The number 3018 has become shorthand for an affordable and “good enough” introduction to desktop CNC engraving. So-called for the dimensions of the work table area, a few companies have the 3018 on lock – SainSmart perhaps most recognizably so with its Genmitsu range of CNC machines.
Through several iterations, the company kept the price more or less accessible, while sophisticating the offering to be more user friendly. This culminated in the PROver 3018, a pre-assembled machine that ships almost ready-to-run.
Now, more than doubling the workable area, SainSmart is expanding the use of this machine with a new release: the Genmitsu ProverXL 4030. Promising a “quick and easy setup,” this new large CNC machine scrapes in under $1,000.
SainSmart's big new benchtop CNC router, the PROVerXL has a working volume of 400 x 300 x 110 mm, and SainSmart claims, is easy-to-assembly and ready-to-go.
Features
SainSmart’s larger new Prover machine, we have been told, was designed with value in mind. Cutting back on the dense experience that desktop CNC machining typically holds (which surprises us, given the comparative sophistication of 3D printing), the Genmitsu ProverXL 3040 comes in a big box along with creative software and has only a few parts to assemble.
Design
All3DP was shipped a sample unit ahead of launch, that we, unfortunately, have yet to get hands-on with. But, having rifled through the box to get a feel for the task ahead of us, we can confirm SainSmart’s claim of the Genmitsu ProverXL 3040 being a modular affair. The core motion and mechanical parts come preassembled.
It doesn’t appear to be as simple as, say, a 3D printer that needs only the Z-axis gantry to be attached to the base. But it’s close, and having the context of recently assembling a basic 3018 kit, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of many 3018 CNC machines.
Unlike the smaller 3018 machines, the ProverXL 3040 has a fixed work bed (with MDF wasteboard), with the machine’s gantry rolling along the C-beam frame.
Movement of the gantry in the Y-axis is provided by dual Nema 23 stepper motors driving leadscrews. Drag chains keep cables under control, and optical endstop axes put a stop to gut-wrenching crashes at the extremes of the axes and give the convenience of auto-homing.
Spindle
The ProverXL 3040 ships with a 300-watt SainSmart spindle, which is capable of 12,000 RPM. SainSmart claims the machine is suitable for cutting, drilling, and carving a plethora of materials, including your garden variety woods, plastics, foam, vinyl, and even aluminum.
An additional spindle bracket is provided for a DeWalt DWP611. A popular router commonly used for CNC routers, this inclusion gives a the Prover 4030 extra flexibility as a secondary machine, for those with a prior CNC setup.
The accommodation of a more powerful DeWalt is something of a future-facing move on SainSmart’s part, too, with embiggening kits on the horizon that will allow users to increase the size of their work table and tackle larger projects.
Control and Software
Sitting shotgun to the ProverXL is a debut control box for SainSmart. Redesigned from previous efforts, this new box features physical control buttons for job initiation, pause, and spindle speed, in addition to the convenience of machine lock and unlock and, for safety, an emergency shutoff.
The ProverXL 4030 runs the open-source GRBL V1.1 firmware, which should mean that a large number of CAM and control software already accommodate the machine. This has the potential to simplify any integration of the ProverXL into existing workflows, making it pretty easy for complete newcomers to find software of their choosing and have it work with only basic configuration.
SainSmart is shipping the first 50 units of the ProverXL with a 12-month subscription to CarveCo Maker, which should flatten the design and CAM difficulty curve for beginners.
Release Date & Availability
Following a brief period of teasing on the SainSmart website, the ProverXL 4030 became available on September 7, 2020. Given how often we see machines go up for preorder before broader availability, it’s refreshing to see this one is immediately available.
Price
Available through the SainSmart website, the Genmitsu ProverXL 4030 will set you back $1,149 retail. However, it launched as part of a Labor Day 10% discount action, meaning it’s possible (depending on when you’re reading this) to get it for $999 instead.
Reviews
There’s a dearth of information and opinion on this new launch out there, so no early impressions for us to fill out here. Handily, we have our mitts on one, and plan to bring our experiences with the machine in the near future.
Tech Specs
- Assembly: Semi-assembled
- Frame: Aluminum
- Cutting area: 400 x 300 x 110 mm
- CAM/control software: Candle, Carveco Maker (included), Easel
- Advertised assembly time: ~15 minutes
- Machine footprint: 641 x 755.5 x 580mm
- Spindle: 300 W 12,000 RPM
- Rated power: 600 W, 7A, 0-48V
- Step motor: Nema 23 (2-phase, 3A)
- End mills: Nano Blue Coat Flat end mill set (1/8” shank, cutting edge diameter 0.8-3.0mm), V-shape engraving bits (1/8” shank, cutting edge diameter 0.2mm, 30 Degrees)
- OS: Carveco Maker: Windows 7 and newer, Candle: Windows, Linux, MAC OS
Similar Machines
Pushing the Genmitsu range into a highly competitive segment and size bracker of CNC machine, the ProverXL 4030 runs shoulders with the established and popular “affordable” large format CNC machines such as the Shapeoko and X-Carve.
Carbide 3D Shapeoko
A benchtop CNC with heritage, the Shapeoko, now several generations in, is an established and trusted creative tool that has helped lower the barrier of entry to CNC machining. The base model edges the Prover for build volume, but costs a little more, too.
Hackable and coming with a large work area out of the box - especially the XXL version - the Shapeoko is a versatile CNC router.
Inventables X-Carve
With the creative might of a wide library of community projects behind it, plus an integrated ecosystem for replenishing materials and the simple-to-use browser-based CAM of Easel, the X-Carve is no slouch. Although it is much larger, and costs twice as much.
A huge work area and all the basics to be up and running out of the box makes the X-Carve a solid first CNC router.
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