Arduino Based CNC conversion on a Mini Mill
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- This is an update on a CNC mill I am building and programing from scratch using an arduino. This is just a basic overview of what I'm going for but if theres enough interest I will make more in depth videos about the construction and programing of the arduino. You can see what I make in my workshop at www.jaywhitecreations.com
Awesome work man. I know people on youtube can be pretty critical, but most of us appreciate all the work you did to get to this point, and all the work it takes to share it...not to mention putting yourself at the mercy of the armchair critics. Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Thats a real inspiration to hear that. Sure there have been a couple smarty pants but mostly just strangers helping strangers. I've gleaned so much knowledge from this community and I'm so happy to be able to give back. Thanks for taking the time to say this. Stay Awesome!
The belt conversion for the main motor is a must. You will be amazed at the speed choices and how quiet the mill becomes. I just did mine and so worth it.
Actually during the trial and error process of building this and learning to work with CNC I crashed the mill and broke one of the headstock gears and almost did the conversion then but already had a lot on my plate. Thanks for the advice, I think I'll do the conversion soon.
Cool. I just broke another gear in the head stock and I think that now that I'm into CNC I'd better get belts set up
That is awesome. I hope you will do some more in-depth videos explaining the entire conversion.
+Patrick Thanks! One of the main things I want to highlight is that I've done this conversion without making any permanent modifications to the machine. I just used existing screw holes. Thanks for the interest More to come.
Nice conversion, these little machines are ideal for the home garage !
Nice to see your 4 axis working as I'm just about to add a 4 axis and quick tool release, After getting LinuxCNC and Fusion360 working, these machine are a constant source of learning :)
Awesome conversion! the best thing you did it on the cheap and with no permanent modifications. keep up the great work, sub earned!
I think it's important to note that the Arduino is the platform software, not the chip itself. neat project!
I like the fact that you can go manual when you are done with the project.
I wasn't wearing any eye protection when you started the lathe the first time, have to warn me : )! Really nice job, fun project. I hope to do something similar soon.
I want to get a small milling machine myself... Will check all this out
Jay
That was an Awesome Video.
Thanks for sharing
Wow, really impressed Jay!
Absolutely awesome😛
Now that is innovative and where this cm community needs to go. I mean this is just fantastic. I realy hope you put that app together and make it so that it is comprehensive for thick ones like me..
Keep up the awesome work.
And do tell when you made kits available.
Big thanks from the north of Sweden.
Thanks so much! Wait till you see how far I've come with it. I've got a touch screen built in now and a nice easy user interface. I've been using it for a couple years now and its working great! I'll make another video soon and I'll drop you a line when I do. Thanks again!
This is awesome!
great job man!
BOY O BOY, YOUR GOOD.
thanks, Colin UK.
Ha ha ! thanks Man!
Would love to see a build list and some of the coding for this. I have one of these mills and just ordered an arduino to start mess around with my kids. This would be an awesome project to do.
Breadboard ! great project, I need to do similar soon but I think I will solder . open loop on the steppers, arduinos are great, you can upgrade to a DUE if the MEGA isnt fast enough but the DUE is 3v3. Im considering the arduino shieldbuddy, kick ass 200Mhz automotive grade processor, perfect for cnc , would do closed loop easily. cheers
Thanks! This is a mega but I wish I had started with a DUE since I am running a touch screen now and it would draw the screens faster. I hoped to get some more speed out of the steppers as well but I had a hard time when I tried to switch out the mega with the DUE and it doesn't seem to be as easy as just plugging in the new board.
Thumbs up and sub'd. I've the same mill, this is real cool 😎 I've been doing shit the hard way lol I'm probably not smart enough to do what you have done but I'm keen to learn. You have done really well, looks neat cuts neat and looks like you enjoy the conversion. Always progressing and learning, look forward to your next videos. Thanks for sharing 🙏👍
Very cool project and eventually it could be something I would like to have. As is, it is slower than with my DRO and power feeds so a bit frustrating I would imagine. Programmed and with a proper keyboard it would be great! Thumbs up
This is awesome. I have a question What are you doing about backlash?
Thanks! I was still operating it as if it were a manual mill by backing out too far then returning the same direction every time when it mattered.
i really like this setup, do you have more info on it?
Boy O Boy your good.
thanks Colin. UK.
Nice job! Pretty impressive for a DIY / jury rig. Just implementing the power feed is such a big improvement over hand-cranking. That teach-mode programming is pretty slick as well. I'd be interested in seeing an update on the final form. I noticed it was only moving one axis at a time. Can you do multi axis 'interpolation' moves?
Thanks! yes I have all axis hooked up now and a nice little control box with a touchscreen. I can move all motors at the same time diagonally for convenience and jogging but I'm not sure its quite precise enough for perfect cuts.
Nice job now directions on how I can lol I got mine setup with a DRO AND FEED LIKE YOURS BUT I HAVE TO USE JOY STICKS IT WORKS NICE I GOT THE IDEA FROM MY SON WHEN HE WAS 11 LOL PLAYING VIDEO GAMES
Have you completed the Y axis conversion? You should just go get the GRBL shield for the arduino and load GRBL 0.9 and combine that with the free INKSCAPE or other free CAD program. YOu would have a fully functional CNC. I would like to see the adapter brackets for your motors and belts to add to the mill.
+phillips040782 Yeah! its pretty much finished and I'll be making a follow up video soon. I plan on running tinyG on a arduino due in the future but I really got a lot out of learning to program it from scratch.
Hi Jay, what you did is amazing. I hope you share more info. What step motors did you use, and could you put a video or pictures of your jigs/to-be mounts/actual mounts/belts close up? Thanks
What make and model mill is that? I've had a Unimat for years and now I'm looking for something larger. Thanks.
This is typically called a mini-mill and I got it from Harbor freight. The Little Machine Shop has some nice tricked out versions of the same mill too and they're a great source for parts and tools.
Sweet
Hey I know this is an old video, but did you do a ball screw upgrade for this on the Sieg x2?
No I have since built a CNC router out of these parts with ball screws but when I was using this I just operated it as if it were a manual mill backing out and coming in the same direction every time to deal with backlash
@@jwhitestone Gotchya, did you overall like the Sieg x2? I've heard that it's okay, but people tend to "outgrow" it quickly.
@@Jerguu Its the only mill I've had experience with, I'm not a machinist. I think to a real machinist its like a toy but it gave me the chance to learn all the concepts on a tight budget. But for an entry level machine I love it and use it all the time. It opened me up to a new world of accuracy in whatever I'm doing. I'll admit I have my eye on the Grizzly G704 though, just a little more expensive but seems like a big step up both in size and quality.
does this mini Mill have a tailstock attachment to turn things like a lathe does?
Could you tell me how you wire the Arduino to the stepper motors and the stepper drivers??
An... interesting way to drive a CNC mill.
Thanks! Its not the greatest but I got it done for just a couple hundred dollars
Really interesting and novel control system, especially the use of the phone as an interface and Arduino as the controller. Any chance of hearing an update on it? Best wishes, Kent
Thanks again! I have replaced the phone with a touch screen and a nice GUI I have been working on. Its come a long way and I plan to make a follow up video on it as soon as I can. I'll keep you posted, and thanks for the interest
Great! I look forward to seeing the update. I've not done anything with Bluetooth on cell phones. There's a lot of cool stuff here, and to many the software is probably the most complex part. Are you software developer?
No I'm actually a stone mason but trying to break free to make a living in the workshop. I just got into playing with arduinos and I'm just learning as I go and trying to give back to the community.
Jay White Very impressive, a Renaissance man. Best of success to you.
I'll try this on a bigger one milling machine, I have a nantong xj6325a
Nice, thats one hell of a mill! My little guy has been working great for a few years now. I've got it hooked up with a touch screen and a nice interface and I use it all the time. It's been a while since I did this but let me know if theres anything I can help with
Jay did you leave in all the original parts other than the motors and belt pulleys? Same lead screws and nuts? What kind of accuracy are you seeing? I really want to cnc my mill but don't want to spend $1k to do it... lol Would the rotary table be better sitting the other way to give you more clearance for the head?
Yes pretty much everything else is stock from harbor freight. The motors are on a 1 to 1 ratio with the lead screw because the arduino can only step the motor so fast, and I had to loosen all the gibs as much as I could or it would skip steps. I've got it dialed in now and use it all the time for light work , I know what it can and can't do and I still have to account for backlash when I move and lock the ways if its anything serious. But I could always gear down with different pulleys and change the rates if I want to tighten it up I just loose a lot of speed. That's how I typically use the rotary table but it could surly be used lying down.
Really neat! What kind of rotary table is that? Ive been looking for one like it.
Question, What size step motors you using? 495 oz or are them 570 oz ? I am wondering because I am about to buy 570 oz step motors at 60 bucks a step and I don't want to under power my CNC mill if am am going to need bigger than 570s
From what I remember they are 470 oz but if you are in question I'd go for the bigger ones. I fought with under powered motors for a while before buying these trying to loosen up the gibs until it worked but I lost too much accuracy on the machine.
So I am guessing the 570 should have the power I need for my mill. Thank you for your help.
What size pulley and timing belt your used for your z axis? I like to do the same setup with my Z axis. Do you have the part number and where to buy them?
Thats a GT2 belt and pully. Its a 1 to 1 ratio on the pulleys so diameter is irrelivant. I removed the fine feed wheel and an 8mm bore pulely fit the shaft perfectly
yes but where is motor drivers (like gecko)? and power adapter? It cant be just arduino - arduino gives at max 5volts
Yes the motor drivers and a 36V power supply are on the top shelf behind the machine (green connectors) where the wires all lead to. The arduino pulses the drivers with 5V and they pulse the motors with 36V
Nice video. I didn't notice what the specs were for the motors you used. Can you tell me the holding torque?
They are Nema 34 motors with 1204 oz.in holding torque. I have the gibs very loose so that the motors turn the cranks at a 1 to 1 ratio to get the most speed possible out of the arduino
Hi Jay, that's awesome. My son and I are just starting to build our first little CNC-Stepper motor project with an Arduino. My question(only because I'm a newbie) is, how are you able to control the motors with both the IDE and/or the joystick? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I was going to control the unit with the Arduino IDE and gcode, but then my son saw your joystick approach. We are not looking to make anything precision yet, but just trying to understand the concepts. Thanks again. Take care.
Cheers! Thats great This stuff makes me feel like a kid again, that excitement you get when you finally get something to work. First I'm using the Accel Stepper Library. Its a little hard to learn to use but very capable. I divided the meat of the program into "Modes"and each action can only be controlled while in that mode. I declared mode a variable and the main sections of code start off with if(mode == 1) {...}.I made the button on the joysticks change the mode and when in joystick mode there is an if() statement in the loop waiting for joystick input and when in coordinate mode it prompts you for input and waits for a response. In that mode the joysticks just choose a direction. The UA-cam page NYC CNC has a whole series with lot of great information on getting started with steppers and arduinos that really helped me out and I remember a good one from Brainy-Bits too. My program has evolved a lot since then but I could send you some snippets of code to point you in the right direction like how to make the speed proportional to the joystick input.
BTW, tell use about your rotary table, please.
That's is so cool. Do you have plans for the set up. Did you make that rotatetable and do you have a video on that. Man I like what you have done. I want to get in to milling a cheep way yours is the best way I have seen thank again for the video.
Thanks bro, yes thats what we need. Easy to use interface...
Cant want to see what you have done.
Awesome..
How to you compensate for backlash with this set up? I'm new🙂
I fiddled with trying to measure and program in the compensation but with unreliable results so I had to use it like you would a manual mill by backing out and always approaching from the same direction. If I make it do a curve where an axis switches direction there will be a flat spot where it picks up the slack. So this is more for positioning and simple operations
@@jwhitestone ok, I though maybe I was missing something here. I would love to do a conversion, but I have a ton of backlash in my machine, so trying to come up with a solution..
@@lextalionis4953 Yeah this is just basic left right up down so it worked ok but Mach3 might be able to handle it. Never used it but I've read about it
@@jwhitestone I will check out mach3, thanks.
Has anyone tried using board from a 3 d printer and bigger stepper motors and use the 3d printer software cause some of them have a CNC function and could be a cheap way to do it ...
Yes! I haven't made a video about it but I used this motor setup with an arduino running GRBL and a raspberry pi running BCNC and got a pretty fully functional CNC setup going. Since then I have used the parts to build a CNC router table thats about 18" x 36" thats more practical for what I do and the mini mill is back to manual. But the raspberry pi was $35 and an arduino clone for $10 and I was up and running. The motors were lacking on this setup. Worked but barely worked so go big on motors if you're in question
@@jwhitestone Why you didn't turn your mill into CNC as well?
Too expensive or you finally prefer turning the wheels by hand and don''t used it very often now?
By the way do you use Tasker for the App?
Thanks
@@Levisgil47 Yeah I just didn't have money for a new set of motors and used the ones I had for the router and went back to operating by the hand wheels for the mill. I do miss it but for what I do the router is much more practical. The mill could use some bigger motors too if I were to set it up again
@@jwhitestone Ok I understand! Thanks for your return. Waiting for money too on mine . CNC motors and electronics are more expensive on a mill than for the router...
Jay, This is really cool! Have you added a full computer and CNC software yet since this? I saw in an earlier comment you didn't have a spare computer. Ping me if you are still in that situation, I can help you out! Makers need to help each other out!
No I got the system to where I want with a touchscreen GUI and learned a lot along the way. Its not fully capable CNC but it can record and playback and do everything I could by hand and a little more. I think the next time I dabble in CNC I will build a router style or a 3d printer . In that case I would go for the real computer but until then I wanted to say thank you for the gesture. I am so thankful for this community of strangers helping strangers that I have gleaned so much knowledge from and this just brought that to a new level. Thank you my friend. Stay Awesome!
Hey! Cool Video, impressive job!. Let me ask, where did you buy your rotary table?
I get most of my stuff for machining at littlemachineshop.com since they specialize in these small tools
Mr. Jay White thank you very much I apriciate your shared information
great video,Jay,really enjoyed it....nice little add on in the shop.......what isyour opinion of this mill ?
+Ray Falcone Thanks! This mill is a very entry level mill but I learned everything I know on it and it has served me well for years now. Simple and straight forward to maintain and repair. I've broken a couple gears but they're easy to find and replace.
thanks Jay for your response.Ray
DO you have schematics and code available?
Not really, I have kind of cobbled it together so far and I now use a touch screen interface instead of the phone so the code has kept changing with the project. I'm no expert in CNC, machining or programing but I would be glad to send you some snippets of code if you have anything specific I could help you with.
I appreciate you responding.
I would like to upgrade my G0758 Mill to a semi-cnc based on arduino. What I have in mind is push a button and advance .001. Push another button and advance .010. Push a third and continuously advance. I don't want to make anything too complicated. Just automate the boring stuff.
Nice! Check out the NYCCNC channel, he does a lot of arduino and stepper motor videos that really helped me out. How do you like your mill? I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on getting the G0704.
Not too bad. It needs the usual mods and upgrades but it isn't bad and I have no real complaints. I do recommend getting the G0704 as it has more support and a larger community following than the G0758. IN hindsight, If I had done more research, I would have bought the G0704 but I see no reason to scrap my G0758 in favor of a G0704. If you do buy the G0704, could you send me some dimensions. Specifically the main spindle bearing number and the head dimensions. I'm curious about parts compatibility.
Would you be interested in a Tormach 1100?
A 2ed question for you. what is the phone app you used here? And maybe any software you needed for the Arduino, I subscribed this time took me 2 months to find you here again. on UA-cam. Oh and the only hardware you have for the Arduino is the joy sticks and the Bluetooth right? I want to do this with my new mill I just ordered. I will run Mach3 on my CNC but this is great for small work that I do, I know how easy it is to forget what way I was turning and make a easy mistake and turn the dial the wrong way.. This will be the end of that, If you help me with your build info, that is???
Thanks! I got my bluetooth from Adafruit. They have a lot of good information and code to get you going. I think the app I was using was called bluefruit and it made the cell phone act like the serial monitor. I got rid of the bluetooth and I use a touch screen now but I have been working with MIT app inventor lately to create my own apps that work with bluetooth, its a little a little more in depth but a great tool. Yes joysticks and bluetooth were my only inputs and the arduino is also connected to the motor drivers. Adafruit also has a lot of good stuff to get you going with steppers but I used the Accel stepper library as it has better support for moving multiple steppers for diagonal movement.
Thanks I will check the apps out that you used. I will try to make a video when I get done a make sure I give you credit for your help when I get done. So anyway thanks Jay White.
How are compensating for backlash?
I measured the backlash on every axis then programed it to add that distance every time an axis changes direction to compensate. This could be a problem when moving diagonally or on a curve but for the simple one direction commands I use it works great to within .001". There was no need on the z axis because I disconnected the spring and gravity keeps it engaged
Thank you for the reply. I also owned one of these and the best thing I did to it was replace the standard bearings with tapered roller bearings and then set the preload . Improved the surface finish and extended the life of the cutter.
I measured the backlash on each axis then programed the arduino to add that amount every time it switches direction. It worked pretty good but when I need real accuracy I go past my mark and return the same direction every time just as if I were doing it by hand
Get linux cnc and you can program everything, just hit start
what steppers are you running? Oz?
These are Nema 34 motors I got from www.omc-steppersonline.com. They are very helpful in figuring out which motors to pair with the correct motor controllers and power supply
www.omc-steppersonline.com/ is a dead site.
Oops sorry about that its www.omc-stepperonline.com/, no 'S'.
To bad I can't afford a mill yet. Totally Awesome though.
Am i the only one who notice itwas just kissing on first cut, second was further away when it started. Backlash in the leadscrews thats why people upgrade to ballscrews with anti backlash. There is no short cuts when it comes to this stuff
Thanks for noticing! I didn't think anybody was paying that much attention. It was a programing error I fixed after this video but in general I have to deal with backlash the same way you would by hand by backing off too far and then coming into position from the same direction.
needs more LEDs
did you used the original leadscrew
Yes I made a coupler sleeve that uses the slot in the end of the lead screw to extend it and couple it to the shaft that the belt pully is connected to. So I still have to compensate for backlash just like you would when working it by hand but no permanent modifications to the machine.
no such thing as an arduino clone. Arduino is the open source design, anyone is free to manufacture the PCB.
The key left in the chuck: cringed sooo hard
To much movement of the camera, in & out or focus. I get dizzy trying to keep up. Other than that, it was interesting.
This is not CNC. What you got here is an electronic jog system. Useful but not programable. Just add a real computer, software and you'd have real CNC. You've done 80% of the work and are only getting 20% of the benefit. See the "linuxcnc" project, Google will find it.
I'm pretty sure the arduino is a computer and its numerically controlling my machine. The whole point here is that I don't have an extra computer for my workshop and I did this for under $200 as well as learned to work with arduinos which I use in other areas now too. Do-ItYourself-ers get more out of a project than the final product. I will be making a new video soon showing the touchscreen GUI I programed and its unique recording and programing capabilities. You might be interested, stay tuned.
I'm definitely interested in seeing that.
Agree with you that it is a CNC, but also that you are getting 20% out of your work. You can buy a Windows 7 computer for $30 with a monitor. For $100 (if you spend wisely) you can have something that will run Fusion360. That would be really cool.
It is CNC. By definition. Pointless comment. The guy clearly made something cool.
Chris is right it is not a CNC you are missing an axis somewhere in and out I believe it a Y axis or X axis
nice, but your recording skills needs some work...
constantly out of focus and movement is terrible, I am getting sea sick.
Needs more yelling at the camera. I've heard that "FOCUS YOU FUCK!" should fix it..