[yukonho]

I have been picking away at this project for nearly two years now, and it is finally close to completion.
This machine is a refined version of my current machine that has done me great service over the last year and a half. This machine is an enclosed torsion box design. It is incredibly rigid and the enclosure keeps dust and noise inside. You can stand beside the machine with it running and carry on a normal conversation, no hearing protection needed. My shop (originally in my dining room in my last apartment!) stays completely dust free.
The MDF came back from the CNC shop the other day, and it looks great. As you will see in the photos, all of the joints are dado'd for precise and solid fit. The windows and thrust bearings are flush, and there will be a front panel that will house the power supply, stepper drivers, a fan, power switches, and eventually a pendant control. I designed the machine to self align as it is built, guaranteeing a square machine.
I approached this design with the intent to make it a kit so anyone can assemble this machine without having to deal with the difficult parts of a DIY machine. This machine is the first one off the presses, and will likely need a couple of tweaks here and there.
I will be using IGUS slides for the X and Y (moving table design). And a V bearing type slide of my own design for the Z. I researched and experimented with the IGUS slides to be sure there will be no slop.
Here are some pictures of the parts.

[yukonho]

Here are a couple pictures of the table and gantry torsion boxes going together. These are a bit snug and took some tapping with a mallet to get them together, I will add .005" to the grooves to let these parts fit together a bit easier.
You can see the mounting holes for the IGUS slide carriages in the bottom of the table, and the grid of holes in the lid will have 1/4-20 T-nuts installed for fixturing.
All screw holes are countersunk.
You can see the alignment holes in the gantry torsion box bulkheads. I will be running 1/4-20 allthread right through the gantry with a washer and nut on each end to tie the machine sides and gantry together.
Colin

[vacpress]

I hate to say it, I am sorry, but do we really need another plans\kit for a simple MDF CNC machine? It seems absurd. I was searching ebay the other day and there are lots and lots of them allready out there... Please, design it real pretty. the only set of plans ive seen were real real ugly.

Keep up the good work!

[Jason Marsha]

Keep up the good work. Your compact machine with the enclosure feature would be great for those who need to keep dust and noise to a minimum.

Jason

[campaX]

I Like the design!. Keep posting.

[yukonho]

Thanks for the commens guys.
Vacpress, the very reason I had to design my own machine to suit my needs was because there is nothing out there that is worthwhile. All of the plans I have seen are one or more of the following; ugly, flimsy, poor design, difficult to make without a machine shop and extensive tools, no enclosure.
Another motivator for me was that I have yet to find a kit for a cnc router, period. I think I found one once, but it was a weak design. I figured that there are lots of guys who would build a kit that dont want to build from plans. I have designed the machine to go together with a few basic hand tools, and nothing else needed.
Here is a link to the build of the original. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3059

colin

[buscht]

Colin, Congratulations on the baby!

I think that you might be on to something here with the kit. Any idea about a price point?

Good luck and don't let anything stop you.

[yukonho]

Thanks for the Congrats. Our daughter, Zoé, is 5 and a half months old now, and she is spectacular
As far as price point goes, I am close to having a final price, but need to finish up the Z axis and a few other things before I can commit to a price.
As far as not letting anything stop me, well it has been two years of picking away at this project when time and money were available, I am so close now I can taste it, I wont let anything get in the way!
Cheers,
Colin

[campaX]

I really like your design...
so I'm trying to make a clone, with a working area of 440x800mm ~(17.3" x 31.5").

What do you think?

[yukonho]

I think you will be fine enlarging the machine to that size. Build the torsion boxes nice and solid with 3/4" MDF and you will be fine with respect to rigidity.
You might want to follow through this build before you get going on yours, there are a few design features you may also want to incorporate into your machine.
Colin

[vacpress]

So, I looked at the thread and these pictures.. Not to bad, nicer than the terrible moving-gantry design out there... with the single piece of MDF on either side for the gantry vertical supports... 2 pieces seems so much more rational.. and NO MOVING GANTRY MADE OF MDF AND ALUMINUM ANGLE! Duh.

Keep it up.. Got the prototype built yet?

Happy holidays with the baby!

[yukonho]

There are a lot of aluminum machines that are as flimsy as the mdf moving gantry routers are. I spent a lot of time on this design to get the geometry right to make it uber rigid. I can stand on the table or gantry with no noticeable flex (I think I will put a dial guage on it and get a real measurement).
Haven't had time yet to do much more, but I will this coming week; I will be off work.
Colin

[yukonho]

I managed to get some time in and built up the gantry tonight.
Picture 1 All the parts.
Picture 2 Shows the parts in the right places. I assembled the parts to drill the cross holes (to mount the IGUS W slide) I marked all of the parts to make certain they go back in the same place for perfect alignment.
Picture 3 Putting all of the parts together after putting some glue in all of the dados.
Picture 4 Bolting up the IGUS W slide.
Picture 5 The completed gantry, this thing is SOLID!

One little note, on my original machine, I filled all of the cavities with ground up rubber. This was in an effort to make the machine "dead" I am not sure if it had any real effect, but if you wanted to put something inside the structure, it wouldn't hurt. The rubber is no longer available to me, so I am leaving it out.

That is all for tonight.
Colin

[yukonho]

I managed to get the slides and carriages for the table mounted. Alignment took a few tries to get the table running smoothly end to end.
Next step is to build up the table, I am building a bench for my milling machine tomorrow, so I wont likely get to post any progress tomorrow.
Colin

[yukonho]

I spent the last few days building a bench and getting my milling machine up and running. (see benchtop mills forum)
Happily that is now going, just need some more tooling and I am good to go. This is an important step because there are some parts I need to make on the mill for this router.
I have installed the slides on the base, and built up the table. All of the joints on the table are glued except for the top. This should stay removeable for a few reasons, one of the main ones being access to the slide carriage bolts.
Next step is mounting the gantry, then add the back and top, then on to the door.
Total assembly time so far is about three hours.
I have inquired at the local lumber place about the MDF for outdoor use. This stuff is aparently a lot like MDF, but is completely waterproof. This would be ideal and would add a lot of life to these MDF machines. Not only that, you could use coolant and cut aluminum. Hopefully it won't be out of reach as far as price goes, we will see.
It is starting to look like something now
colin

[campaX]

Why are you leaving that space in the front?

Are you gonna put the electronics in that space?

[yukonho]

That space will have an ABS cover. It will house the Y axis stepper, the power supply and the stepper drivers. I also plan on installing a pendant type control panel and main power and lighting switches there. There will be a cooling fan installed to keep everything from getting hot.
There are several advantages to having all of the electronics mounted like this, the biggest one (for me) is that there will only be two wires coming out of the machine, one for power and the other for the printer cord. When the pendant is installed there will also be a USB wire, but none of the birdsnest that I have now on my current machine. There will also be space for a SSR for the spindle and any other bits you want to install.
I wont have the plastic for another week, so that will be done last.
Colin

[yukonho]

It is fun when things work out as well as you had planned. Here are a couple shots of the thrust bearing mount. It sits flush on both sides with the bearing captured in between. I just need to get the right screws to mount it up. In future versions, I will probably reverse the mount and have the round part on the outside with the square bit in the middle because the gantry will partially cover the round part as it is set up now.
One side is black and one white simply because those are the colours of delrin I have in the right thicknesses.
Colin

[yukonho]

It has been a while since I posted. I have been working on the Z axis and am far enough along to show you some pictures of it.
I may have a go at making a similar style linear bearing set-up for the X axis (gantry, not table) for the next machine and eliminate the IGUS slides for that axis.
I will be making a couple of small changes to the Z as well, mainly for simplicity and to give a bit more Z travel.
The bearings are YiTong, and are very nice I will be ordering more for sure. I am using 1/2" drill rod that is fitted into 1/4 round grooves along the corners of 1/2" aluminum, and bolted in place. This piece is very strong indeed, no need to worry about deflection there.
I have yet to cut the slot in the router mount for tightening purposes. I will be doing this and turning down the ends of the leadscrews tomorrow at work (The boss is away ) Leadscrews are 3/8-12 ACME and leadnuts will be UHMW.
Acrylic for the windows and ABS for the front panel/enclosure is arriving tomorrow. I hope to get most of that work done by early next week.
I have been making modifications to the CAD as this build goes along, tweaks here and there to get everything exactly how I want it. Once I get this one all assembled, I will sell it to recoop some of the costs and get machine number 2 built up.
Cheers,
Colin

[pminmo]

Congratulations Dad!
Sweet pictures. Great ideas!!!!! beautiful workmanship!!!!!!!!!!!