This is my first post after reading / learning over the past year or so. I had built a little demo two axis machine to learn the concepts of CNC. After that I was ready to jump in and build a working model. I chose the jgro design. This is a very nice design to begin with as the construction is not very complicated for a novice to intermediate woodworker. Jgro, thanks for providing the plans!

Although this is a good design, aligning this thing is a "bear". I don't think I ever will be able to get it to where I want it to be. There is just too much flex in the long Y axis pipes to get to align properly. I'll live with what I have for now as I only will be cutting wood and I don't need to have “.001” accuracy.

I started work on the machine in April of last year (2005). After many trips to the local hardware stores and purchases on eBay and other sites, I have a working CNC router today!

Here are some specifics of the machine. I use 3/8" 16tpi alltread for the leadscrews because the end bearings I had would accept a 3/8" shaft. I will upgrade to 1/2" acme or maybe ballscrews in the future. The adjustment blocks are made out of 3/4" UHMW plastic as are the AB nuts. I used the trick of freezing the AB nuts before taping them. They turn without almost any effort.

The controller is a 3 axis HobbyCNC kit. Thanks to Dave R. from HobbyCNC! This kit goes together very easily as long as you take your time and have some decent soldering skills. (My background is electronics/software). I'm running three Vexta 118oz-in 2 phase 1.5amp motors; yes they are a little underpowered for this machine, so I just run at a lower ipm rate. I built a 33.5vdc unregulated power supply to power the machine.

For a spindle, I will be mounting a 400W 24000rpm "trim router".

I built a mobile cart/stand for the machine so I can move it around my garage or outside when the weather is cooperating (I live in Minnesota, USA - "You betcha!").

I have wired home and limit switches on all three axes. At the present I am having some noise/crosstalk issues on the long limit switch wires. I will need to wire the shields on wires to ground to resolve this issue. I hope that will correct the problem.

I have been using a "demo" copy of Mach3 and also TurboCNC. I like them both. I'm leaning toward MACH3 as I like the interface that this software provides. The price is reasonable for this software and I will probably end up purchasing this. I also have a demo copy of VCarve. Very nice software, but the price is giving me second thoughts as I may develop my own carving software instead using the Delphi programming language.

What speed do I run at? Well, I've tested various micostepping rates and ipm's
and presently running at 1/4 step rate and about 40ipm with maybe a slight bit of resonance. I will have to do some more testing to determine the best rate.

Don't even ask me what this thing has cost me so far! I'm not sure I want to know, even though I have kept all my receipts. This a hobby, don't ya know!

OK, this is a long winded post. I know you guys/gals like pictures, so I have a web site setup that has quite a few pictures and a video of the "First movement" You can read/view it here: http://cnc.hobby-site.com/cnc.htm

JUST DO IT!
Thunterman