[boxbuilder10]

well here goes my first attempt at a cnc router it is a 4x8 hybrid. im using a few donated parts and the rest from crp. using 2.5" x 5" channel for the 35mm rails with a wooden frame. i want to use 80/20 3"x6" for the gantry and steel for the frame but my budget wont allow it yet so i will do the best i can with what i have.all of my parts shipped today from crp and i should have them by the first of next week.
i spent a while tonite drilling and tapping holes in the channel for 1/4-20 bolts except when i was done i realized that i had used a 1/4-28 tap. dang it!....oh well i'll pick up more bolts tommorow. anywayheres what i have so far

[Bob La Londe]

i spent a while tonite drilling and tapping holes in the channel for 1/4-20 bolts except when i was done i realized that i had used a 1/4-28 tap. dang it!....oh well i'll pick up more bolts tommorow. anywayheres what i have so far

Oh, I have so been there. LOL. I stood there sweating over my mini lathe and fussed and fumed one day about all the gear changes I was having to do on a half inch bearing adaptor, but I finally got it done to realize I had done all that fancy single point threading at 13 TPI, and all my hardware to go on it was 20 TPI. LOL.

So end of February huh? If you have it done by then you will be my hero. I started a retrofit on a Hurco Mill in November 2010... I may actually move the table with the computer in the next few days. (I did spin the servos off the machine with the computer a couple months ago.)

[boxbuilder10]

yeah end of feb.to have it up and running,maybe not 100% complete but running.
i have a bit of tunnel vision when i start a project, any project. i start and just cant seem to quit. (it really annoys my wife sometimes) but if i dont stay focused i loose interest. then she really gets bent because of wasting money and time on unfinished projects.

[LeeWay]

Looking pretty good so far.
The only thing that 80/20 offers that you don't have is the adjustability. It means you are going to have to drill a lot more holes in different areas. Should be every bit as strong.

I think I do see one issue you might want to resolve. If your flat bar is going on top of the channel, then the CNCRP trucks will hit the 2x6 supports.
May want to notch them down for clearance.
You may be intending to put a height adjustment between the channel and the flat bar. If so, that may give enough clearance.

I am pulling for you.
End of Feb is approaching.

[boxbuilder10]

i actually have thompson 35mm rails that will go on top of channel.i have a friend who gave me 2 8'-3" rails 2 54" rails and 2 34" rails with 9 hsr bearings so i decided to use the long ones for the x and crp for everything else.

those 35mm rails are heavy!

[LeeWay]

No doubt. Man! I wish I had friends like that.

That should work out very well for you.

I am interested to see how you use the R&P on a non CNCRP way. I am considering doing away with my single ball screw on my router for two slave R&P on each side. I already have my home made trucks on it, but would be using the CNCRP gear reduction drive on each side. Maybe.

[boxbuilder10]

Yeah i have some pretty good friends. One gave me the Thompson stuff, another gave me ;the steel for the gantry,and a.other one gave me a pc with xp and one more gave me 6.1/2" Thompson round linear bearings with housings.
the friend that gave me the hsk stuff also ga e me a 12hp 3ph spindle and a 1-1/4"ballscrw 8' long with a ballnut but those are way too big for my project.

As far as the r&p drives i have a plan I'll post pics wben i get to that point

[Bob La Londe]

12HP? Yeah no kidding.

[boxbuilder10]

I didnt get much accomplished tonight i had to work late but i did pick up the right bolts and got the rail mounted on one side and started the temporary gantry supports (they will be replaced with aluminum plate) ....eventually
.

[boxbuilder10]

I managed to get a little more accomplished today. I built the second gantry support, drilled and tapped about 100 holes, got the second rail mounted and mounted the cold rolled to the gantry. There's not a whole lot more i will be able to do until i get my parts from crp monday.

[boxbuilder10]

so i have the machine pretty much built i still need to add the limit/home switches and e chain but other than that its ready to run except now im scared..........being this is my first go round with cnc im worried i might do something to let the magic smoke out.

i have downloaded the xml files from crp but im not real sure where to put them i really know nothing about any of this.

if some one could help me through this i would be much appreciative.

[Bob La Londe]

Mach 3? If so just put the XML files in the MAch 3 Directory.

[boxbuilder10]

thanks i got it
ok so whos hero am i now..lol :stickpoke
my machine runs and cuts and its not even march yet woo-hoo!!!!!

i still need to add limit/home switches a relay for the router and a z touch plate but it does function.

[Bob La Londe]

Come on! Show us a little video!

[Bob La Londe]

Come on! Show us a little video!

[boxbuilder10]

im working on getting video uploaded to youtube as i type

now is when my true ignorance will shine through i have never used any kind of cnc or used any cad,cam or control software so im expecting a pretty steep learning curve(but i hope its not so bad i give up).

i would like to know what would be the best cheap/free cam software that i can learn with remember i have zero experience, so if anyone could point me in the right direction i would be very grateful.

[Bob La Londe]

Everybody is going though fanboy for whatever it is that they happened to use. I've used 3 or 4 cam programs and a couple of others including Mesh cam and a handful of miscellaneous cam system utilities, and I can speak more highly of anything for the price than CamBam. The biggest thing is you can really try it before you pay for it. When you download the software it is 40 executions limited. That means if it takes you 3 days or 3 months to take the time to try a lot of things you're going to have the time to do it. On top of that the author of the software monitors his own forums and actively supports users and there's a fantastic user group on his forums also who help newbies. There's still a pretty steep learning curve, but I found it much faster and easier to learn them some of the other cam packages that I worked with. It does 2.5 D and 3d cam, and it has fair 2d Cad set of tools also.

I hope this came out okay, because I'm posting using voice to text on my cell phone.

[boxbuilder10]

cant get my vids from my phone to youtube for some reason but i will take my camera out to the shop tomorrow.

as far as software goes i am more confused now than when i started
however looking at vectrics cut2d and cut3d looks very appealing to a nucklehead like my self any thoughts?

[Bob La Londe]

Just download the full version of CamBam and play with it for free for a while. If you don't like it try something else.

What kind of parts do you plan to cut?

If you have a data plan and email on your phone, just email the videos to your computer where you can edit them, change the format, etc as needed. If you have a data cable even easier. Just copy them over.

If I recall a lot of phones use a 3GP format which needs to be converted to something easier to view like a generic WAV file. I do editing format conversion with WinFXVideoConverter, and I do basic video editing with Windows Movie Maker.

[boxbuilder10]

cambam makes my head hurt

i mostly will be cutting 2d wood but there will be a fair amount of 3d wood and styrofoam too i kinda dig the liths too