30x30" open source CNC machine design

Hi Alumweld - You need to think about what you want to do. You need to have a specification for what you want to do then the decision is made.The machine will do it or not. To answer your questions. 1) Yes its an excellent starter machine you will learn alot and it may or may not do what you want 2) adding more wheels does not improve the performance of the device. I've looked at many of these things and generally the ones with more then 3 or 4 wheels have wheels that are not working. At this quality level the extrusions, the eccentrics, the wheels etc its not possible to adjust everything so all wheels contact. Even if they did the middle ones would not be doing anything. Why do motor cars only have 4 wheels? same question and answer. My suggestion is that you will build a far better machine in plywood then the ones discussed and it will be cheaper.... if you want to understand the issues in designing a machine and what it has to do read the Maximus thread. It starts from scratch and works through most design issues. Cheers Peter

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/austr...76822-cad.html

I will mention this again: T-slot extrusions are stiff, cheap, and readily available. There is a whole ecosystem of connectors and parts that fit them. They can be cut with a regular miter saw, or even a hand saw if you are looking for a workout.

There are many machines built from them; and there's even a whole sub-forum here for the subject: https://www.cnczone.com/forums/t-slot-cnc-building/

Linear rails - both the round and the rectangular variety - are also available for not much money, from the same general sources as the T-slot extrusions. They just bolt on to the extrusions.

Anybody with some basic skills, a bit of persistence, and willingness to read and learn from the resources freely available online, can make their own hobby-grade machine, and bring it in at a hobby budget. It's almost like playing with Lego, except you have to clean up the chips afterwords.

:)


P.s. - edited to add: if you get the round linear rails, be sure to get the fully supported version! It makes it much stiffer.