First off, I confess to be a complete and total noob when it comes to CNC machines.
That said, I do have experience in electronics and mechanical systems, so I'm starting this thread as a place to document my first CNC machine. This is going to be a small 3-axis machine to start with. Most likely MDF frame, skate bearings on supported gas pipe, etc. Eventually I may try to add additional axis to carve wax model rings for lost-wax casting. As this is my first build, it's more about learning and saying "I made that and it works" than about performance.
That said, this machine is going to be built completely from scratch, and on the cheap. There's going to be a lot of experimenting in this thread before real construction even starts.
A while back, I was wandering through an unclaimed freight shop and came across a box of what I thought were stepper motors. They turned out to be 3-phase hybrid steppers. Just playing around with them and figuring out how they work, I discovered that they have decent torque, even when powered by 2 AA batteries in series. I got about 30 of these motors for about $2.50 each. LOL
So there's one piece of the puzzle. I've had to do a lot of research to figure out exactly how to drive these things, but I now have a plan. I know there are ready-made 3-phase drivers available on E-Bay, but where's the fun in that?
It just so happens that I have a box of circuit boards from some battery backup units that no longer functioned correctly. Each circuit board has 12 IRF46ZN power MOSFETS. Assuming the MOSFETS are all good, I can make 2 motor drivers from each backup board.
Another piece of the puzzle.
I also happen to have a bunch of 90s2313 MCU chips laying around from another project. These chips run at up to 10Mhz and have everything I need to make a driver.
So that's where I'm starting. I'm going to build my power supply and stepper drivers from scratch and then we'll go from there. I'll keep things updated as I make progress.