[gotbigplans]

Hey there fellow machinists and DIYers,

Recently I looked into building my own CNC as a hobby (and profits on the side, I'm a General Machinist by trade) and was shocked to find out just how expensive it is to buy a "CNC kit" . I also noticed that any plans I could find online were very low quality, hard to understand blueprints. To a general machinist, this is frustrating. So I decided to design my own, and make it professional looking and cost effective, but still accurate. I decided why stop there? there must be more people like me out there who are tired of how ridiculously expensive pre-manufactured tools and small machinery has become. With that said, I am launching a eBay page selling plans to make cost effective CNC, touch probes, etc etc. If your a fellow DIYer or Machinist, I encourage you to check me out at
gotbigplans on eBay

UPDATE: CHECK OUT THE NEW MACHINE

[jayd85]

Hi

I did not see pictures of the real machine, just some 3d views, Can you post a picture of the real machine ? and some of the parts you made with it ?

Thanks J

[victorofga]

he going to find folks who buy those plans...

question if anyone will build them...

the one showing, just out of scale...

[alan_3301]

No offense, but that machine needs a serious redesign.
Unsupported rails, mixed with huge levers will cause massive deflection.
I see it doing well for a low speed foam cutting machine, but not really much else.

In it's current configuration, it could be built from plywood instead of steel, without much loss in performance.

You might be on to something with that probe though, it looks pretty good.

[Zorbit]

No offense, but that machine needs a serious redesign.

I think so too. The X axis bearings are too close together and the uprights will wobble, and there appears to be only one pair of Z axis bearings. Perhaps the drawings shown are just incomplete samples.

[A_Camera]

Like others said...

Those CNC plans need some serious fixing. I am surprised that you call yourself a general machinist by trade (whatever that means) and produced these poor 3-D models. The design looks nice but in reality they will not work, and definitely not better than any CHEAP Chinese CNC kit would, right out of the box. Add some extra time fixing those plans because as it is now, they are not worth a cent, let alone 30$ or 10$ you are asking for them. To call that 30$ "SuperRIGID" is a joke. At best it would work with soft plastics but that's all. "Super rigid" is something which can do steel, or at least aluminum at high speed. A general machinist should see that easily and would not try to sell these drawings. On the other hand, if you manage to sell a few hundred it will make you good money and people will not get back and complain when they have built their CNC according to your drawings because by that time they would have spend hundreds of hours and many hundreds of $$$$$$ so they won't care for the lost 10$, and even if they would try to complain they have no chance since the eBay complaining period is long over before they even start cutting the first part or buy the first set of screws to build the CNC. So, maybe you have opened a gold mine and it is true that you gotbigplans... got big plans on making LOTS of money on naive people paying for your drawings. The drawings may be well made and professional quality, but never the less, the design is very poor.

To fellow machinists and DIY-ers I can only say that there are plenty drawings on the Internet for FREE. Even if 10$ is nothing in this perspective, buying these drawings would be pointless waste of 10$.

Sorry, that's just my opinion.

[gotbigplans]

I appreciate your criticism, that plan has been taken offline for awhile and is in fact being reworked.

[gotbigplans]

Im sorry, but what your saying A_Camera is unrealistic. Customers are not expecting to build a haas, for you to say that ridged means it needs to high speed machine steel and thus my plans are no better than Chinese models. Okay there, go fly cut for a hunk of 4140 on your 6160 alum. extrusion made Chinese desktop CNC, let me know how that works out. Of course its not made to mill steel at high speed? its a gantry style machine. No hobbies or person on a budget has access to machines to cut dovetails or heavy duty ways that would be required for a high speed mill. BUT for a gantry style machine it is made to be ridged, low center and compact. gantry is under bottom of machine aswell, held in line on each axis with 4 bearing blocks in a square pattern, lots of space between each Y axis shaft to minimize leverage and backlash. That's as ridged as it gets for a gantry machine on a budget. Don't accuse me of trying to rip off people, that is in no way my plan. I'm trying to get DIYers out there to have a solid plan to go by, with cad models, comprehensive instructions and explanations, 2d prints and assembly drawings. I appreciate feedback and positive criticism, but I do not need a jerk to accuse me of scamming people. Be realistic, man.

[gotbigplans]

alan_3301 Zorbit - no offence taken ! I appreciate your positive criticism, that plan has been taken offline for awhile and is in fact being reworked. Love to hear realistic thoughts and inputs. Appreciate it guys!

[jayd85]

gotbigplans - have you actually built this machine and used it ?

and can you please upload some pictures of the real machine ?

thanks J

[gotbigplans]

jayd85, i have not built this machine, I've done retrofits on machines in the past, and did machinery repair. I've owned small CNCs and sold small CNCs. i understand their workings extensively. A lot of people cant afford to go buy a tormach or a mini mill, right now - like myself. I'm doing this to fund my hobby/addiction to linear motion, programming and machining. Any money that i would make off this, would go right into building one fro myself.

[jayd85]

I would really like to see it actually working before I invest in the plans and all the parts,

when will you have it built,?

also what tools do you need to build it,

[gotbigplans]

jayd85 - tools you would need to build it would depend on your situation, do you have access to a mill or cnc to cut parts/ put hole patterns in? if so, basic drills, taps, reamers, end mill, etc. If not your outsourcing the parts to a machine shop (or someone with manufacturing capability). Most cnc plans you can find online consist of just a drawing or basic 3d models. I went ahead and broke it down, part by part and layed it out in PROPER blueprint format in both standard and metric units, to fabricate yourself, or take directly to a machine shop and get quoted. having prints ready and 3d models along with them. Reason for this is your not paying a designer to re-format every part into proper blueprint layout acceptable to send out on the floor. As for assembly of the machine - Allen keys, mallet, wire strippers, wire crimpers, etc. very basic tools. Optional would be a dowel puller (or use a bolt and a pair of vice grips) and a dial indicator to tram the head perfectly square. ..... as for when I will have my own built, thatll be when money comes in.

[Qicker306]

It's evident that you've realized that you jumped the gun on releasing your design for purchase, let alone for production.

There are plenty of other plans available on eBay, evidence of such would be when you see the "People who viewed this item also viewed" suggestions shown below your listing. Looking at some of those suggestions shows what I would consider to be plans that are a lot more complete with a lot more detail. You don't show any examples of a bill of materials, individual part files, exploded or assembly views, or instructions. 10 mediocre-at-best renders don't paint a very good picture of your plans package as a whole. Take a look at the MDF3790 plans offered by Grunblau as an example of exceptionally well done DIY CNC plans of a machine that exists and can be seen working and cutting parts. Anything of lesser quality is a dime-a-dozen and will just get lost in the sea of less-than-mediocre plans that already exist on the internet.

You mention 'cost effective' as being a big part of your design, however the entire machine is constructed of aluminum. Do you have a cost estimate of how much the completed machine would be? Aluminum is definitely not cheap and I'm sure you're getting paid more than minimum wage as a machinist to work. You should know better then anyone how much it would cost to source the aluminum and cut/machine the parts. The rest of us are not machinists by trade and do not have access to CNC or even manual milling machines which removes any possibility of 'cost effectiveness' out of your design. Take a look at the XZero CNC machines available for purchase. Similar in basic design to yours but exponentially more rigid and robust. They should be a good example of cost for a properly designed aluminum gantry-style CNC router. Expecting to create something similar for substantially less is unlikely. The t-slot table in your design is only supported at each end, it would have measurable deflection in it just sitting there, let alone when cutting pressure is exerted by the z-axis. Basic design knowledge would dictate that the t-slots should at least run perpendicular to the supports at either end and not parallel with them. It's pretty evident that there should be supports running the length of the table as in every other basic CNC design out there. Some very basic FEA on the table would demonstrate this. The pros and cons of unsupported rail have been beaten to death on this forum and using them in this design eliminates the effectiveness of the aluminum used in the rest of the design to increase 'rigidity'. If you're going to use unsupported rail to save on costs then you may as well build it out of MDF as well.

You've got the very basics of a CNC design started but its evident that it needs more work. There are hundreds of similar designs on this site, it shouldn't take much to see where your design falls short and how to fix it. A fully completed CAD design and then a working prototype should exist before you attempt to market the plans to the DIY crowd. Beyond that it would seem as if you're just trying to sell hopes and dreams. What CAD platform are you using? A free version of Fusion 360 would do you wonders and give you the capabilities of creating a lot nicer renders and drawings.

Take my comments for what they're worth and good luck with your CNC adventures

Thanks

[gotbigplans]

Qicker306 - thank you for taking the time to throw some suggestions my way, I am using fusion 360, great program I agree. the way I see it nobody who would be interested in building a desktop router would want to spend the money on real linear guideways. Do you agree? theres a certain market for these things, and theres a trade-off in the cost. Aluminium is not cheap, but for the hobbiest who needs to think about weight, corrosion and ease of machining, alum. is the way to go. You mentioned that nobody has acess to machinery to build it, but you would need parts machined to build any CNC, that's just the reality of it. You should drop me your email, and id send you a free copy of the package. Would love to get your opinion once you've seen the whole thing, if your interested. Thanks

[Zorbit]

Gotbigplans, a half-arsed drawing that you have never built is not OK to sell. It's obvious that it won't work properly, and although the cost of your "plans" is peanuts the money that a naive prospective machinist would spend on building your machine is considerable.

Any schoolkid can get a free licence for Inventor and mock-up something like yours.

My advice to prospective home-builders is to look at a professionally built machine and think carefully about the role of each part.

[Paul-Anternson]

good post

[A_Camera]

Im sorry, but what your saying A_Camera is unrealistic. Customers are not expecting to build a haas, for you to say that ridged means it needs to high speed machine steel and thus my plans are no better than Chinese models. Okay there, go fly cut for a hunk of 4140 on your 6160 alum. extrusion made Chinese desktop CNC, let me know how that works out. Of course its not made to mill steel at high speed? its a gantry style machine. No hobbies or person on a budget has access to machines to cut dovetails or heavy duty ways that would be required for a high speed mill. BUT for a gantry style machine it is made to be ridged, low center and compact. gantry is under bottom of machine aswell, held in line on each axis with 4 bearing blocks in a square pattern, lots of space between each Y axis shaft to minimize leverage and backlash. That's as ridged as it gets for a gantry machine on a budget. Don't accuse me of trying to rip off people, that is in no way my plan. I'm trying to get DIYers out there to have a solid plan to go by, with cad models, comprehensive instructions and explanations, 2d prints and assembly drawings. I appreciate feedback and positive criticism, but I do not need a jerk to accuse me of scamming people. Be realistic, man.

I am realistic, that's why I said what I said. Also, as opposed to you, I have even designed AND built my own CNC, in fact, I am currently in the process of upgrading right now but even my version one is better than those drawings could have given me. What you are trying to sell is nothing but rip-off, not worth a cent, especially since you even admitted to not having build any machine according to those drawings. I know what rigid is, and no, it does not have have to be huge, even your small machine can be made rigid, much more than you did, and apparently can not even imagine.

[devo9er]

A few recommendations from someone who built a diy from 100% free detailed plans (joes 2006) router a few yrs back. As suggested, get a working finished model. People will have a billion times more confidence purcahsing something after seeing an established design actually functioning. Make a few youtube videos of your machine in action. Pictures are a thousand words, but only if they are complete and actual photographs, not renderings. Offer links, resources and maybe even some of the parts for sale that are needed to build the machine. Start a build thread on this site to get the design some publicity. Just a few ideas.

There may not be a bunch of good cheap plans available, but there are several good open source and well documented community driven plans. At this point, to charge for 3 axis router plans at all is really an up hill battle imo.

[109jb]

Here is my opinion.

Since you haven't built this machine, and it has obvious design problem, it is in my opinion very unethical to sell plans for it unless you CLEARLY state in the ad that this is for untested plans and that an actual machine has not been built from them.

A few points about the design in general:

Edited: I had a whole list of problems I see in your plans but decided to not list them. Why? Because I fully believe that what you are doing is unethical and you are ripping people off. I will not help you improve your imaginary design so that you can continue to rip people off. If you had any ethical conscience you would refund the money to the few unsuspecting people that have already bought your plans.

The same goes for your touch probe plans that are just a rip-off of the multitude of similar examples on the internet.It is unethical to sell those plans since you haven't built one. It is also deceptive because it claims to be as good as name brand probes. Lets see you show that it is as good as a Heidenhain or Reinshaw probe. Oh wait.... You haven't built one so you can't show this.

Harsh I know but that's how I see it.