[ThePerceptor]

Hey guys!

I have introduced myself to the CNCzone community once before but I might as well do it again because it was so long ago.

My name is Sam, I live in Australia, I am in my last year of school which makes me 17 years old. I first discovered the miracle of CNC mill's about 3 years ago and since then I have wanted one more than anything. I mainly want one to make guitars and costumes. I know, pathetic use for a CNC mill right? :P But nonetheless, i have been dying to make one.

But in the last month, my dreams have came true. I discovered that my grandfather used to own a 4-axis CNC machine but has since sold his factory. So I had a talk to him about what I wanted to do, and with his expertise in CNC machining, he gladly offered to help me out.

So we got together and spent a fair amount of time both thinking about it and making it. I think that about 80% of the time was thinking and trial and error, and the rest was building what we have so far. Which is this:



I still have to finish the Z axis off and pretty much the whole construction of the machine will be done.

I'll take some more pictures later on for you guys to check out.

I also have a few questions as i'm almost at the electronics stage. I am thinking of buying these stepper motors here: Bipolar Stepper Motor FL60STH86-2008B :: Stepper :: Motors :: Ocean Controls
I am also interested in getting the HobbyCNC Pro driver board. The only problem is that I live in Australia and I don't really want to wait about 2 or so weeks for the board to arrive. So I was wondering if there is some sort of DIY option that definitely works with Mach3 on Windows XP in conjunction with these motors.

I would really appreciate any and all feedback and answers.

Thanks heaps guys.

Sam

[RomanLini]

Hi. Welcome to the forum (again)!

It looks like you have made a good start on the machine and it looks a great size for doing things like guitar bodies.

I would not worry about the 2 weeks for your drivers, you will probably have heaps of things to do yet on your machine so the 2 weeks will go pretty quick. Anyway even ordering from an Australian supplier will take a week, possibly more.

Everybody will have their own thoughts about the best drivers but one thing I will say is to check that the drivers are correct for the type of motors. It looks like you are thinking of bipolar motors and I'm pretty sure the hobby CNC driver is unipolar. That won't work.

[ThePerceptor]

Thanks for your advice. You are totally right about the bipolar and unipolar motor issue. Well that means I will have to move onto plan B and go for this option:
https://www.oceancontrols.com.au/CNC-010.html
It's quite a bit more money than the original electronics solution, but at least I don't have to solder the HobbyCNC board.

I also have another question now, which is better, unipolar or bipolar motors?

Sam

Hi. Welcome to the forum (again)!

It looks like you have made a good start on the machine and it looks a great size for doing things like guitar bodies.

I would not worry about the 2 weeks for your drivers, you will probably have heaps of things to do yet on your machine so the 2 weeks will go pretty quick. Anyway even ordering from an Australian supplier will take a week, possibly more.

Everybody will have their own thoughts about the best drivers but one thing I will say is to check that the drivers are correct for the type of motors. It looks like you are thinking of bipolar motors and I'm pretty sure the hobby CNC driver is unipolar. That won't work.

[louieatienza]

Cool! Good luck with your build. There are a lot of talented Aussie's out their with home-made CNC's, I almost feel there are more there per capita than in the US!

[RomanLini]

...
I also have another question now, which is better, unipolar or bipolar motors?
...

Generally speaking; bipolar motors are stronger at rest and low speeds (for the same motor size) and unipolar are stronger at high speeds.

I really would not get hung up on which type is best, as both types come in many torque sizes and what you really need is a system that has enough torque to move your machine well, and with good reliability. Once you get much more torque over that it is just wasted money.

Ideally you should choose the motors and drivers to be a good match for your machine, specifically for the speed and torque your machine needs which depends a lot on your choice of leadscrews.

If you say what type of leadscrews and how many turns per inch then people can help with advice on good motor choices.