[CastCNC]

Hello folks, I would like to introduce CastCNC to the community of CNCZone.

First maybe and introduction of myself. My name is Harry and I built one of Joes Hybrid 4x4's last year. The machine is a fantastic design which has allowed ordinary people for a few years now to build a very capable machine.

There was however room for improvement, enter CastCNC



CastCNC is a set of aluminum castings that an ordinary Joe can put together by doing some cleanup work and drilling and tapping holes. In fact Joe will be receiving the first Rack and Pinion kit shortly to build one himself.

The R&P is a small departure from the leadscrew version so I have full confidence it will perform to every expectation.

Now speaking of performance, There a couple of short videos on my YouTube channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/CastCNC

I will be getting more videos up there over the coming days along with a 1000 IPM on the X axis which I am sure if you are reading here you know that is pretty rare if not unheard of in a leadscrew machine with 58" of travel. The two videos currently up are 600 and 800 IPM.

The CastCNC website is coming together and will have loads of pictures and of course pricing information, http://www.castcnc.com

I look forward to answering any questions you folks might have and building a lasting relationship with this community.

Regards,

Harry

[DeWalt58]

Totaly AWSOME!!!

AL

[joecnc2006]

Harry, The machine has come together great and look forward to seeing more builds of the machine.

This is a Top End Kit to my original 4x4 Hybrid machine where we have over 60 complete builds and rack and pinion versions as well.

As Harry has mentioned I will be Building the Rack and Pinion Version starting next week and will post pictures along the way as well as some on the CastCNC website and of course on my original Joe's CNC 4x4 Hybrid forums which will contain a detailed build log.

I am really looking forward to building this machine. and have no doubt that it will be a great machine which people will be able to build very easily.

The CastCNC machine has the same build ease and built in tolerances as the original Joe's 4x4 Hybrid which allows people to build it without having to have precision equipment for drilling and milling parts to achieve perfect alignment.

[CastCNC]

Thanks Al, for disclosure I have to note that Al is wrapping up Build #2 so he is kind of my ringer He is also meticulous in his work and I am looking forward to seeing his machine running. A lot of the pictures that will be going into the gallery on the castcnc site will be from Al.

Joe, thanks for the kind words, I would have to say though that you 60 builds is conservative, that would be more like 60 detailed build logs that have reached completed with many build logs that are in construction and many many more who simply dont post logs of their own on your site... cant make em all show and tell but you have done an amazing job with you community and the price of your plans is well worth the admission there.

The CastCNC machine has the same build ease and built in tolerances as the original Joe's 4x4 Hybrid which allows people to build it without having to have precision equipment for drilling and milling parts to achieve perfect alignment.

This I wanted to point out especially, this is the one thing that makes it all work so nicely. Everything in Joes design is made in such a way that alignments are made then committed by tightening bolts down. CastCNC was designed in the same way so the builder can make adjustments or corrections before committing so that it works together perfectly.

Harry

[CastCNC]

Kind of surprised nobody has any questions other than the PM's I have been answering.

I have updated the site so that now on the 'In The Box' page there are pictures of each of the parts along with descriptions and notes concerning mill work that is done prior to shipping.

I will be getting some more photos and videos up soon.

Harry

[Kipper]

Got any pictures of the actual parts? Just thought I'd ask a question And I kind of like castings

[CastCNC]

I will be working on two sets in the coming week and will get god photos of them before shipping them out. These orders are for both a Rack and Pinion and a Leadscrew so I will be able to get a good set of shots for both versions.

I will be taking a lot of photos of the machine in the video and getting them up on the gallery page in the next day or two along with some more videos with some cutting happening just have lots to do right now so it will take a little time to get the site all fleshed out.

The machine is incredibly strong and smooth though which is something tough to get across in pictures and videos.

Harry

[pjensen]

I'm not really familiar with Joe's CNC. Looking at the websites for CastCNC and JoesCNC, it's not clear to me if there is a complete bill of materials with vendors/etc. in the plans? And what is the approximate cost if the machine is built following the plans? I know I could spend a lot of time reading the forum threads, but I was hoping to get the basic information from the websites...

It does look like a nice machine!

Cheers,
-Peter

[CastCNC]

I Posted this shot over in Joes forum in reference to a rotary axis off the side of the table for the R&P version since it does not have the ABL mount and can drive off the edge of the table. Would be nice to be able to simply use a longer set of X beams then disconnect the A side (one bolt) of the Y axis and have a switch to repurpose that drive in Mach3 (different profile of course) as a rotational axis and have a 4 axis machine on the side of the Hybrid by adding another motor and driver.

Anyhow I liked the shot because it shows most of the machine so I thought I would share it here also.

[CastCNC]

I'm not really familiar with Joe's CNC. Looking at the websites for CastCNC and JoesCNC, it's not clear to me if there is a complete bill of materials with vendors/etc. in the plans? And what is the approximate cost if the machine is built following the plans? I know I could spend a lot of time reading the forum threads, but I was hoping to get the basic information from the websites...

It does look like a nice machine!

Cheers,
-Peter

Peter, Yes there is a very complete BOM available with Joes plans and I cant say enough about the community Joe has built in terms of helping new people along.

As far as complete price that depends on a ton of variables. My original Hybrid cost between $2500 and $3000 (computer and mach included) and the castcnc itself would add about $300 or so on that as opposed to Joes kit. Like I said though you can change so much on this build in how you want to do it with larger motors, v rails ect...

I know I am biased but with the Castcnc kit I dont think there is any way I could come close to this machine for many thousands of dollars more anywhere else.

Harry

[cambridgecnc]

I would agree that it's not clear what components are cast. Maybe an isometric. Showing all the parts /vendors . For people who have nevered heard of joes it could be much clearer. Assume your customers no nothing. Also it would be great to get a complete idea of the build from within your site and not have to click on another site/ download plans / figure it out etc thanks

[pjensen]

Harry, thanks for the information - that's very helpful to put things in context.

As CambridgeCNC says, the website pretty much assumes the reader already knows all about JoesCNC. For example, somewhere on the site it says:

Whats needed to finish and assemble this kit?

* Drill Press, with clamps or vise.
* Ability to read prints and do accurate layout.
* Files and flap disc on right angle grinder for cleanup.
* Socket and open end wrenches.
* Vise
* Patience.

Well, that's not really true... you need a whole bunch of other parts not included in the kit, including electronics and mechanical parts. I understand where you are coming from when you wrote this, but it's a bit confusing to someone who is not familiar with JoesCNC.

This is just an example so you know where my confusion was coming from. I think the what you are doing is a great idea and I might even be purchasing one of your kits in the future. Keep up the good work!

Cheers,

-Peter

[CastCNC]

Hi cambridgecnc,

The BoM is part of the value of Joes prints and would not be mine to give away. There is also a SuperBoM that one of his many gracious members has created as an excel spreadsheet with alternate vendors, pricing and even links to their products. Again this is not mine to give away.

I put isometric drawings of all my parts on the site and that is what I am offering, just the top out made in metal rather than wood. I have just now added iso assemblies of the three main parts (right and left Y trucks and the X carriage) to the gallery page that should illustrate very well the parts that I am offering. The photos and videos will show the performance and I will be doing some load testing to measure deflection under force to try and show how stiff this machine is.

Stiff or rigid is what we are really after here and this setup has both that and a very fluid motion to it, a combination that along with nearly 5' X and Y and 6.25" on the Z makes for a very durable precise large footprint machine. Also not on footprint this is just for the leadscrew version. There are alreasy Joes builds using R&P using a 10' beam for the gantry meaning a 10' by whatever is an option for people who want a really big machine.

Harry

[CastCNC]

Peter, I appreciate the comments and will try to further clarify what is meant by "Top out Kit" for Joescnc.

This as you say not a cnc machine, rather it is parts for a person to build aluminum trucks and gantry.

I want to mention also (again?) Joes forum is a treasure trove of both information and helpful people. This forum is private though so looking in from the outside I could see how it would appear information is sparse.

I do want to let everyone know that even though the plans for Joes Hybrid (and forum access) are included in the price of CastCNC you will not have to pay for it twice so if someone wanted to buy Joes plans from him first all they have to do to get CastCNC for $100 off the price on my site is PM me on Joes forum to show they are already a member there and I invoice them the corrected price.

Harry

[CastCNC]

Just wanted to let folks know I now have the 1000 IPM on the X axis video up on the CastCNC YouTube channel. I took down the 600 IPM video I mentioned in my first post because the machine was not complete at that time with the new video it has the router mounts and the wiring chains all in place.

Also want to make sure no one thinks this is an operating speed for this build, these are just glory (or bragging rights) videos. Running any kind of screw at these speeds and spans is just not going to happen reliably and precision, reliability and repeatability is what cnc is all about and what we have been working towards with CastCNC.

Will have some cutting videos going up next so stay tuned if you are following along because there is a lot more to come.

Harry

[johnohara]

Here is a link to the video CastCNC is referring to:



CastCNC: Some have mentioned having problems posting video to this site. I used the embed option from your youTube post. Copy the embed code to the clipboard and just paste it directly into your post text. The vBulletin software will pull the video and render it.

~John

[CastCNC]

Thanks for the information John, I just refer to my YouTube channel because as I add more and more videos there it is going to become quite a collection and I would hope that more people will do as many already have and subscribe to the channel to get the new ones that I might not mention in a specific thread or come across some of the other videos that they might not have noticed by watching a single one embedded somewhere.

Harry

[CastCNC]

Couple new videos, this time cutting aluminum. First one is a heavy cut that ranged from .02" to .04" where I was taking a bow out of a 16" square 1/4" plate. Second one is a faster run with a lighter cut, total time to cover the same square was under ten minutes.

These really show the improvements in stiffness with this design.

Regards, Harry

[CastCNC]

New video up on the CastCNC youtube channel. This one is kind of long at 8 minutes but it is a 3D cut from start to finish that really shows when time is money speed counts.

The cut is 3" x 3" of an Eagle with an 1/8" Beckwith Decor tapered ballnose. Rough is 0.125 deep with 40% step and finish is 10% step.

Harry

[DeWalt58]

CastCnc mill Number 2 in progress!! Got the left side Y axis done and running!!

AL