I found your review/comparison to be well balanced and fair. I'd like to note that you didn't include labor in your pricing which I think to be fair you should have. If one system takes 5 days assuming 8 hours per and a rate of $75/hr that's an additional $3,000.00. Price may vary... Let's face it, time is money. If your more of a hobbiest and like tinkering the choice is obvious and likewise if your in business and all about production I think the choice is equally obvious.

I worked with a guy who got kickback to his nuts. His nuts swelled to the size grapefruits.

The true issue is competition.Makes perfection having said that. To be perfect you have to get feedback.

What about the rubber belt on the y-Axis. Does that require any type of rubber preserver or cleaner?

Do you use the same holes for the screws every time you change the spoilboard or make new ones? If you use the same holes won't the holes after a few times be useless? And if you make new holes, aren't you damaging the CNC bed and will have to replace it sometime in the future? I have been thinking of putting threaded inserts in the bed of my CNC and then screwing the bed using the inserts, but I'm not 100% if I should. I was also wondering. Why don't you use the CNC itself to make the holes on the spoil board? Thanks for the great and detailed video.

Good morning - thanks for the overview. Just a question : why do you put oil on the runners on the gantry? My manual says to clean it with alcohol? Won't lubricating the channel cause the wheels on the laser head to slip? Thanks!

i built one for my 4x8 millright and one for one of my shapeoko 3XXLs and they work great. the bigger one is a lot of maintenende and has a lot of limits. the small one has one rule. use a board close to the size of the table and it wont budge

That was right at pecker height.

Appreciate the detailed info. You made a few points I didn’t think about.

Great video Nick! 👌🏾

Interesting. I dont do large format CNC stuff so I was naive to this. Not all what I thought a vacuum table did. Good content.

I can't understand why you put the controls on the front and not the side. That way you have space for a vertical milling area.

Man this guy makes me spend money first I bought a Phantom cnc and I just ordered a Thunder Nova 51

Very good information. Thank you for taking your time to put this out there.

WHICH ONE IS BETTER A VACCUME BED OR CLAMP SYSYTEM BED ?

1. HOW TO MANAGE THIS CUT. Make a sacrificial push shoe that keeps your hand away from the blade but can put downward pressure and push the piece against the fence. The shoe should be sacrificial so that you can run a small amount of it through the blade on both sides of the cut as you run the piece all the way through. The piece should also be supported from underneath (i.e. via an outfeed). Note there are multiple ways to do thin rips-many of which are even safer-so I’m only explaining a safer way to do *this* exact cut and setup he’s showing. Also, never position your body directly behind the piece between the fence and the blade. If you mess up on avoiding kickbacks, better it hit your wall than your body. 2. THIS UNDERSTATES KICKBACK DANGER. I appreciate that he’s just demonstrating the concept, but this is only a small piece of plywood. While the pinching does occur, the piece’s velocity is greatly limited by maintaining contact with table saw top and multiple teeth on the blade. It’s why it shoots back at about 30 MPH and makes no visible damage to the sheet behind it. It would be annoying to be hit by that piece, and might even sting a little, but truly dangerous kickbacks are when the cutoff piece comes out from between the blade and the fence and makes contact with the *top* of the blade and accelerates with the blade rotation with no physical objects slowing it down. A small piece of oak being propelled at your body from close range at speeds of roughly 100MPH is a dangerous projection that could put you in the hospital. How I know: seeing my father break his sternum on his Sawstop with a hardwood bullet. Also: 1. Wear goggles. Sternums heal. Crushed eyeballs do not. 2. Wear a mask if you’re making repeat cuts indoors, even with solid hobbyist-level dust collection. Remember it’s the dust you *can’t see* that’s doing the most damage to your lungs. Happy sawdust-making everyone🎉 ( @Statedwoods. Great video, but just trying to add some more context. Appreciate ya!)

Excellent information on lasers and their functions.

Personally ive always found lasers easy to use

Great timing. Just got my laser.

Ok so now we know what NOT to do... what is the RIGHT way to do it?

I didn't care about owning a laser until I watched this video. Thanks Nick!

Great job

Great video. Suggestion: fill the unused spoil board with scrap as directed in this video. Add a gasket under the project piece perimeter using door/window self adhesive weather stripping. It comes in 1/4” wide by 1/8” thick rolls and only cost a few bucks.

In the process of doing my research for my first CNC, one KZfaqr put it well. He said that there are 3 tiers to CNC. 1. The desktop/hobbyist/low production ($100-5k. 2. The jump to a production level CNC ($6k-29K). 3. The big daddy of production (30K and up). Looking at the price of the Phantom, you are talking $12,300 for a 4'X4" machine. That is level 2 in my book, You even say this in your video, Pro level. . Anyone just starting out without a true business plan/product is not going to be ready to dump over 12K. Unless they are rich already. Trust me I get what you are saying. You are talking next level, let's make product. For me starting out, I don't want to spend more than $2500 on a starter unit. Yes assembly required. I don't have a product just yet. Though I have ideas. I think in the final analysis you prove your premise Phantom over Avid. I would still say you are comparing a level 1 CNC vs a level 2 CNC. The information is in-depth and very helpful. I think your target group is someone that has a level 1 CNC already and ready to step it up to a level 2. Thanks for all the information.

Really good!! One question, I saw a square piece to easily place stock at the honeycomb table, did you build that yourself? Thanks!!

Thanks - I learned a couple really handy techniques! Nice work too!

How far past the table does the slider extend in the “standard mount”, on the front and back?

0:05 I thought so too. And then I got a drill press.

❤️ promo sm

You should remove this video, so no one gets the idea of recreating this. NEVER do something unsafe to make a video like this or not to "show" a hazardous situation! You hurting or killing yourself or someone else is not worth any positive that may result. If you cannot find footage of an accident caught on film or an animation, never create one.

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Very good video

Musical Grade.... That's a new one.

4+4=7? Man, no wonder none of my stuff turns out, I've been doing it wrong. Lol

please tell me exactly what to use to oil my laser. brand name etc

Yeah but same short show the proper way to do this maybe?

awsome

Rent a craine?😂 wtf

Muito bom !

Hey dude, just a little constructive criticism. You are off base saying belt driven is worst than gear. BTW belts have are more precise due to no gabs between gear teeth and longevity is no issue. It's all about the quality of material. Cars run 100,000 miles on belts with no problems, and there's many more stuff to say but I have no time! LOL

i enjoy your videos and if you are not an engineer you have a good head for anergy and material balances as well as mass transport and other physicvs phenomina. It took me a while to figure out what you were getting at while wondering is one could isolate thye vacuum to zones. . Zoning is easy to comprehend moreso than you think :-). you are a good person to explain things to people.a 9 x 4 CNC could be quitye rigid compared to 8 x 4. If one doesn't need 4 ' wide they could save a lot with even better rigidity! I may have a custom phantom made. You're very creduble. I'm a scientist, not an engineer but much the same

Ingenuity and lots of work in such a short time period. Fun to watch…. great job you two!

what's for the info. but are there technical audio difficulties?

Great video Nick! Great information!

Excellent information and details. "Laser"

Use a metal polish like Mothers Aluminum polish to bring your mirrors back to life.

we have used over a dozen Thunderlasers on our craft items, running them upto 18 hours a day, earlier models were running around the clock in shifts, running 7 years without a breakdown, then more units were added and they are still im dailt production work, awesome machines,

👍👍👍👍

My mirrors have shown that coating coming off before and I replaced it as well. I really do want to upgrade the laser to be even bigger and have the kind with the built-in camera for easy placement of designs.

Jesus H...I don't think a factory rep could have explained it better!