Which spindle motor (milling motor) to choose?

This depends on the kind of work that you want to do with the machine. To mill light materials and if precision is not predominant, than a low-budget AC motor will do:Dremel, Ferm, Proxxon etc. This motors are not really low-noise and ofter there is quite some play on the axes. The bearing will wear quite fast so that they need to be replaced regularly. These motors are cheap – so you get value for money. They are frequently used for hobby purposes, modelling or for drilling holes with low accuracy.

Stronger and often better alternatives are the heavier AC motors as for example Kress, Metabo and Hitachi. But pay attention: for the CBR machines most of these motors are too big and too heavy. The Colinbus 500 W motor on the other hand is a suitable option. This motor is equipped with a professional tool clamping system and can be used to mill quite heavy materials. Bearings of these motors are stronger and make less noise. That is what makes them more interesting than their smaller brothers not only for professional applications but for milling light materials as well.

Apart from all these there is also the option of professional high-frequency motors as for example Jäger and Kavo.
Neither price nor quality can be compared with the previous motors, but when it comes to high precision they are the only option. Especially for milling fine PCB tracks in electronics or for milling tiny holes these motors are the first choice.

How do I fix the material onto the machine ?

Ther are several possibilities. Mostly used is the “T-nut” table. Onto the machine a table with T-grooves is mounted. Fixation blocks with screw-thread can be moved freely in the grooves. This way a work piece can be placed at ony place on the table. Because of a springsystem the blocks click easily into the groove. This way one does not have to romove one by one all the blocks that where put in previously when an extra fixation point has to fit in extra between two blocks. De T-nut tafel is multifunctioneel en de wekstukken kunnen muurvast gemonteerd worden.

In order to fix flat work pieces there is the vacuum table option. The piece will be sucked onto the table. This way clamps are not needed anymore. This is the fastest way but cannot be used for every application (see: vacuum table). This technique works the best for "repetitive" work: machining of pieces that always have the same form and dimensions. Colinbus can deliver several different kinds of vacuum tables to suit a variety of applications.

On all of the CBR machines it is also possible to work with clamps. This system is suited for machining of sheet materials. The sheet is stretched between two clamps so that patterns can be milled out. There is no need for underlay material because the sheet does not lay down but is "hanging".

Another cheap but effective option is: just put a MDF panel in the provided opening on the Colinbus machine and screw the work pieces on this panel. If at a certain moment there are too many holes and grooves in the panel than just replace the board or face-mill it again.

The CPR-30 machine, which has been especially designed for PCB milling and drilling, has - apart from the face-milled T-nut table - a special alignment system which enables the user to mill double-sided PCB's or to join the PCB's to a multilayer PCB at a later stage.

I have no experience with CNC machines.

Due to the “User Interface” that comes with the machine anyone can work with a Colinbus machine. As with a lot of other machines you do not have to be familiar with G-coding or any other hocus-pocus language of any kind. Once the designed work piece is visualised on your screen, you define the tools you want to work with, you define what you want to mill and the machine will do its job.

BEWARE: all this sounds simple, but as always there is a snag in it: handling the machine and setting all the parameters is a piece of cake, but machining the materials is another story. What should be the rotation speed of the tool, how high should I set the milling speed, in which direction do I have to mill and a lot more questions need answers.
Machining materials is a profession and one should not expect to have professional results without some prior knowledge. Some materials are very easy to handle while some others are extrmely difficult. Learning from experience is the best teacher. This should not be a problem because thousands of other people have done that too. The Colinbus database can be an extra source of information. An extra reassurance should be that because of the special construction of the machine not a lot of damage can be done to it. Knowing that a lot of non-technical people handle these machines and produce very nice results, one can expect that manipulation is indeed extremely simple.

After purchasing a Colinbus CBR machine can I start working rightaway?

CBR machines come almost as a complete package. Not only the “User Interface” (software for the manipulation of the machine) but a professional CAM software comes with the machine as well.
Defiition of milling strategies is done in the CAM software: the way you want to machine the work piece.
The milling motor is the only part the customer needs to define himself because this choice depends on the kind of work that needs to be done (see: Which spindle motor (milling motor) to choose?). Making the proper choice can be made easier by going through our technical database or by simply calling and explaining us the application so that we can advice you.

Apart from all that there are a lot of accessories that are not really required but that can be of great help. T-Nut and vacuum tables, dust cabinets, engraving heads and dust extraction but to mention a few.

How does the Colinbus machine command language look like?

Colinbus machines all work with a sort of HPGL language. This happens quite unnoticed for the user because the delivered software takes care of the required translation. This language is freely available for users who want to drive the machine with their own software. But be careful: there are minor differences between the different machine ranges! The Colinbus 2D machines for example use another command language than than the 3D machines.

No G-code used?

No, no G-code. With the software that is dleiverd with the machines it is possible to read and generate G-code but the machine itself does not use G-code. This was not done on purpose but has to with Colinbus geschiedenis. But the Colinbus language is a powerful one. A lot of influential machine builders use an identical language which proofs the power and flexilbility of it.


Why are Colinbus CBR machines far better priced than comparable machines on the market?

The question you really have in mind is: “can these machines then be as good as the others ones available on the market?” or “if they are indeed as good as the others why are they not sold at higher prices then?”.
Well, let's be honest, the price itself was one of the goals. This series is made with a certain price in mind and the technique has been adapted to that purpose, not the other way around. So, a lot of energy and time has been put in development. Special profiles have been extruded, motors, nuts, spindles and electronics are made-to-measure and software has been written especially for this project. All this because of the target price and a certain quality level needed to be reached for that specific price level.
The big success of the CBR series is largely due to the extreme high price/quality relationship. This way we are able to deliver a product to a broad group of users. It is obvious that CBR machines also have their restrictions but they often have more to offer than many other more expensive machines.

Can I use CBR machines to do 3D scanning?

The very first application ever on a CBR machine had nothing to do with milling or engraving but was 3D scanning. For 3D scanning (as well as for 2D of course) you need a scanning head and the required software. Mostly this software needs information on the position of the head because the software wants to know exactly where it is measuring a certain position on the Z-axis. Because all moving parts require a certain time to come to full speed (acceleration time) and a certain time to speed down to full stop (deceleration time) the software is not able to put a relation between the constant speed and the amount of measuring pulses.
So if you have the intention of using a 3D scanner on a CBR machine than you can better find out which kind of information the scanner needs from the machine. Making a connexion to the machine is always possible whether at the time of puchasing the machine or at a later stage.