[AtomBombs]

Hi everybody!

Let me first say ~ awesome forums! Soooo much information here, completely overwhelming to say the least!

I am a 100% total NEWB that has been bitten hard by the maker bug. Checking in from Hamilton, Ontario.

I am an intermediate woodworker with a home shop full of just about everything I need to actually construct any of the plans I've spent time reading around here. I feel like I can hand-build most of the DiY MDF kits with confidence. I've been playing around and designing things in CAD for years now for most of my hobby projects and I'm actually going back to school in September for a civil/architectural drafting type program so I will get a great opportunity to expand my CAD knowledge-base. It hit me a while ago that I could really get a lot of use and fun out of a CNC machine!

I've been reading as much as I can and really trying to wrap my head around the electronics end of a project like this but I truthfully have very little electronics experience. I also have very little money for a project like this hah! As I said, going back to school and all... eek.

The goal right now is to build myself a machine for under $500. I realize it may require some dumpster diving and that sort of thing and that's fine by me for now. I plan to use whatever machine I can make for the purpose of carving wood mainly. I've got plans for guitars, cabinet doors and all of that other common stuff I'm willing to bet people initially want to make. I don't think my plans include metal maching at this point. If it could cut say 0.25" Aluminum than of course that would be awesome too obviously. I actually realized that I have a relic of a router that I had boxed up a few years ago when I replaced with my current one I use. I am not sure if it would be of use for a 1st build or not. It's a Craftsman 1.25hp with a 0.25" collet. It seems to work just fine. I really only replaced it because a .50" plunge router I saw was on sale if I recall. If this router is suitable than, hey, more in my budget for other parts? Here's a link I found to the old machine's manual:

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/part...0ROUTER-manual

If I can create really cool things with my 1st machine, as inelegant as it is likely to be, than I am sure I will be able to justify spending good money on a better/larger build in a few years.

I would really really like to stick to cash and carry parts if at all possible. Would be great to find all my guts in my local area and not have to order online. I've been doing a lot of web searching for places in the GTA but to be honest I'm not entirely sure of what I'm looking at!

It would be awesome if I could source parts from places like

Hardware/Structure:
Home Improvement, Home Renovation, Tools, & Hardware | Home Depot Canada
Bolt and Nut Supply; Distributor of Quality Fasteners, Industrial Supplies, Safety Wear and Janitorial Products
Products | Fastenal
METAL SUPERMARKETS - Buy Metal Online - Small Quantity Orders for Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Hot Rolled Steel, Cold Rolled Steel for Delivery or Local Pickup

Electronic Components:
Princess Auto
Nutech :: Products
Welcome to A1PARTS

So I guess what I'm trying to do is put together a bit of a shopping list. Things like angle aluminum, bearings, all the fasteners and misc hardware, pipe, etc seem very easy to figure out. It's more about nailing down the correct motors, lead screws, boards, power supply? Does anyone see a potential working system in that pile of links I've given or am I dreaming and need to just bite the bullet and order some type of plug and play electronics package from the USA? Does anyone have better sources for me to use in the GTA?

In the mean time I'ma keep on readingreadingreadingreading...

Thanks!! =)

[Al_The_Man]

For Hardware, send for a Misumi catalogue, and Electronics, Digikey.
They both pay brokerage across the border.
Digikey are next day air for $8.00 p/p.
Al.

[Phife]

You'll be hard pressed to build a machine that will do everything you listed for $500, tooling, software, and the like will blow that even before you start building a machine..

My advice is to save up, and keep reading. while It may seem like a good idea to try and salvage and scrounge for parts you'll end up with a hardly functioning machine that will not be able to do the work you want to do.. 3d carving requires expensive CAM software, Vcarving not so much, but you will need a machine that can move at a decent rate (at least 80ipm) and using threaded rods will not be able to achieve that.

Forget about making guitars or machining any sort of aluminum, if you plan on selling the things you make you will need to spend the money required to make a reliable machine or you will be constantly fixing, tweaking and testing the machine, which will hurt your profits.

[AtomBombs]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Those are 2 really nice parts sources Al_The_Man, thanks for those.

@Phife: Hmmm, I guess I was under the impression that building something like a JGro could be done in the neighbourhood of $500? Am I way off? If so I'll put my plans on a backburner and keep learning for now. I understand that the software is a whole other hurdle but I'm really concerned with building the device with a small budget itself at this point. Thanks for your input.

[ger21]

The cheapest you can get decent electronics for will be around $300, if you go with a HobbyCNC and solder it yourself.
Multi start 1/2" acme leadscrews are a must have for decent performance, and run about $80 /6ft. You can make your own Delrin nuts and save some money there.

And you can find free software to do most things, but commercial software is much easier to use and more user friendly in most cases.

I'd say expect to spend closer to $800 for a decent JGRO type machine. But I'd seriously consider doing something like the Joes 2006, which is a much better machine than the JGRO. And it shouldn't be that much more money.

[dcartier]

AtomBombs,

You can also get Linistepper kits for a reasonable price. I purchased a 4 axis kit with breakout board shipped to Canada for $200 US. I had heard plenty of good things about them in the forums so I decided to give them a try. The only downside I can see about them is that they are uni-polar only. So you need to keep that in mind for motor choices.

Dennis

[lazorus]

I started out with the JGRO machine. It was a good eye opener, and let me know what is possible with common 1/4 all thread. If I did it all over, I would still go the same route. I did cough up for the more expensive (and user friendly) Gecko G540 and good steppers, which I cannibalized and used on the "2nd" machine. I'm not too sure how much money I had into that machine, but it wasnt more than 1000.00

I believe this is a hobby. There are many people on this site that say a MDF machine is useless, therefore save your money until you can build a dream machine. If you build a MDF machine well enough, it can be an easy sale when you are ready to upgrade. AND the wow factor from your friends when you tell them "yes, I built that" is pretty hard to beat.

Build it your own way. But have FUN doing it! And if you need any help from a fellow Canadian, let me know.

[jckstrthmghty]

Fellow canuk here, ottawa.

My take. $500 is not realistic. You can build the structure for $500 or less but there are so many other components required.

I'm with Ger. Hobbycnc is the economical way to go and not a bad option and that alone is $300. Stay away from ebay until you get a strong understanding of what eletronics market is. I can almost gaurentee you will experience issues. I opted for the G540 route and I am very happy with the results.

I have a JGRO. Good hobby and learning build. Using that to build a Joes2006 and the results have been excellent so far.

I'd like to cut guitars with my jgro but honestly I'll wait for the Joes2006 to be completed and use that instead. There simply too much deflection with the JGRO and I braced mine significantly.

A few things not mentioned.

Cutting tool. Router will cost around $100 give or take. Cutters $10 and up. I mainly use a 1/8" and a 1/4" bit for cutting sheet goods but I have a few v groove bits for some fun projects. You could easily spend thousands on good cutters. I'm sure many have.

Software. If you want to be cutting rather than figuring things out you will want to buy software unless you have prior experience. I went with cut2d and mach3.

Dedicated PC. Not your desktop you check your email with. Almost any cheap PC will do.

If you decide on acme leadscrew take a look at SNBInc. Pretty close to you and good pricing. Way better than ordering across the border.

So it add's up but totally worth it. Like to see anyone cut a aztec calander by hand in 3 hours.

[keith20mm]

Here's an idea:

Search this "surplus cnc machinery,Hamilton, Ontario"

Example result:

H.H. Roberts Machinery Limited
1324 Matheson Blvd E., Mississauga, Ontario,
Canada. L4W-2Z7, Fax 905-624-9065

among others.

Now, start sniffing around those places, and ask if they ever have used screws, tables, steppers, etc, that they might off to you, cheap, or, maybe even free.

You might come up with some useful parts, screws, nuts, electrical boards, boxes, etc, that you can use in your build.

[AtomBombs]

Great link, and some nice sleuthing on my behalf hehe! Thanks!

OK, well... as an update I gotta say my initial post was probably a bit premature. I've done a TON of reading and learning since then and I am 100% hooked. Some of these build logs are amazing. Which means... my budget is blowing up lol. Under $500 was a joke and I now see that. I also see what is possible with some more dough and I'm fine with spending what needs to be spent in order to have a really useful fun hobby machine to play with. I'm also now willing to drop my reluctance to buying things online.

My goals are largely the same:
- Hobby. I am not going to own a machine shop or produce goods on any sort of commercial scale as far as I can tell.
- Decent sized machine (larger than a desktop model hopefully)
- Planning to cut wood mainly, I doubt I will load up any aluminum but I guess I could experiment eventually.
- Budget/Entry level structural materials. I cannot really afford 80/20, V-Bearings, Linear Rails or other fancy components at this point. I would prefer to get my feet wet and expand or rebuild components as I grow. For now I think I'm a skate trucks and gas pipes type of guy.

I think my strategy is to first narrow down my search for a Stepper Motor Kit that can be picked up or shipped to Ontario, Canada at a reasonable cost. I now see that spending good money on good components is crucial with this part. I also want to be able to buy something beefy that will have the potential to be reused on a possible future quality build as well. I need some guidance on the sizes of available motors though. Is bigger always better? If I build a 2x2 machine first and pimp it out with a hulking motor kit will I be shooting myself in the foot? I ask because I can see myself wanting to build something like a Joe's 4x4 or even a 4x8 Blacktoe type of table, I have more than enough room for one in my shop. If I buy electronics smartly now and spend the next 2yrs slowly working on a big table I'd be a happy man, does that make sense?

So, what if we play a game where you guys spend my roughly $500 stepper kit budget for me? I'd love some links to specific kits if you've got them, and keep in mind I'm up in Canada. I think I've found most of the common vendors and I sort of have an idea of what's out there but really the electronics is always going to be my weak link, I'm a nuts and bolts kind of guy. Hope you can help!

Cheers everyone!

[DSpeck]

For machinery takeouts (salvaged, still in excellent shape parts), go see Nino at DNP Technologies in Mississauga. He knows quite a bit about machinery, and builds CNC machines (routers) to order. He has a fair collection of profile linear rails, ballscrews, and steppers, and only sells good quality stuff. You can get very good parts for much less than new, retail prices.

If/when you go, make sure you have lots of time, both to go through the stock, and to talk to Nino - he's pretty loquacious... I've bought a bunch of stuff from him, so I speak from experience.

[OCNC]

So, what if we play a game where you guys spend my roughly $500 stepper kit budget for me? I'd love some links to specific kits if you've got them, and keep in mind I'm up in Canada. I think I've found most of the common vendors and I sort of have an idea of what's out there but really the electronics is always going to be my weak link, I'm a nuts and bolts kind of guy. Hope you can help!

Cheers everyone!

G540 with 3 steppers and a PS-$455.00

Chris