Step Four System

This is my step-four system. This system is a Basic 540 to which I have added various modifications. The unit frame is made from Bosch-Rexroth 45mm structural aluminium. The blue panels are just 6mm MDF painted blue ( to match the CNC body - sad really).
The step-four electronics are housed in the base along with a home-brewed router controller and a pair of relays for switching coolant etc. The computer is also housed in the base. The monitor and mini keyboard are mounted on an outrigger attached to the unit.
I have added a drip tray from painted 8mm MDF - this has a drain and filter to allow coolant to be re-circulated.
Various base-boards have been made to accept oddball jobs - all from MDF and all levelled accurately.
The router head is a Trend T3 with a standard 43mm collar (well, it SHOULD be 43mm but is actually 42) - neat little router for most jobs and very cheap - doesn't look like a Chinese router (although it probably is).
As well as being able to route timber and non-ferrous metals, I have added the ability to cut vinyl films. I built a small vinyl cutting adaptor for my system - works VERY well. The knife is a Mimaki make and takes VERY small specially made blades. The Mimaki knife holder and blades are available from Luberth Dijkman at the address below - tell him I sent you and you'll get a big discount (or maybe a few extra stickers :-) ...

Luberth.com

I may make a small drawing available for the knife mount. Step-Four produce a nice vinyl knife cutter and it may be cheaper going this route. BTW, don't waste your time trying to make a knife and holder - I did, and had a lot of success and a lot of failure - the big issue is keeping it consistently good - one wrong move by a sticky knife blade and it will tear the whole film - be warned !

Step-Four can be found at ...

Step-Four.at

There is also a Step-Four users forum - unfortunately not in English, but still useable occasionally . The forum is here ...

Step Four Users Forum

Perhaps a forum in English would be good.

While the Step-For software is in DOS, it is extremely well produced. It resides in a window system and is very easy to drive. I have been through many, many CNC software applications, but I haven't found any as simple and elegant. There is also a simple CAD module which works VERY well for most simple jobs - lashing up a quick panel or whatever is really easy. I only have one complaint about this and it is the lack of any text engraving feature - you really have to export this from your own CAD application.
For a CAD application, I use VectorWorks on Macintosh OSX (nemetschek.net). I export DXF files in release 13 format to a USB key rather than have it networked. My CNC computer runs on win98, so I can just dump the files via that. After dumping the files, I can boot into DOS and sort out the toolpaths - ULTRA simple in Step-Four - it does most of it automatically - the finer points can be done manually. Not a Gcode in sight either !!!!!!! You can of course use Gcode if you wish.
The Step-Four software is built in modules that you purchase individually as required. All in all, a very well produced machine (would do you expect less from Austrians !) - the price is extremely competitive with building your own. It comes as a self-assembly kit - and easier to put together than an Ikea flat-pack too :-)
There are a lot of other different sized machines to choose from and they now have a Windows based CNC application and driver.