[jfong]

I had a whole week off from work so I started on my router build. I've been collected parts off of eBay for the past 6 months.

X-axis is thk sr15
Y-axis is thk shs30
Z-axis is a linear slide made by nsk. 9" travel driven by ballscrew and servo motor. Really heavy duty cast iron/steel slide.
The other ballscrews are by nsk.

Router travel is about 25"x28".

276oz steppers driven by gecko 202. The z-axis will be driven by a gecko 320. I machined everything with my X3 mill and a cnc x1 mill. I hope to wire up the drivers and do a test this weekend.

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[jfong]

Picked up a 1"x7"x24" chunk of precision cast aluminum plate from the local metal recycle place for $25. Still has the protective plastic still attached. Going to use this to make the spindle router mount that is attached to the nsk z-axis.
Attachment 191158

[jfong]

Spent some time today mounting the gecko drives to a large heatsink and making some cables. This is the first test of the y-axis moving at 500ipm.

http://youtu.be/bNvEIen90wQ

[jfong]

Sorry I meant to write 300ipm not 500ipm. I'm hoping to get atleast 500ipm but my computer that is running mach3 is a really old P4 which is limiting my maximum stepper output frequency.

[jfong]

Got the z-axis installed. The stepper doesn't seem to have a problem moving it at 300ipm. I haven't chosen a spindle yet. Undecided on what to purchase. Maybe a water cooled spindle/vfd but that is expensive. I have a couple of porter cable and Bosch wood routers I can temporary bolt on but I use them in my wood shop. Besides they are too loud to run constantly.

Attachment 191476

[jfong]

Got all the axis wired up and finally running today. A lot of work this past two weeks to put it all together. Time to mount a spindle and do a cut test!!!

http://youtu.be/EhnotGhobxk

[jfong]

First project on this CNC, a 14"x24" sign for my niece. She painted the mdf the night before and routed out the sign in the morning.

I just mounted a porter cable trim router using plywood. I'll finish up milling out the aluminum bracket this weekend.

http://youtu.be/abq2JVHN23E

[jfong]

Another cut test, the cnc is running great. I just ordered a 2.2kw water cooled spindle and vfd. Can't wait to get it mounted and do some aluminum cutting. I have a bunch of projects that my two other mills are too small.

http://youtu.be/q9FHNgrY64U

[jfong]

Some older build pics

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[jfong]

To moderator

I realized I put this in the wrong forum. Can this be moved to the DIY cnc router table forum. Thanks

[jfong]

My gantry router build made it on hackaday.com

http://hackaday.com/2013/07/26/cnc-r...ith-8020-rail/

[jfong]

I finally got around to installing the 2.2kw water cooled spindle today. It's been sitting on the bench for a couple months. I installed the Mach3 vfd plugin and can start, stop and control the rpm speed. A USB to rs485 serial adapter is used to connect the PC to the vfd.

The spindle works so much better than the porter cable router I had temporary used. Very quiet and only gets about 78 degrees while running. There's a radioshack LCD temperature sensor taped to the spindle to monitor the heat. The 12volt water pump is a 1.3gph flojet purchased from Electronic Goldmine for about $15 on sale.

I still need to install home and limit switches.

Does anyone put some kind of additive to the water to keep it from going bad??? Bleach, chlorine????

[Dylwad]

bleach or chlorine could do some serious damage. I used kid/pet safe antifreeze and distilled water, my machine doesn't see sunlight, and so far so good as far as algae blooms go.

I also made sure no metals besides stainless and aluminum contact the coolant in the system. When you add copper or brass into the mix the coolant you use becomes more important.

Lots of ways to go about it really. Read up on PC water cooling, although they tend to go overboard since they usually have a mixture of metals in the system.

Also used laboratory grade tygon tubing, which is as clear and flexible as it was new, almost 2 years ago. Pump runs 24/7.

Sent from tapatalk

[jfong]

Thanks for the info. Did some research and looks like a lot are just using antifreeze in the mix. The tubing I used was from lowes. What ratio of water to antifreeze did you use? I read 1:1 was good

[Dylwad]

Yep, 50/50 or thereabouts is what I used. Keep an eye on that tubing, it tends to get hard over time.

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[jfong]

http://youtu.be/nBflI1u3ZDA

Short video of the water cooled spindle cutting aluminum test cut.

6061 aluminum
30ipm feed rate
3/16" hss endmill
12,000rpm spindle speed
.05" doc

Seems to cut just fine. I'm pretty happy with the cnc so far. Made a couple dozen wood and mdf signs for my business in the last couple of weeks which turned out great. Having a larger cnc to be able to cut aluminum will open up possibilities for other bigger projects.

Jim

[jfong]

My brother had two gallons of prestone antifreeze leftover in his garage so I just used that mixed 50/50 with water for the spindle coolant. So far so good. The spindle gets about 72 degrees after running for about an hour. That's the longest I've run the spindle for. The cnc is located in my basement workshop which is about 67degrees. 4 gallons of coolant in a bucket. I'm not using any water chiller. I don't think I need one unless I run the spindle for a very long time.

Anyone know what the maximum temperature these spindles can run at???

The steppers motors get much hotter. About 155degrees. I'm using gecko 210 drives set at about 4amps.

[jfong]

With the help from CarveOne, I made my own Aztec Calendar vcarved out of mdf.



A short video of the cnc
http://youtu.be/8IhG1PQ8Mbg

After staining with Minwax cherry gel.
http://youtu.be/ps-dCxPGQAs

[CarveOne]

Looks like you captured all of the very small details like the teeth on the two characters at the bottom center without having them get snaggle toothed. It's a very good effort for your first one.

Now download the 3D Mayan Haab calendar .zip file and make one of those. I have found only one other CNC cut example other than mine. Google "3D Mayan Haab calendar" and you'll find my YouTube video. It's just Arbo's Vcarve dxf file using Aspire's Create Shape from Vectors tool and a very small step-over and a V-bit because I had no tapered ball nose end mill at the time. I used hammered copper spray paint and Java gel stain on it. A local restaurant has one that's a plaster cast version that I was attempting to recreate on my CNC machine.

[jfong]

Thanks C1!!! Learning something new every time I use the CNC.

I downloaded the Calendar the other day but what got me really interested was the paradise boxes you made. I think that would be really nice Christmas presents for the girls in the family.

C1, have you done any vcarving on polycarbonate? My brothers friend wants his company logo carved in a 2 foot wide sign. Then edge lighted to highlight the carving. I don't know what feeds/speed to use and the plastic is pretty expensive to screw up. I'm not sure if I want to take the job.

Thanks.