Part 1 - Intro
So the story starts with Hurricane Sandy. My basement completely filled with sea water (8 ft.) and I had around 4 feet into the garage. Cars gone. Tools gone. Took a bit of time to repair, get heat etc. I’m slowly rebuilding my tool arsenal that I had been building as I was learning woodworking. One of the losses was an old router table jointer combo. I decided I would build a nice new router table. I started by building a nice frame with mortise and tenon joinery for the main components, and dowel joinery for the cross members. I glued up an mdf top and laminated it with formica (another first). I was going to buy a nice incra fence and a nice router with a base that I could raise and lower from above the table. Those items, along with a plate for the router were going to be mighty expensive. So much so that I thought it didn’t make sense, when I could spend a bit more and build a cnc (I had watched a bunch of youtube videos from buildyourcnc.com). I began doing a couple of months of research at that point. My nice router table became a computer desk for the cnc.
I came across a few different designs and was having trouble choosing one to go with. Cost was a big factor. There is also a factor of humidity where I am. I was leaning against an mdf based machine. I wasn’t sure what size I needed either. I wanted to use it to make clock gears at first, but then the idea of electric guitars became intriguing. I also wanted something I could quickly break down and move in the event of another flood. I would also like the option of cutting aluminium (not as a primary function, but the option would be nice).
So I saw these as options:
Joe’s 4x4 – great machine, too expensive
Joe’s 2006 – mdf based, but many seemed happy with it. It is a complicated design. I didn’t have access to a cnc to cut out the parts. Having Joe cut out the parts for me and having them delivered would be more expensive for the mdf alone than my machine was to build (sans electronics). That just didn’t make sense.
FLA 100 – I like the design. I came very close to building this one. I didn’t like having to use someone’s proprietary parts, but that isn’t a big deal. It would turn out to be considerably more expensive than my machine, but I can see building one of their other models in the future. It would also be difficult to quickly get out of my basement in the event of another flood.
CCRP – very nice, too expensive for me to do as essentially an experiment. Again, I may consider this in the future if the cnc bug continues to bite.
Fireball v90 or x90 – MDF based. I was actually going to buy a v90 used, but the seller repeatedly flaked out on delivering pictures and I became wary. These are slower, limited capacity (18x12 for the v90 and 18 x 18 for the x90) I couldn’t see justifying buying them new since I’d essentially be buying painted mdf, plastic, small leadscrews and linear shafts/bearings for the price. I guess you’re paying for the RnD that went into it. They have a yahoo owner’s group and people generally seem happy with them. I wound up building mine for less than a new x90 with electronics from them would cost me (and I think my electronics are better and my machine is definitely more capable). They have much more expensive aluminium based machines, but they were completely out of the price range.
Solsylva – many wood based machines. Many people built them earlier on, but not as many seem to make them now. Pretty simple design and there are many examples of them in the wild. People seem happy and upgrade many parts of the design.
I came across their v-bearing/aluminum based machine. 18” x 24” x 5”, easily expanded to 24x48. Both X and Y motors are on the gantry (none on the table bed) meaning I could quickly remove the gantry, break down the machine and transport it upstairs in case of a flood. The designer also claims that they are very fast (capable of over 1000 ipm on the rack axis and 600 on the leadscrew axis) with the right drivers/motors. The only thing is, I haven’t come across any build logs or videos of anyone actually using it. Building it would require cutting aluminium flat bar (another first) and getting a drill press (needed to rebuild my arsenal anyway). They are fairly complicated at first glance. I figured I would learn a lot along the way. This machine seemed like the best compromise given what I was looking for. So I bought the plans, which are extremely well laid out I may add. I decided to make a 24” x 24” inch version, with the option of expanding it to 2x3 or 2x4 later on. You can purchase the plans yourself at Solsylva CNC Plans~ Home Page. It took quite some for me to start the build after getting plans. I wanted to know what I was in for. In the pics that follow, I purposely try not to show detailed measurements because I don’t want someone to try making the machine without purchasing the plans. I have no association with them, other than using their plans to make a pretty awesome machine.
Long read, but stay tuned for the actual build log. I guess I’ll add the subsequent parts as comments.