Overview of my DIY CNC Router
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- List of major components used: amzn.to/2i86rkt
It has taken forever for me to get this footage edited, but it is finally here.
Please leave comments on areas you would like me to explore further...and faster. I need to learn to make shorter videos.
Sketchup drawing of the major components: Here is a link to the plans. It is a Sketchup file with different view tabs and all the main dimensions.
www.dropbox.co...
Who but a woodworker would build a machine with WOOD parts! I had not seen your design (this video) before I started my designs fo a machine, and it is amazing how I came up with very similar designs; except for the horizontally mounted X axis; have not started the build and this video is making me re-think my deigns. Thank you for posting it!
Well thought out setup. If anything can be taken away frm this, wld be the reminder that you can mock up on wood etc before hand as you did w your plate. AND mocking up even the electrical boxes will save time and space. Anyone cld look at your setup and know what was what AND how much thought went into each part of the sum.
You're one of the cooler boomers i've come across on youtube. seizing the means of production, looking forward, and doing cool stuff.
This was very nicely done. I like the fact that you mounted the bearings facing up. Many DIY'ers side mount these which significantly reduces the lad bearing capacity of the assemblies.
Very smart design of X-axis. Less height=extra rigidity!
Yes, I noticed that aswell - going to build the same type.. Wonder why so little people build it this way?
@@tadasrudnickas3132 because the rigidity there does nothing.
Even though this video is 5 years old, it's still full of good material. Thanks. And thanks for including the sketch-up file (I'm doing my design work in Solidworks, but that's not a problem).
It is still relevant. The machine is still working great. I only have made a couple upgrades, primarily to the rails. ~P
That is the MOST overbuilt control setup I have EVER seen on a CNC router. If you had just shown the control boxes, I'd think you were running a 20,000 lb. VMC. Then there's the Nema 34's on a 4'x4' table...wow, way more than you need. Well at least you had fun and now have the strongest 4'x4' CNC router on the planet.
Yep. Learned a lot. If you watch my videos on practical stepper motors you will find that I agree (now) that 34's are too large. As for the control cabinet...I like it. I was inspired by another build I saw once. I don't like a mess.
Said another way, this is an incredibly well built machine for what CNC routers are normally used for... and this well built machine may be possible to use on materials not normally cut on a CNC router (or CNC router - plasma torch hybrid.) Amazing job. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
Learned a lot is an understatement. I did the same thing with my CNC mill; the Nema 34's and their massive drivers and power supplies alone are enough to assume I was controlling ten machines. It does pass the 'is it manly?' test, that's for sure, even if it just shows that I had no idea what I was doing for my first build...
With that said, you now have the opportunity to upgrade to clearpath motors in the future, put other cutters and hardware on the gantry, and tweak the system as you see fit. Because unlike those who purchase their own, you know literally everything about your machine, and can do whatever you want to it. Congrats!
Thanks a lot. I appreciate the good words. I am already designing my next machine, a plasma table.
Is your build somewhere on the internet to see? ~P.
No... I should probably do that at some point.
you made no mistake. no matter the windows environment, a dedicated pulse train generator is a GOOD thing to have. Be it ESS Smooth Stepper, UC100/300, centroid acorn etc etc etc. you made the right choice.
You do understand that all of the CPU's (after 2003) have 64-bit instruction set? Just reinstall the operating system to a 32-bit one if you like.
Not so, I work for a company that design and build point of sales machines and the last 32-bit processors we designed systems around were based on Pentium 4E processors which were released in 2004 and I think there were a couple of other 32-bit processors released after this but we did not use these
Nice build and good narration and thank goodness no inane music. Enjoy your machine , I have just about finished putting my 1075 openbuilds machine together and have done something very similar with the electrics, , nothing on the machine and all in a ventilated metal box and a big paddle on off switch on it. I'm just using the black box grbl controller and dont need separate driver modules so its a little bit smaller but just as enjoyable. I do not understand why so many people don't do the electrics in this way.
It is the best and safest option IMHO and keeps all the crap out of the main system brain. I live in 240 volt land so I will also be using a VFD spindle and hope to also build a fully insulated enclosure over the whole machine but allow for tiling , I too have tried a router and the noise difference is huge, with an enclosure as well even more I am hoping as that will have soundproofing but its going to cost half as much as the main machine so its another year for that bit.....Cant wait for the spindle to arrive now.....Many thanks for sharing.
Impressive design and fab. I’m building a single axis stepper driven plasma cutter. This video and the one on servomotor sizing was very helpful. Thank you for posting.
Thanks so much for documenting all of this for the rest of us!
Great stuff,..Your'e absolutely right about grounding everything Preston. You can tell how over the years grounding has become more and more important and since the advent of smaller and smaller voltages I/E computers they've gone and increased the size of the common or neutral......I wont start in on clean power....lol
Bravo........heads up note.......two things........magnetic shield on cables motors and cross cables at 90 degress.....cheers
I appreciate your build and video- I am just starting my journey to build a CNC 3 axis router similar to yours.
I look forward to the plasma build.
J
What an amazing machine and shop! I'm not sure if any of the other comments made it clear, but the 64-bit CPU in the computer can also run 32-bit operating systems and 32-bit software. CPUs like this are backwards compatible.
You are the second person to make the 32 / 64 bit observation. And as a software engineer I get it. For one of the few times in my life I followed the directions and might not have needed to....but.....my original intent was to use the built in serial port, and that requires using the Mach 3 serial driver. I did some reading/researching on how that driver works and it is so close to the 'metal' that I don't believe it would work on a 64 bit architecture. That driver actually hi-jacks the system clock in order to send out the pulses. This is a very surgical maneuver and is why having the system taxed with any other processes becomes so problematic. In the end I went with the smooth stepper to avoid what the documentation said would be an issue. The up side is I have never had any of the problems with stepping getting wacked. I can surf the web during a job, and not worry about anything. In the end I think it was I nice mistake.
So all of that said...if anyone has tried it, I'd be interested to know how it went. Thanks for commenting ~P.
Ah, I didn't realise you have a background in software. You're right, if the driver is supplied as a 64-bit binary then you must use a 64-bit OS. You cannot use a 32-bit driver on a 64-bit OS or vice versa because the ABI (register names/widths/purposes, argument passing on stack or registers, etc) is different. What you describe sounds like the Mach 3 is doing the job that a microcontroller would usually do. A modern pre-emptive OS (Windows/Mac/Linux) usually isn't good for this as any userspace task can be interrupted or rescheduled by the kernel. I guess there's enough leeway in your purpose that small task-switching breaks don't affect it enough to matter. As you've observed, when you max out the CPU then the userspace task has larger gaps between being scheduled on the CPU and the result suffers. There are several "real time" operating systems which partially mitigate this problem by disabling some pre-emptiveness so tasks get interrupted less and get more predictable latencies. A microcontroller doesn't have this problem as it has no pre-emptiveness to service, the CPU is dedicated to running one task and only one task.
you know what might be a sweet project to do in aluminum, some end caps for that square tubing. I think that thing is sweet though, good job for sure.
Great build!
I have a 4'x4' router I built from a FineLine Automation kit for the mechanicals. Right now it has the original rack and pinion drive and bearing blocks with 6 roller-bearings each, riding on 1/4"x4" x6" steel rails for the X and Y and a ball screw and linear rails for the Z. Dual Y drive and all NEMA 23 steppers. Trying to keep the bearing blocks adjusted for the 2 ends of the gantry are a nightmare. I had paying jobs lined up but had to cancel them because I could not hold the accuracy on the Y.
I would calibrate and be cutting perfect circles, all backlash compensated by Mach 3. Then 1/2 way through a job, I would be cutting ovals. X and Z are fine. I can hear the gantry binding and releasing as I traverse it back and forth on the Y with no load. I scrapped the steel rails to 12" flatness (longer than the bearing blocks) but no improvement.
I have purchased 2-15mm ballscrews with nuts and bearings from china and they are very clean and precise with no discernible (by hand) play. I also bought 2 Japanese linear rails removed from machinery in Korea ( the profile kind with 2 bearing blocks each with recirculating bearings.). I cannot tell they have ever been used and are smooth and tight. All these are 6 feet long. I have 2-960oz NEMA 34 motors to drive them, one on each side of the Y. Getting rid of the rack and pinion and the finicky original bearing blocks.
I assume this is overkill grunt for my gantry. All of my framing is 3x3" alum. extrusions and spindle mounting plates 1/2" alum. Even with a 6' steel rail, I can lift the gantry by myself. I didn't think to weigh it before assembly but I would guess less than 200 pounds.
My question: Would it be better to keep the dual Y drive with the ball screws and 2 NEMA 34s OR redesign the gantry to be driven from 1 motor and ballscrew under the center of the table and save one of the motors and ballscrews to convert the X axis?
Is that enough info. The reason I would want to is I would only have to buy 2 rails to complete an X upgrade. Perhaps even round like yours.
Sorry. My bad. I just mic-ed my balls screws and they are 2005s 20mm x 5 pitch.
I thought they looked better with those massive 34s. Esthetics is everything. :-)
Awesome job Preston! From the square steel legs to the best x axis I've seen on UA-cam this is a great build!
Just a thought, but if you continue with your plan to leave the steel uncolored, you might want to give it a light coat of clear poly to keep rust down some. I'm a fan of the bare steel look too, but in a couple years you'll get less happy about rust stains on your pants, hands and all your projects.
Thanks for the compliments. As for the bare steel your point is well taken. It is coated right now but not with poly. A little secret I learned from an old timer that used to do some auto restorations. Go to the auto parts store and pick up a can or two of 'battery and ignition sealer'. Spray can of this clear stuff that goes on very thin and lasts for ages. It can be removed with solvent if you want to paint later, or I have painted right over it. It dries super fast and leaves no glass. It does however have a nasty off gas smell. I will only use it outside. Makes lacquer smell good.
good job I'm a tool and die maker and I'm impressed. once you get you speeds and feeds down that things gonna be unstoppable
Thank you. That is high praise to me coming from someone with tool and die making skills. ~P.
Wow, thank you for sharing this with us and especially giving back and making your Sketchup file available for us. That file makes such a difference for replication. I will try to make something using yours as a base for creating mine.
Good luck on your build. Send me some pictures. There is one up and running 'down under' already.
Exactly what I have always dreamed off. Have started building an exact replica. Thank you for sharing experience and plans and comments. You are a very generous person.
AUDIO QUALITY!AUDIO QUALITY!AUDIO QUALITY!AUDIO QUALITY!
The quality improved when you wear the microphone or have it very close to your head.
All good. I don't think you are missing out much (apart from some possible job screw ups) by skipping the centronics port and going to an ethernet smoothstepper. All of my glitches were eliminated by spending the extra $ for the smoothstepper. My machine even sounds better when it is running! All the best with this beast.
great job! They run the coolest lines through the cable tracks with the wiring.
Thanks for your time going over this. I am interested in CNC and possibly building my own. Your input/advise has been very helpful.
Thanks and good luck. The whole home CNC thing is really growing. I think the trend is being over shadowed by the excitement of 3D printing. P.
That coupling I see at 11:18 will pack up soon if not already. They are intended for no load applications like 3D prining. I have already destroyed two on my cnc router. Make rigid couplings (using a reamer). They also tighten much better
printing.....
Thanks for the heads up. I will watch for any issues.
Well done, sir! Digging info on building my own and you have presented the key aspects in a very informative manner. Looks very solid and easy to understand the structural components. Thank you!
Very well done, considering that you've literally custom bult it according to your criteria. Look forward to seeing more soon. Kind regards.
After watching the entire video, I see that you did bolt the upper legs to a lower section. I'm curious to see how you were able to square it all up! Thanks again for posting the video!
The legs on one side were slightly elongate so it could be moved slightly making the sides parallel. If you do a reasonable job in fabrication you will only need .050 or so of adjustment. Being bolted it also allows them to be shimmed into the same plane if necessary. ~P
I am impressed with your build and the first run of end results. Thanks for sharing. I too am thinking of one day constructing my own CNC table and given I have a MIG machine, steel and can produce nice welds (as opposed to yours - tongue in cheek!), will go on the fundamental design of welded cut steel. I can also MIG weld aluminium > 3mm thick and may decide to construct the framework out of aluminium extrusions, but not the fancy T-track ones you see most CNC machines made from but solid chunky bits of framing into which I can drill hundreds of holes & taps. That way, if heaven forbid I needed to move it, I could actually lift it with a couple of guys.
One snag is the box for the controller gear - out of my league but hopefully I can find someone who will help me out there.
Whilst you have over-engineered it to billy-oh, it will work true for decades and as long as the motors don't burn out, you could run this machine as hard as you want and it won't miss a beat.
One thing does concern me however: the round bar / linear bearings and the ballscrew / bearings are open to the air and dust and chips will settle on them. I presume you will add a vacuum cleaner head to trap 90% of the flying debris but do you think constructing covers for your railing would become necessary - or would a good old fashioned broom and dust cloth do the job?
Overall a very impressive example of home-made ingenuity.
Overbuilt? Maybe, but stable has all hell. A well built machine!
Thank you.
No such thing as "overbuilt" when it comes to a mill. Good job on this build!
𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐚-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐠𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭-𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 >facebook.com/Woodcarvingcnc-1028425940632907/app/208195102528120?kujef55sdf34
Building CNC routers usually takes quite a bit of money for the extruded aluminum (or steal in this case), the router, the stepper motors, the ballscrews, and linear rails, so the mindset turns into "I don't want to have to waste money on weak parts only to have to spend more money again on stronger parts, so I'll just buy big the first time since the price difference isn't that much anyway". There are so many problems to look out for, like vibration as mentioned in this video, that would be devastating to discover once the entire thing has been built; better to just overbuild from the start. It's a huge time-sink. Don't need to make it worse than it already is.
Thank you for showing us your work. You are very gifted. I enjoyed learning something
Wonderful, thanks for sharing, still dreaming of the day...
I see your Y axis rails are elevated( or your table dropped, depending on your point of view) which adds clearance to your Z axis allowing for a horizontally configured gantry. This seems to me a more stable and better design than the usual vertically oriented gantry. As i'm designing a CNC for myself right now, i would like to know your reasoning, source, and inspiration behind this decision. Thanks, and greatly appreciated. Nice Build!!
The motivation for having the rails up high came from trying to keep them clean. The rigidity was a nice side affect. Something I never did as it didn't seem necessary, was to add the final braces I had planned to put between the Y axis frames to tie them together.
The weakest link is in the length of travel for the Z. I wanted a lot of travel so I could put things like a box on the table and carve into the top of the completed box. For instance, I built some electronic enclosures from generic boxes, and used the CNC to cut all the holes and engrave on the top.
P.
ken s , I too want to know pros and cons of horizontal vs vertical gantary ..
There are numerous benefits of having higher rails, and why I ultimately built mine that way a few years ago. The main benefit is you remove a lot of the torsional twist you get in the Z axis that you see in the common designs. By keeping the mounting point of the Z axis closer to the Y axis bearings (Americans like to call this the X axis) you don't get as much rocking motion associated with the long Z axis. One of the other main benefits is you can side load your work pieces a lot easier to allow you to cut bigger boards then would be generally possible with the other design.
Looks like a lot of thought and effort went into this machine! I'm building one from scratch now and can assure you it isn't that professional looking... Cheers,
Important piece for strength. Anything but wood.
Beautiful machine you built. Well done.
Thanks. I appreciate it.
Great build there. I also use Mach 3 on my scratch built CNC
very nice table, I like the clear design. It Looks stable.
I had a similar issue with building too heavy of a frame to move easily in the workshop. Might try setting up the bottom side to accept a pallet jack to aid in the moving process.
Nice video tour of your CNC. I in the design/build phase of my own and love to see others ideas and designs. Subscribed and looking forward to more videos!
Nice work! Love the controller podium idea. I hope you post a schematic for your control cabinet.
I built a similar machine with for stepper motors but with much less on electronic with big size Steppers ( Nema23 Stepper Motor 270 oz-in 3A 76mm ) and only one Power supply (24V 30A 360W DC Switch Power Supply Driver), for all the motors. Laptop (Used Lifebook E8110 Core Duo 1,83 GHz 2 GB RAM 60 GB HDD WLAN 1400 x 1050 15 Zoll) with Mach 3. Breakoutboard (3rd Gen 5 Axis CNC Router Breakout Board Set with Display) with extra small 5 Volt power supply and for tiny Motor drivers (TB6600 1 axis Stepper Motor 2-phase Drive Boards). All axes with limit switches. No need for a extra external cabinet for electronic. Electronic is integrated in machine frame on each side (50 mm to 100 mm to 600 mm aluminium tubes as part of the Frame). Inside this two tubes is the complete electronic. I use a Kress spindle motor (KRESS 1050 FME-1 ) that is also switched on and of by Mach 3. Machine size is less. 1000 mm to 600 mm Laptop needs an extra place next to it. Your design is nice and rigid as mine, i also use supported linear rails and boll screws. How fare can the X Y Z Axes move? 630 mm to 400 mm to 130 mm on mine. All space inside this aria is open end table board can be removed or lowered so toiler objects can be placed in the work space. This is one of the main reasons way i am are also using two motors on each side as you. I mill aluminium and wood on it.
I really like your design. I think i will do something similar for my next machine. I like that you can feed and index a 4x8 sheet.
Nice, organized setup. Well done.
Nice Job! I'm just embarking on a build myself. Thanks for sharing your ideas and experience.
well done all the best from John in Texas
Awesome work! I'd love to recreate this same build for a plasma table... Currently fabricating a small turn table for welding with a NEMA 23 Stepper motor. Those motors are awesome!
I can't guarantee timely, but I am working on a plasma table next. I have a rough design in my head and have started collecting parts. I hope to start over the holidays.
64bit Windows is compatible with 32bit apps. If you have a 32bit app that wants to use the parallel port, you should have no trouble. Windows provides the APIs for access to that hardware for both 32 and 64 bit apps even if the drivers it has for that port are 64bit. As long as your app does not try to access the drivers itself directly (ie. controls the hardware directly which in the case of COM or Parallel ports is unlikely).
mach 3 wont work. he could have just install a 32 bit version of windows as i did.
I'm using an ethernet smooth stepper and a 64 bit machine/windows. I am not using the onboard parallel port.
Would you have preferred the parallel port?
What does it matter? Latency is not an issue here. Speed is hardly a problem. Jitter matters but how is that a problem nowadays? No matter what the protocol is, you can almost always get a converter. USB-COM, Ethernet-COM, USB-Parallel, Ethernet-Parallel and so on.
I wouldn't. By my use of the Ethernet Smooth stepper, I get away from some of the voodoo black magic that Mach3 did to get the timing hi-jacked from the OS. I have yet to have the machine stutter because I am doing something else in Windows while a job is running.
You could have used an UC100 with that mach 3 program. About $115.. it is a usb to parallel port adapter for cnc machines.. I am using one on my cnc machine. I bought 2 just incase one goes out.. lol.. Cheaper that a smooth stepper I found out.. Hope it helps anyone in the future.
I had never heard of these. I had to Google it. They are nice and tidy. Do you know if you can run two at a time for cases where additional IO is needed? ~P
I could NOT do it, you did fantastic, keep it up...
Looks like a really nice build. I am looking at doing the same thing. Thanks for the video on it!
when using 2 y-axis leadscrews, need to pay attention that they maynot in the same steps after the long time usage and affecting the squareness!
raychar cheung Agreed. I check square occasionally. by adding home switches it will square it self each time you run the home sequence.
Very well built machine. Thank you for sharing.
thanks for the tour, its hard to find good quality builds, most people grab the nearest junk in their surrounding and stuff it in with ducktape or glue.
You mean there's something better than ducktape or glue?! WOW! :o)
Incredibly inspiring build summary! One of these days I'm going to pull the trigger and make something like this happen. I still feel I have so much to learn. May I ask what your background is? Just subscribed and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Thanks for taking the time to record, edit and share. I, like many, really appreciate it. Joel
Great video. You put out some very usefull info on building a nice looking CNC. Thanks.
Interesting and helpful. You're a good teacher. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing , I like your engineering . I was debating to build one myself with square block hiwin linear bearings . Wish I had enough confidence to weld the base and get it acceptably accurate. I was going to use t slot extruded aluminum, but your idea using steel is much better imo . Just a little harder for me to implement , so I'm sticking with the aluminum
A lot of the design features I built into the framework came directly from my consideration of not being able to fabricate a perfect frame. Once I had those adjustments baked in, it took all the pressure off of trying to make a perfect welded frame. Good luck in whatever you do.
+sbirdranch
Yes I realize that . You have some good ideas for levelling and squaring the gantry , and that should come in handy for tramming the spindle /router .
And similar design from the standpoint of elevated rails for the Y; i.e., not "unsprung" extra mass on a gantry for the X-axis; common Chinese design. However, I plan to use NEMA34 closed loop servos; not steppers. A brake only on the Z servo.. Will be machining aluminum primarity, but also carbon fiber. so I don't want the vibration steppers introduce.Also want tolerances of +--.0005, so will be using square rails with roller bearings and NO shaft type linear bearings.
While the steel adds weight, who cares, unlike the Chinese who have to SHIP their junk to the US they have to be concerned about total weight. You could have bolted the Y-axis rail supports to a table which is what I am doing, to allow for disassembly.
Looks like you discovered that the stepper controller uses max current to lock the stepper, but that can be dialed down. Although you don't say that specifically.
I seen you video on your CNC, like it. It's the TOP
I wish I know what the total cost was, I would to build one myself.
Awesome project. Looks fantastic.
looks solid - great job
Greta video, thanks for a really good overview of your machine. really nice work you have done.
I am very slowly putting together a CNC of my own and given me some nice ideas.
Hell of a machine. Fantastic work!
Thanks ~P
Very nicely done. Congrats!
Just found your channel, beautiful job on the CNC machine. I am subscribed!
Thank you give me some great info and ideas for my first project
awesome. I envy your shop and knowledge.
Use more washers! Don't just mount parts with socket head screws in slots. Use washers, much more pressure, much less deformation on the slots...
Wished I saw your video before building mine. If I build another, going to incorporate lot of your ideas. Great job, both with the machine and your video.
Mike
Thanks Mike.
wow man great work . I'm armrest . thanks for sharing
Great build and video. I look forward to seeing your plasma cutter. What is your maintenance plan for the ball screws and slides? Do you feel the need to shield these from dust and in the future sparks from the plasma cutter?
The bearings have wipers on them, but I still try and keep them from getting too dirty. With my change in plans, I won't use ball screws and linear rails like these for the plasma version. It is way more precision then I think a plasma table needs. That said, it was the concern for sparks and grit in my original plan that had me put the rails above the work surface.
Great build and really nice vid. I appreciate this has all good info for my build. I’m going with all rack/pinion and v-quad Linear rail sutethe x/y
Looks great, awesome job and thanks for the video.
Congratulations on the cnc router, you're a genius. Would you like to make a video of the cnc cutting machine?
I haven't done a video with it running much. You are right. I have a video(s?) in mind that I want to do and have footage of it cutting. I'll include that. I'm also going to be re-making a small counter piece for my RV and that will be solid surface cut on the machine. I have a ton of ideas. Stay tuned and subscribe if you haven't. I'll get there. Promise.
Awesome I am thinking about building one working on learning the drawing part first.
That is the key. It is also the part people overlook when they run out and buy one of them cool new 3D printers.
You can make some fun stuff and get your machine running quickly just by using Easel from Inventables. Good Luck. ~P
Very nice job and nice improvements on the machine. Would you have a parts list for the control panel box and wiring diagram for it?
I like your design. Now that I have a MIG welder, I am looking to rebuild my CNC using some square tubing and what have you. As for transferring G-Code, I enjoy transferring the files on a internal network... I hate using thumb drives, expectantly if you need to change something small.
Using a network is much cleaner. Some will suggest that if your control machine is Windows and you are just using the Mach3 parallel port drivers, you risk problems during runtime. Most suggest turning everything network related off for that reason. I am using an ethernet smooth stepper and have everything running from a network perspective. I have had no problems.
sbirdranch thanks for the info, i have been using a Linux system, but might go to Mach3. What spindle do you have?
Great looking machine !
Just subscribed. A lot of good information in your videos. I look forward to viewing future videos.
roireb1 thanks for subscribing.
Great video man, really appreciate you sharing it!!!
Thanks from Bangladesh .
We have a 4x12 plasma burn table in our shop that uses belts for two axis and a acme screw for the Z. It turns out acceptable burned parts. The few times I've tried to use it with a router on wood it really was disappointing. Ball screws seem like overkill but if the price is right why not.
I am going to do belts on the Y of the plasma table I am planning. Some kind of screw for the Z and probably rack and pinion for the X.
Part of my design was to be able to do some aluminum and brass. Besides being the right price for the ball screws, I didn't have to worry about back lash or binding under load. I figure if they are good enough for my mill, they are good enough for a home build CNC. Thanks for the info.
Sounds like you are pretty satisfied with the quality of the ball screws. I've been trying to figure out the working length of the screws. Does for instance an RM1605-350 have 350 mm of actual screw length or is it the overall length including the machined ends? Also when you mounted the rails did you fix one side and just clamp the other side? Hope you don't mind me asking all these questions.
I can measure my screws and give you an idea of working length vs overall.
As for mounting the rails, they are screwed fast to the square tubing. The adjustment is in where the tubing mounts. On the Y axis, that is where they bolt to the table. On the X axis, it is where they bolt to the plate on each side. The Z was small enough that I could drill all the holes on the mill so they were precise enough to not need adjustment.
I've been studying the various designs and I really think you have come up with one of the best in terms of efficent use of materials and rgidity, (assume you might be an engineer in your day job). Having all the linear rails up above the work should reduce the accumulation of chips on the slides. I have been working on my version in Solidworks, I would be glad to share that with you at some point. I am trying to get a working area of 49x 49 to the router spindle center. I am thinking a combination of welding and bolting might provided for the amount of adjustability required for the Y. The bolted connections could then be shimmed to correct for any out of parallel or racking of the frame. Also the table could be dropped if bolted allowing for taller work.
Ok....I measured the screws and rails this morning.
The advertised length of my screws/rails was 1450mm. That is the overall length of the screws to include the turned ends for the bearing mounts. The working threads on my screws is 1400mm. A note here is that the length of the rails, matches the threaded portion or the screws. The rails are 1400mm.
In your design, don't overlook that the working distance is reduced by the distance of separation between your bearing blocks. Also, there is the offset of the gantry and x saddle that you will want to consider when orienting your work surface. You will notice that my frame and rails are offset to one end of the Y from the table, and the gantry frame is larger than the rails.
Good luck. P.
Excellent! Thank you.
Looks real good and good work
Awesome build!!!
Cool. Could you design the rig so as to pivot it vertically and create a gantry that could paint even sand an object that is placed next to it?
Wow...that is an idea. A cantilever design would work for either of the two process you mention as they have very little radial (sideways) pressure. All you loose in this design is rigidity. Great idea. P.
Very nice ...Thanks for sharing.
nice machine! I am using those spiral cut aluminium motor/shaft couplers too. but they are springy on the axis that moves the gantry and router. how is it that yours aren't springy?!
I had to cut up a credit card and shove the pieces between the spirals to reduce the spring. but the gantry still bounces a little.
actually, the length of the video is fine! Great explanation, nice work.
Just curious as to why the individual power supplies for the steppers?
Thanks for sharing!
Dave
The reason for the power supplies, is because that is how it was sold. I single high amp ps would work and save a ton of room in a cabinet.
Thank you for the video, I love your design. Sorry if I missed it but what size motor are you using on the Z axis? I'm designing a machine that is very similar to yours where the ball screws will be exposed. Have you had any issues with loose clothing or anything getting caught in them? I'm thinking I might make a cover.
On your Y axis length , did you have any issues with the rails not being true and or the tube steel also not being true as in flat ? Did you need to use any leveling compound to true everything back up before mounting the rails ?
There was no appreciable inconsistency in the tube. I tested this by laying the rails down and checking them with a feeler gauge. If there had been, I would have used shim stock as necessary. All the rest of the adjustments could be tweaked with adjustment slots I put in or shims. In the end I only needed to shim up the table surface.
P.
Awesome video. I'm drawing mine up as we speak. Still unsure of how I'm going to program the servos
I agree awesome video!
I found this other video:
ua-cam.com/video/jjdXpp77MdU/v-deo.html
at 46 minutes he shows the wiring diagram.
at 50-ish minutes he starts programming (might be another software)
This video talks about software but does not do screen capture at around 7:45:
ua-cam.com/video/Rr6VwpDct1g/v-deo.html
I am still looking for more info on the same topic :)
nice explanation, nice machine, congrats my friend.
Great job!! Very informative. Did you add limit/home switches? Did you have a problem with RFI generated by your VFD and spindle? I installed a Chinese VFD/spindle on mine and it causes my limit and estop switches to trip. I have shielded cables but I'll need to go back and figure out why..... it's a process.
I do not have limit switches although I had initially planed for them. I also don't have any issue with RFI from the VFD and I can only guess two reasons why. 1) All my cables, including stepper cables are shielded and grounded. 2) The power cables to the motor run overhead and are never near the steppers. I real a lot of people have had that issue and grounding was always the solution. Good luck.
Do you have pull-up, or pull-down resistors on your inputs? If not, then the inputs are floating, and any transients can cause the issues you are experiencing.
Very nice build. What is the breakout board you used to control the axis drivers? We apologise if thats been asked before. Did you get around to making a video about the things you might like to change in the build or the design? Keep up the great work :)
The break out board is a C10 board. It is from cnc4pc.com
I did make the follow up video. Check my channel. It is called Lessons Learned.
Found it. Thanks for your time.
Nice video, thanks, good audio, no stupid music, just useful info. looking to build one like it, maybe a bit smaller. What size ballscrews and glides? I really don't like drilling and tapping, want to make the machine do all of that! Can a cnc tap holes? have not noticed anyone doing it.
Rails are 20mm and the screws are 16mm. I used to have all the components in a list of ebay but they did away with that. Here's an equivalent set I found on Amazon for size reference. amzn.to/2QJqHNz ~P
Oh...and tapping on a router....You don't see it done often. I won't try it because the spindle speed is too fast and at low RPM's it has little torque. For aluminum I spot and drill the holes, then tap by hand. ~P
The only thing I didn't see in your collection is the spindle, since you bought it on amazon. Will you provide the specs for it? I'm on the fence about buying a water cooled spindle or using my porter cable 7518 3hp from my router table.
I must say I envy your workshop space, I am full right now in my 21'x 17.5' garage with adjacent 14'x 4' space. With all the equipment I now have, I must build the machine (5' x 10') to straddle over my Unisaw with table extension for router, because I don't want to get rid of it since it works so well. Besides not many hobbyists/woodworkers are prepared to use a 3 phase machine, even though I could sell it with the VFD drive and everything ready to go.
I like the heavy frame, but I think I will opt for rack and pinion over ball screws for the x and y axes. Thanks for posting
Rollin... In my video about why I used a water cooled spindle found here: ua-cam.com/video/sAUYFsiuY-8/v-deo.html you will find a link to an Amazon product with the same specs as I purchased. ~P.