[Thinwater]

It lives! 15 mm hwin rails on all axis, 1/2 x 10 precision ACME thread rods, mach 3, and a Probotics 3 axis controller with their upgraded large box and larger power supply. I am using a Bosh Roto Zip for the spindle. It does 15k to 25k rpm.


The eagles were engraved with a 1/8" 45 degree engraving bit that I use for my rifles. I ran it at 20k rpm and 20 ipm, .012" deep single pass. The backlash comp was set at .003" for the x and y and .001 for the z.

I went with the Probotix control because they have been around for many years and I figured they must know what they are doing by now. So far everything is all good. I need to pay Mach3 for th full license so I can run more than 500 lines of code at a time.

[louieatienza]

Looks good! I used the same RotoZip on my first machine and it worked great, until I tried to actually mill aluminum (engraving was fine) and I melted the bearing housing (which is integrated to the plastic shell), the metal actually just goes over the plastic. They have a new heavy-duty model which seems to have an aluminum bearing housing....

[ruairi]

Hi,
I'm interested in building a machine similar too this one, if you don't mind me asking approximately how much did it cost you?
Thanks
Ruairi

[Thinwater]

Hi,
I'm interested in building a machine similar too this one, if you don't mind me asking approximately how much did it cost you?
Thanks
Ruairi

Around $400 for the rails and bearing blocks (Automationoverstock.com)

Around $600 for the control set up (Probotix.com)

Probably $200 - $300in aluminum and 1/2 of it came from the scrap yard.

At least $75 in bolts, nuts and washers.

Mach 3 will be $175 for the license.

Roto zip' sell for around $50 at pawn shops in new condition.

Acme rods were around $15 each x 3 from McMaster

I made my own acme nuts out of scrap.

Motor cpouplers, around $8 ea x 3.

Thrust bearings and collars were around $20 for all.

Computer (Re built/used from computer store) $100

All in all about $2000 including all the stuff I forgot about. This is for a running machine, including computer and using real hwin rails olted to 1/2" Aluminum plate for a super rigid, no slop machine. If I did it again (And I will soon) I will use ball screws. FOr a couple of hundred more, the entire thing would be top of th line.

[aarongough]

Looks great!
You might find pretty quickly that the roto-zip has a lot of runout. I used a dremel on my first machine and it was pretty much unusable for anything requiring accuracy.

I use a Dewalt DWP611 trim router now, and that thing is amazing. Very quite, no runout and it has a spindle encoder and proper speed regulation circuitry, so the spindle speed always stays the same even in the middle of the cut. This router seems to have no problems cutting aluminium, and might be a good thing for you to look at adding to your machine!

All-in-all I'm jealous, looks like a very well-built machine!

[Thinwater]

Since I make gun parts I figured I would set it up to engrave on the lower receivers that we sell for the AR 15 rifle. I shrunk the eagle to 60% in mach 3 and engraved it .010 deep. 50 ipm and 30k spindle speed. No burrs.

[aarongough]

Looks awesome! I'm going to try machining some brass on my router in a few days, hope I get results as nice as yours!