[FandZ]

Hi all, I thought I would take the time to share my latest CNC build that is almost ready to make some chips. Yahoooo!!! But before I get into the details, I’d like to give a big THANK YOU to Ahren at CNCROUTERPARTS and Carveone here on the Zone for helping me on this build. Ahren took the time out to review some of my earlier designs and gave me some great pointers and suggestions for improvement. Carveone worked with me on the base and actually machined it on his own machine. Both of you are stand up guys and thank you for your patience and help.

This machine was designed to work primarily in soft metals, wood, and plastic. From my previous experiences with aluminum, I already know this machine is more than rigid enough. The Z axis is like granite on Viagra. The details are as follows:

Weight 126.2 lbs with stepper motors

Footprint 27x30

Cutting area is about 18 x 19 x 6

Eelectronics: G540- 270oz motors on X and Y - 380oz motor on Z axis.

My rapids are currently 130ipm on X ,Y and 115 on the Z axis. This is with ½-10 acme screws and being PC limited on my kernel speed. I plan on upgrading later to 5 start screws to get some better speed.
I actually built this machine over a month ago but moved right after and haven’t been able to use it. One thing I have to change on it is one of the X axis screws. In my haste, I forced it into the bearing blocks and bent it. I learned my lesson on that one and sanded the ends on the others. In the pictures you can see a replacement acme rod that I’ll be installing soon.

With Carveone making the base, other than the rails and acme screws, it was a completely bolt together setup. I’d say assembly time was about 6 hours. Using Ahren's parts, T-slots, and 80/20 brackets really made it an easy build. I’d say the thing I love most about it is how easy it’ll be to upgrade it to a bigger machine later on. Eventually, when I get the room, I plan on replacing the X and Y 80/20, rails, and screws and make it a 3x3 machine.

Anyhow, later on in the week I’ll finally get to see this thing cut. First thing I’m going to make is a dust shoe.

Wooohoo!!!! I’m getting that new cnc feeling 


Enjoy the pictures, Chris 

[CarveOne]

It's looking good Chris! Good to see it all come together for you. Now let's see what it will do.

CarveOne

[FandZ]

It's looking good Chris! Good to see it all come together for you. Now let's see what it will do.

CarveOne

Soon enough my friend, soon enough I'm working on the dust shoe design right now as a matter of fact. The question is, should I make it out of HDPE, Aluminum, or Trex? I got some stock in all 3. I'm leaning towards HDPE or Trex just because it's easier to clean up after. I'll probably go with the HDPE.

[FandZ]

Here is some pictures of Carveone's machine cutting out the base on his machine. That big box what it was shipped in. The base is a little over 35lbs. It's composed of four pieces of .75 inch thick pieces of MDF that have been glued together. It's solid.



It's proof that Carvone can actually stop building a machine long enough to use it...lol

[CarveOne]

Here is some pictures of Carveone's machine cutting out the base on his machine. That big box what it was shipped in. The base is a little over 35lbs. It's composed of four pieces of .75 inch thick pieces of MDF that have been glued together. It's solid.



It's proof that Carvone can actually stop building a machine long enough to use it...lol

Did you notice that I built a 12' machine just to have somewhere to put the Shop Vac? It doubles as a nice work table at other times. I used the Shop Vac to clean out the impacted MDF dust in the 1/4" slots. The dust shoe doesn't suck most of it out. The hose reaches everywhere needed from that one position on the table.

CarveOne

[Drools]

Looks good Fandz!
A question, are thoes t-slots routed in the top of the spoil board?
I notice they are painted red, what are they painted with?
How strong would you say they are?

[FandZ]

Looks good Fandz!
A question, are thoes t-slots routed in the top of the spoil board?
I notice they are painted red, what are they painted with?
How strong would you say they are?

They are actually aluminum T-tracks. Carveone routed out the slots for them so they are just under the surface of the table. They are glued in and are very secure. T-slot track is cheap too. H0878 36" Aluminum T-Slot Track Mounting things can be a pain so I knew I had to have some T-track.

Here's some pictures

[ahren]

Chris, the machine looks really good -- a very professional build! It's nice to see it come together. Can't wait to see some videos of it cutting various materials.

Best regards,

Ahren
CNCRouterParts

[CarveOne]

I suggest scaling the baseplate DXF down to fit on the cutting area, generate new gcode, and then cutting it with the appropriate bit diameter. (will 1/2 scale fit?) It doesn't have to be useful. It goes through a lot of gyrations though, and will show you what it can do.

CarveOne

[FandZ]

Chris, the machine looks really good -- a very professional build! It's nice to see it come together. Can't wait to see some videos of it cutting various materials.

Best regards,

Ahren
CNCRouterParts

You can't wait... try being me. lol I have plenty of projects lined up for it. Thanks again for all your help and advice in bringing this machine to life.

I suggest scaling the baseplate DXF down to fit on the cutting area, generate new gcode, and then cutting it with the appropriate bit diameter. (will 1/2 scale fit?) It doesn't have to be useful. It goes through a lot of gyrations though, and will show you what it can do.

CarveOne

Carveone,

First thing I have to make is a dust shoe. It's a table top machine that'll be used inside my place on a table. I have a small shop vac that I'm going to mount to the back of the Z axis. Then it's on to noise suppression. I think I'm going to make a 32inch square top that will go over it out of noise reducing foam. I also want to make a fixture for my machinist vice. Then it's time to get busy with some projects. I have a concept model I want to make out of aluminum and bamboo. A few pictures etched in wood... a new wall-mount PC case... and the list goes on and on. lol

[Senna]

Chris,

That's one industrial looking machine...! Looks like it should handle anything you plan on throwing at it. I REALLY like the inset T-track table you have there. After seeing this I plan to incorporate it into my build. Great looking 8020 machine!

My machine is performing flawlessly but still lacking a dust collection system... so I'm limiting the cutting. I've been hand wanding with the shopvac but at times with aggressive cutting that method of dust collection gets totally overwhelmed. I see a HF 2hp Industrial Dust Collector in my future. With the purchase of Aspire and the Mach3 license behind me... the budget will need a bit of recovery.

Happy cutting!

Steve

[FandZ]

Chris,

That's one industrial looking machine...! Looks like it should handle anything you plan on throwing at it. I REALLY like the inset T-track table you have there. After seeing this I plan to incorporate it into my build. Great looking 8020 machine!

My machine is performing flawlessly but still lacking a dust collection system... so I'm limiting the cutting. I've been hand wanding with the shopvac but at times with aggressive cutting that method of dust collection gets totally overwhelmed. I see a HF 2hp Industrial Dust Collector in my future. With the purchase of Aspire and the Mach3 license behind me... the budget will need a bit of recovery.

Happy cutting!

Steve

Man I'm really happy with how this machine came out. I put up picture of it at work as my desktop background and all I do is look at it and smile all day...lol

Glad to hear your beast of machine is running like a champ.

On the subject of dust collection, A shop vac may not be the best option but it does work well as long as you use the foam insert and cloth filter.

Just adding a dust shoe without any suction is also better than no dust shoe at all. I did that on my last build and it at least kept it all in one place. Just have to divert the Hitachi routers downward air.

I'm getting close to finishing my dust shoe design I plan to make this weekend. I'll post it up incase it gives you some ideas. I'm modleing it after the split show desighn that you can see here. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/produc...dust_shoe.html

Chris

[harryn]

Hi, I suggest considering to build an enclosure around the machine. No matter what level of dust shoe you make, some dust will still fly around, and no dust shoe can contain the noise.

[FandZ]

Hi, I suggest considering to build an enclosure around the machine. No matter what level of dust shoe you make, some dust will still fly around, and no dust shoe can contain the noise.

Thanks for the suggestion Harryn. A case, a cabinet, or a drop down containment top is in the works. I'm looking at a few options. Trying to find a mix of noise reduction, price, and functionality.

[Jack000]

slow down there! I'm not even finished my second machine yet! You're making me look bad Fandz

[FandZ]

slow down there! I'm not even finished my second machine yet! You're making me look bad Fandz

Shoot Jack, it's me that has the catching up to do. You have you have Carveit.ca - You Design, We Carve! and you are making your own cam software. All I have is 3 machines.

[Jack000]

I wish I had 3 machines. I'd put them together and make a cnc orchestra

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKCX1CeXIjA"]YouTube - CNC Music Factory - MIDI to gcode[/nomedia]

[FandZ]

I wish I had 3 machines. I'd put them together and make a cnc orchestra

YouTube - CNC Music Factory - MIDI to gcode

I've got to try that program out. Would be even better if I could get the cnc machine to sound like it was saying something. Could give the wife and children a good scare for Halloween.

[Senna]

Chris,

I had to make a deflector for my Hitachi too! I whipped it out on my wood lathe in short order and it works perfectly. I used a piece of 1/2" HDMW I had out in the shop. The area below the router is now null... completely void of energetic air... works a charm! If you haven't designed one as yet my pics might lay a foundation for yours. The only caution would be to have as large a gap between the deflector and the cast exhaust openings... BUT not so large a gap that the deflector interferes or prevents access for the locking shaft wrench. The thickness of the deflector plays a part in that too. Go thin... as thin as practical which will allow for the larger air gap. You don't want to impede a good flow of air as that will not allow sufficient cooling for the router.

The split dust shoe is a fabulous design...! One of those... "Why didn't I think of that...!" things...! Since we have the same router I await seeing your take on it...!!!

I KNOW what you mean about that smile...! It's such a tremendous sense of accomplishment when we get on the completion side of these builds!

HAPPY cutting...!

Steve

[FandZ]

Chris,

I had to make a deflector for my Hitachi too! I whipped it out on my wood lathe in short order and it works perfectly. I used a piece of 1/2" HDMW I had out in the shop. The area below the router is now null... completely void of energetic air... works a charm! If you haven't designed one as yet my pics might lay a foundation for yours. The only caution would be to have as large a gap between the deflector and the cast exhaust openings... BUT not so large a gap that the deflector interferes or prevents access for the locking shaft wrench. The thickness of the deflector plays a part in that too. Go thin... as thin as practical which will allow for the larger air gap. You don't want to impede a good flow of air as that will not allow sufficient cooling for the router.

The split dust shoe is a fabulous design...! One of those... "Why didn't I think of that...!" things...! Since we have the same router I await seeing your take on it...!!!

I KNOW what you mean about that smile...! It's such a tremendous sense of accomplishment when we get on the completion side of these builds!

HAPPY cutting...!

Steve

That's excellent! I need one Check your PM

Well after thinking about it some more, I'm not sure if I'm going to do a split mount. I've made a dust skirt that was attached with Velcro before. It's not as pretty but works well. Either way I'll cut one out tomorrow.