hey it's john schachter for tested.com i just unboxed the brand new bantam
tools desktop cnc milling machine you might be familiar with the other
mill their pcb milling machine this is a newer offering from bantam
tools with a work area of nine by seven by
three and a half inches and a footprint of about 19 by 20 this
is a bit bigger than the other mill but also
quite a lot more powerful the desktop cnc machine packs a 250 watt quarter
horsepower spindle with a max speed of 28 000 rpm which
puts this in an entirely different class of milling machine
whereas the other mill was designed for two and a half d parts like circuit
boards and small prototyping the desktop cnc is capable of machining
fully three-dimensional parts in materials like aluminum brass
hardwoods and plastics i am personally really excited about
this because it represents sort of the final frontier for me in digital
manufacturing i think a lot of makers can probably relate to this
you dabbled with 3d printing and laser cutting but you may feel intimidated by
cnc just because of the cost and infrastructure associated with
investing in a cnc machine but also the very real challenges of learning the
catacam pipeline phantom tools has positioned this
machine as a professional level tool that's also
streamlined and more accessible for new users like myself
so i'm eager to see how easy it is to ramp up
as soon as you open the box the machine is already set up with a piece of
aluminum stock fixtured in place to run your first job
it uses a right angle bracket and a set of adjustable toe clamps
to attach the stock to a 9x7 inch t-slot bed
inside the machine looks and feels pretty substantial
the frame is constructed of solid 5 8 aluminum and 20 millimeter steel shafts
it comes with all the power and connection cables a set of wrenches
a quarter inch er 11 collet quarter inch probe
and a single flat endmill the setup is pretty seamless
as soon as you install the software and connect to your computer via usb
you're ready to run the first sample project there's a step-by-step guide on
the bantam tools site that walks you through the entire
process to make a tool holder for some of the machine tools and a few end mills
you just load the g-code file install the probe
and run the automatic conductive probing sequence
that uses the conductivity of the bed and the work piece
to locate your stock by touching off a face on each axis
you then change out the probe for your end mill and run the job
you've got your first aluminum part within 20 minutes
i was actually surprised at how aggressively this cut through the
aluminum and with the quality surface finish for
such a rough pass
first impressions using the bantum tools software so far
are this feels pretty intuitive as compared to other cnc control software
i've used the interface is extremely streamlined
i'm not digging around all over the map looking for input fields
the menus are arranged pretty much chronologically so you go through them
in the order that you actually need the steps
the setup in general is pretty seamless so you install the software
connect to your computer using a usb and load the g-code for your first job
within the space of the first project or two i felt mostly comfortable knowing
where everything was located i opted to customize the tool holder so
i added some extra pockets on the bottom for the probe and
collets and also etch the tested logo on the face
using a metal engraving bit and the svg auto cam
function which is built into the bantam tools software
this is a really neat feature because you don't need to know cam or even 3d
modeling to create parts in two and a half d
you can design your own vector graphics in a 2d design program
and then import them directly into the bantam tools software
and it does all the cam setup for you in this case i use an engraving bit and
the preset feeds and speeds in the tool library to set this up
you just load your tool position the plan where you want on the face of the
part and start cutting another really useful
feature here is the ability to see a live preview of where your stock is
located and where your tool paths are in
relation to that you can check to make sure all the paths
go where you're expecting and that you're not going to run into
the bed or any fixtures this preview also follows along during
the job so you can actually see the spindle moving in real time so
exciting my first piece that i made out of metal
practically in the middle of my apartment
that was actually a lot easier and less intimidating than i thought it would be
banta made it really easy by having the material already fixtured and measured
in the machine and the tool paths and feeds and speeds
were dialed in ahead of time so not too much guesswork there
it came out pretty cool this was a simple operation
just milling out shapes onto the surface of the material and then i went back
into the second pass with an engraving bit to add the tested logo here
to the bottom i do want to try some more complicated files
having multiple tools so you'd have to change in between operations
and also different fixturing setups so you'd position the stock
one way and then turn it to another position so you can sort of attack from
a different angle i'm going to take things one step at a
time though and try their next tutorial
after the first successful milling operations and a few tests within graves
i was still ramping up to learn cam so i wanted to see just how far i could get
with the built-in svg functions i measured a small magnifying lens that
i had and designed a simple two-sided graphic in illustrator
to mill in solid quarter inch brass setting up the file in bantam was pretty
easy the basic svg function allows you to differentiate between
cut and engrave for different paths using color coding
much the way it would on a laser cutter you can choose multiple tools for the
job and set the depth and position of the
file now for software subscribers you have a
little more control in terms of designating
inner and outer cut paths within the same file
you can still achieve the same finished product with the basic software features
but you have to import the files in separate steps
so just a little bit more involved i first engraved the top side of the
brass then flipped and re-probed the piece to cut a recessed channel for the
magnifier and a full through cut of the contour on
the reverse side again that automatic stack probing makes
this pretty simple although in this case i had to bridge
the connection between the stock and the bed
because i was going for a full through cut i set up a plywood waste board
underneath held in place with the toe clamps and
then attached the brass with some high strength double sided tape
i was still a bit nervous flying solo with my first original design
but the probing sequence is able to locate the exact location of your stock
and position your job at the right height on the material
again that live preview was indispensable for making sure everything
was in the right place
because i ran this job using the built-in cam and the factory settings
for feeds and speeds this was a pretty aggressive cut it's
also a fairly ambitious design because of all the curves and sharp
corners but i wanted to see what it could handle
i was able to cut this full depth in quarter inch brass
and the bantam didn't skip a beat obviously if i was setting this up in
cam myself i could dial back the settings and depth
per pass and get much cleaner edge results
but overall i'm very impressed with what i was able to get
using zero cam knowledge and just the built-in svg settings
i'm also thinking bantam will continue to dial in these default settings
for different tools and materials
while we're on the subject of software a note about the different tiers
each machine purchase comes with the latest bantam tools control software
the basic software package includes all major functionality
automatic conductive probing a built-in feeds and speeds library
live job preview and basic svg handling for an additional cost you can become a
software subscriber and that gets you access to some premium
features like that advanced svg handling full feeds and speeds override and
advanced probing sequences which allow you to locate the stock using a boss
bore or outer rectangular feature i don't have any major gripes with the
software as of now although there are a few things on my
wish list it would be great if there was a way to organize the
tool library by favorites or frequently used
i'd also love to see an elapsed time or time remaining clock in the job progress
window phantom says that software subscribers
will get monthly updates so hopefully we'll see more useful
features and improvements over time basic users will still get bug fixes and
general updates but those major features will be
reserved for subscribers you do get a 30 day trial of the pro
license with your machine purchase if you do want to try that out before
deciding it's worth noting that for both software packages
you can generate your cam and an external cad program
like fusion 360 and have full control over the speeds and feeds there
which are then embedded in your g-code when you bring them into the bantum
software bantum will also be providing templates
for fusion specific to this machine at both software tiers
so after the first few projects went pretty smoothly i decided to dive into
some fully three-dimensional designs i started off with wood because i
figured that would be softest and most forgiving
i created a base design to hold a small piece i had laser cut out of plywood
and got some help with the cam setup for this piece
fixturing was a bit tricky because of the way the angled faces dipped down so
low to the bottom but i was able to get creative with some plywood spacers
and get it set up securely in this case i had to use manual probing to locate
the stock since the wood isn't conductive so you
just jog the spindle in increments until you touch the face of each side of the
stock and then zero it out i ran a test cut
first in soft pine and then a finished piece in heart pine
which turned out fantastic the tolerance of the slots for
the laser cut parts was spot on and after a finishing
parallel pass with a ball end mill this needed barely any cleanup out of
the machine i just hit it with some 220 sandpaper and a bit of oil
and it looks like a finish part to get this narrow pocket i did have to
switch to a 16 inch flat end which is not included with the machine
but bantam has a whole arsenal of end mills and other accessories for purchase
on their site this machine can accept a tool up to a
quarter inch diameter shank and that's the size that fits in the
included collet you can also upgrade to a precision
collet for smaller tools like the 16th inch end mill with an eighth inch shank
there are all types of engraving bits and chamfer bits as well
and you can get some pretty small tooling for fine detail work
on the subject of accessories at review time there is currently no
air assist or chip collection built into the system but i did notice there's a
port on the back of the machine where that could be added later phantom
has mentioned there may be upgrades in the future along the lines of an air
blast attachment or chip collection accessory
so that's definitely a possibility even without dust collection i was actually
surprised at how well the chips stayed contained
inside the enclosure there was a tiny bit of sawdust just below the door
but i felt fully comfortable running the machine about 10 feet from my dining
room and i just used a shop vac to clean out
around the bed after each cut with virtually no mess outside the
machine also if you're running this in your
house well i won't say it's quiet but it's not as loud as you might expect
i'm not sure of the actual decibel level and that will certainly vary
based on the material and how aggressive your cuts are
but it's not much louder than a vacuum cleaner i would definitely still wear
ear and eye protection as you would with any cnc machine
by review time i had designed a few other pieces for milling
and delrin and aluminum but i'm still just at the threshold of my cam
knowledge to machine them bantam has a handful of sample projects
in the works to practice more advanced operations
with multiple tool changes and flips that walk you through each process step
by step in addition to the right angle bracket
and toe clamps you can also use high strength double sided tape
in combination with a parallel to square the stock and offset it against the
right angle bracket this allows you to mill closer to the
bed without running into fixtures neither parallels or neato tape are
included in the base package with your machine
but both are available for purchase on the bantam store
for any setup using tape keep in mind you'll have to use a wrench
on the edge of the piece to complete the circuit between the tool and the machine
bed in order to use the automatic conductive
probing again this feature is super handy for locating the stock
based on what i've seen from the machine performance so far the power it can
shoot through material and the finish and part tolerances of
the final product this is a very capable machine that i'm
confident could handle just about any project i can dream up for it
within the range of soft metals and hardwoods of course
all right so some final thoughts overall i really enjoyed working with the bantum
desktop milling machine and was pretty surprised with how far i
was able to get with my limited cam knowledge
using the simple control interface and the built-in svg functions
i was able to make a couple pretty cool projects with not a lot of experience
between the high spindle speed super solid construction
all of those different probing sequences and flexible fixturing options
i think this machine is capable of producing parts with the power and
precision of a much higher caliber piece of equipment
for more experienced cnc users i think they'll find the workflow to be super
intuitive and also be pleased with the quality of
the parts they're able to produce for me i will say the limitations of my
own cam knowledge are still the biggest barrier
in making 3d metal parts that's more commentary on the state of cnc
than i feel like it is about this machine if there was ever a cnc email i
felt comfortable learning on this machine is it bantomtools has
really created an entire ecosystem around this machine from the easy user
interface the software tutorials step-by-step
project guides and i anticipate a pretty active user
community based on this being their sophomore release
also while you're learning fusion and all of the cam setups
you're also building fluency in a tool that the professionals use
which will translate to other workflows if you'd graduate to a more advanced
machine in the future the bantam desktop milling machine is
available for a promo price of 3 599 at that price point and with this whole
package i can see this being a tool that maker spaces and educators will want to
add to their arsenal i can also see it closing the gap for
individual makers who are looking to get more serious about subtractive
manufacturing in addition i think more experienced cnc
users who are looking for a professional level tool
with the footprint and the price tag of something a little more manageable
will find this machine pretty appealing i am
super excited about having this in the office that tested diving deeper into
cam knowledge and setups and working on some more complicated projects
if you're working on cnc projects at home we'd love to see what you're making
so please share with us that's all for me for now i'll see you
next time