something bigger (and much more expensive).All in all, I would highly recommend this machine and would still give 5 stars as the limitations are not due to this machine but rather due to the complexities of CNC milling.