[wayneb30]

so i have been wanting to build a cnc mill for myself but i need some help finding all the motors, drivers, and the breakout board are there any kind of kits that I could buy that would come with all the stuff that I need to get up and running with this cnc mill project? thanks guys.

[FannBlade]

The question is very vague are you talking about a mill or a router?
Are you converting an existing mill or building one from scratch?
Here is a good site to look at all type of kits to get an idea of whats available.

Can you be more specific of your needs? It's not a simple as ordering a kits until you understand what it is your trying to accomplish as you will soon learn when reading through the million post on this site.

[gualalasmooth]

Here try out this site I built my cnc and this site was very helpful
Good luck Tom



Build Your Own CNC Router, CNC Machine, or 3D Printer

[wayneb30]

well i would like to try and be able to mill things out of cutting board material and some aluminum and possible some things out of steel. and I will be building from scratch. would converting a off the shelf hand mill to cnc be better?

[FannBlade]

Sounds like a mill is what you are after. A CNC router will handle the wood and a well built one could do the aluminum but as most here would agree not very good for steel.
I would look at Grizzly for a mill in the price range you are after, then search the forums for a conversion build log there are a ton of them here.
Then plan on aprox. another $1000 to convert it.

You might search Hoss's G0704 he has a ton of info converting a Grizzly G0704.

[wayneb30]

where could I buy all the stepper motors and the control board for the cnc mill? can I get them in a kit from somewhere? that would come with all the motors and the boards that i would need to get the mill up and running? thanks again.

[FannBlade]

Refer back to post #2. Have you made a decision on a mill?

[James Newton]

If you want to learn about stepper drive systems and how to estimate what size you need for a given mill, you might check out:
techref.massmind.org/techref/io/steppers.htm

[wayneb30]

what brand of stepper motor driver should I look for is one brand better than the other. I know that I will probably want to use some nema 23 stepper motors on this machine.

[bobsch]

what brand of stepper motor driver should I look for is one brand better than the other. I know that I will probably want to use some nema 23 stepper motors on this machine.

Most people feel Gecko's are the best. Their G540 http://www.geckodrive.com/g540-digit...trol-p-39.html will drive up to four steppers.

[wayneb30]

so that motor control board would be all I would need to buy to connect the cnc machine to my computer then?

[James Newton]

Well, you would still need motors, and a power supply... and wires... but again, you really need to figure out the mechanical parts first, THEN figure out what size motors you need to drive the machine THEN figure out what driver will support those motors, THEN figure out what power supply you need to support that driver. The G540 is probably good for most hobby sized CNC mills, and has a good resale value if you find you need more (or can do with less). But as multiple people have said, sort out the physical machine FIRST.