REVIEW – I’ve had some great opportunities here at the Gadgeteer to try out a variety of crafting tools like laser cutters/engravers and 3D printers, but one product type has eluded me so far: the CNC machine. That changes today, since I’ve had the pleasure of checking out the LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine for the past few weeks. I’ve always wanted to play with a CNC machine for a variety of reasons, including engraving and cutting wood without the scorching and smoke produced by laser cutters.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $499 ($449 sale at time of review)
Where to buy: LUNYEE (Save 15% with code: gadgeteer)
What is it?
The LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine is a computer-controlled machine that can precisely cut, etch, and carve patterns and designs of your choice into materials such as wood, acrylic, and even metals like brass and aluminum.
What’s included?
- Y-Axis base module
- XZ-Axis gantry module
- Spindle motor
- Control board
- Power supply
- Rubber feet x4
- Limit switches x2
- Spindle clamp
- Chuck
- Power bracket x2
- Cable ties
- Emergency stop switch
- Various bolts and washers
- Flathead screwdriver
- Wrenches x7
- “Tool setting instrument” x1
- AC Power Cord
- USB data cable
- Motor cables x3
- Limit line x6
- Spindle cord x1
- 10 piece router bit set
- Wire clamp x10
- Platen x2
- Offline controller
- USB drive with software and test files
- Braided wire tube
- Brush
- Steel ruler
- Wire trough
Tech specs
Work Area: 300 x 180 x 80mm (11.81 x 7.09 x 3.15 inch)
Overall Dimensions: 422 x 414 x 350mm (16.61 x 16.30 x 13.78 inch)
Control board compatibility: 4-axis 5.0 GRBL 1.1f
MCU: 32-bit
Max Speed: 5000 mm/min
Control software: Software Based on GRBL Firmware, e.g. Fusion360, Easel, Candle, UGS, LaserGRBL, LightBurn
Body material: Aluminum Alloy & Carbon Steel
Accuracy: ±0.1mm
Motion Systems: Linear Guides：X-HG15, Optical axis：Y, Z, Lead screw：X, Y, Z
Spindle Motor: 500W Spindle Motor
Stepper Motor: NEMA 17, Stepper Motor
Safety features: XYZ Limit Switch & Emergency Stop Switch
Power supply: AC110/230V (Switch Power)
Net Weight: 14kg (31 lb)
Design and features
The LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine has a 30 cm x 18 cm work area (hence the “3018” in the product title), which is about 11.8 x 7.1 inches. The construction is nearly all metal, including the frame and gantry. The build quality on my review unit is excellent, with no misaligned bolt holes and no other obvious imperfections that I could see.
On the back of the gantry lies the control board, with quite a few wire connections (though they’re well-labelled, I had no issues getting everything connected).
All of the axes have manual dials to move your object-to-be-CNC’d around. At the edge of each axis is a stop switch, so if the computer or gcode file tries to send the spindle too far in any direction it simply stops the process and avoids harm to the drive mechanisms.
Another safety feature is the large red stop button on the right side of the machine (when you’re facing it). I can confirm that this works, as I had it accidently pressed in and twisted after setup, which prevented me from getting any life from the machine at all (until LUNYEE tech support helpfully instructed me to rotate it clockwise – I’d wiggled it and spun it counter clockwise but to reset the switch a clockwise turn is needed).
As we come around to the back of the machine, you can see all the wires leading to motors and switches. LUNYEE includes cable ties, a braided wire sleeve, and a “wire trough” to hide or secure these wires.
The power supply is mounted to the back of the gantry next to the control board, and has a simple on/off switch and a plug connector for the AC cable, as well as twin wires that you connect to the control board to supply power to the machine. Note that there’s also a power switch on the control board itself, these switches both need to be on for the machine to function.
Finally, there’s an offline controller included which can be loaded up with a gcode file (from a computer onto an SD card), and then it can control the CNC machine without the need to directly connect a computer. LUNYEE includes a warning card to only use one connection method at a time.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
The physical assembly of the LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine wasn’t too bad, though it was a bit time consuming given the number of bolts and wires that need to be connected. LUNYEE did an excellent job labelling all the various bolts clearly and the manual was easy to follow to install everything.
Cable ties and the included spindle clip made routing wires to the spindle a breeze.
Speaking of wires, the control board has excellent labelling which greatly helped in getting everything set up and connected.
Next, I installed a router bit into the spindle (shown above) and was ready to go!
Performance
I began my testing of the LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine with one of their included files (and used Candle – an open source software they include on their USB drive that simply sends a pre-made test GCODE file to the machine). The resulting work looked great to my eyes, with the only imperfection being caused by the warped nature of the cheap wood I was testing with.
Next up, I played around with creating my own design (using UGS – another included open source software) by importing the Gadgeteer logo and tweaking settings for material height and cut depths. This process did take some trial and error, so you’ll see an aborted test line below the actual work being done in the clip below:
My only complaint with the design of the LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine might be the issue of particle shavings getting everywhere (though this is true of most of the CNC machines in this price range). I would have loved to see some kind of vacuum or blower system to keep the cut particles out of the moving parts of the machine. I anticipate needing to clean and regrease the lead screws fairly often based on my testing so far:
One final note on performance – I had a harder time figuring out software and settings for creating my own projects than I’ve had with any other creative tool so far. This isn’t specific to LUNYEE, but a more user-friendly software would go a long way towards barrier-of-entry. There might be easier/better software options out there, let me know in the comments if you know of some! If I was gifting this tool to one of my woodworking friends or relatives who wasn’t very tech-savvy, I would feel the need to make careful step-by-step tutorials for them or I would worry they would be unsuccessful.
Final thoughts
I was impressed by the LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine throughout the review process and look forward to many future wood/acrylic/aluminum projects in the future! It’s a great addition to my ever-expanding workshop, and as long as you’re ok with the fairly small working area you can create just about anything you can imagine (as long as that creation can be done with carved or cut material).
What I like about the LUNYEE 3018 Pro Ultra CNC Machine
- Great results and accuracy
- Very solid mostly-metal build
- Safety features like limit sensors and the emergency stop button
- Option to use as a laser engraver as well
What needs to be improved?
- Software has a steep learning curve – though this is common to most CNC machines
- Dust management
Price: $499 ($449 sale at time of review)
Where to buy: LUNYEE (Save 15% with code: gadgeteer)
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by LUNYEE. LUNYEE did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
Check out these other CNC reviews!
- TwoTrees TTC-450 Pro CNC Router Machine review – Everything you need to know!
- Monoprice 44220 Benchtop CNC Router Kit review – DIY engraving
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