PROJECT: The C-N-C Mini, a DIY CNC project

Hi everyone!

I've been pondering if I should do a project here or not, and thought, finally, I should do it. At least to have some journey I can read about when I am in my golden age, hehe.

But anyhooo...
My original plan was to make a CNC machine with the build area of 1700x3500x185mm, but life happens. So I was forced to come up with a new plan, and quick!
I had hit the wall, as you say, mentally when working on both my official work as a cnc machinist, as well as attempting to start up my own business, while at the same time building my own machines.
So after a two week sick leave, not that I felt better but I couldn't sit at home economically. I designed a new machine, with much less work area and quicker to build and mill out parts

So after half a year of designing and milling out all the components for the "Mini" version of the The C-N-C/The Crazy-Numerical-Cutter, I am left with this;
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=467044&stc=1

And that's it for images for this post, ahve some videos Iäll upload in a future post.

So the machine specs then;
Working area: 550x700x150 mm (X,Y,Z)
ATC 3.5 kW spindle
16mm Ballscrews for all axes, yes I know small for Y-axis but should be doable on my calculations and needs.
HGR20 Rails, with both narrow and wide cars.
Dual tool changer areas, one fixed carousel, one semi fixed, with tilt possibility to easy load and unload of material into the machine base.
4 vacuum zones, with ability to turn each section off, either mechanically or via electrical means.
X and Z motors are pulley driven, to minimize the envelope of the machine.
X and Y can, and might receive gearboxes of 5:1, Y-axis will then have planetary gears, and X-axis will have a pulley based "gearbox".
AXBB-E controller board.
UCCNC software.
HSS86 drivers for X, Y1, Y2, Z.
NEMA 34 4.5 nm, for Y1, Y2, Z.
NEMA 34 8 nm, for X.
Huanyang 4 kW 380V VFD
WHB04B 6-axis pendant
A no-name tool z offset sensor



And that's that, is this the best part list, NO!, is this the best I could design, NO! Is this the best I could do under a limited time frame, from idea to finished product and on a strained economical situation, kind of...

This is a good first machine, for me. To learn from all things covered, idea to design, design to production, learning to work as a designer hiring a manufacturing company with open dialog on the machine process, creating industrial standardized drawings for machine shops, some stress analysis but mostly skipped it and went with intuition on this build.


More to come, in this forum I hope.

But until then, thanks for reading and hope to have some interesting conversations here :)

- - - Updated - - -

And some videos;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142441...7712525910821/

Jeez Jawz thats a beast of a machine!! Peter video doesn't work more video please.

Thanks a lot Peter, too bad I didn't have time to really think through the design more.
But I had limited amount of time until I did not have access to any milling machines and material,
free of charge. So when life gives you lemons and all.

Hmm that's weird, the work on my end, oh well. I might as well upload them to youtube seeing as this forum supports such links.


-Anders


Here are the videos, let's hope these links fair better.

Can' remember all the parts that where processed in these videos, but here are some parts videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Id...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdfG...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BImv...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoM1...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kyi...KQYgA&inde x=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5hZ...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjJT...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=2

This is something I may implement in to my CNC machine, and not just my 3D printers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QARa...E8UUuTh0pUosPl qCTWKQYgA&index=9

A quick test of AXBB-E with, HSS86 driver, NEMA23 4.5 nm, pendant and UCCNC with license;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jmu...WKQYgA&index=7

And the most important thing working as a machinist, having a sense of humor;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbgn...WKQYgA&index=8

Oh and if anyone wants to build this machine, the CAD files are available on my GrabCAD profile;
https://grabcad.com/library/5570-z10-cnc-router-1

Be aware though, that there might be some mistakes in it, and that the tool rack and tool carousel is in no way a finished product, while I'm writing this!

And here is a enclosure for the whole thing as well, also not yet a finished product.
I might go another way, now that I will not have it in my apartment, yeah you heard/"read" me right. In my 62 m2 "big" apartment.
So I might not finish this darn thing.

But currently it can be a self contained "CNC workshop", on wheels if sturdy enough. The wheels that is.
https://grabcad.com/library/5570-z1xx-table-1

Morning everyone,

Working on finalizing the one of the final purchases of parts for the machine, while also looking at table designs.
Going through iterations of table designs based on material I have laying around, 20x20x2 mm alu tube that will have welded end joints,
and then a thick MDF sheet on top of the frame to distribute the weight evenly throughout the frame.

Unsure of the best design practices here, but as I have the material at my disposal I want to use it. To allow me to keep the costs down.
So yes there are better stronger solutions out there, but my budget won't allow such expenses right now, any constructive criticism is welcome here.




The load on top of the MDF is set to 3000N, the machine will weigh in at approximately 250kg, and then added 50kg to additional stock weight and peripheral items.
But that is with enough safe margin to allow a +-15kg mass to be added.