First of all, Hello and welcome to my dream/nightmare of making a DIY CNC, any and all suggestions and opinions are very welcome.
Beforehand a little bit about me: Name is Atila, from Serbia, 28yrs old, working in a factory that gives an average paycheck around here but it is hard physical labour that optimistically would and should not last me for a lifetime. Since i love woodwork, mechatronics and assembly im thinking of trying to get into the woodwork with best leap and efficiency possible because of a Personal OCD for accuracy and efficiency, (measure 10times, cut once or throw into trash kind of thing)... so "enter the CNC"
- The Idea -
Making of a CNC machine that will do mostly soft materials - wood, foam, plastics but also can do aluminium and to super minimal degree steel/iron....(steel is most possibly non existant but option to minimally invest later to be able to do it..)
Core of the idea is to make addons or improvements either minimal or MAX or none at all... Budget would be optimistic 2.000 euros
- Current opinion on dimensions, materials and parts -
- working table dimensions: W (Y) 100cm x L (X) 140cm x H (Z)18cm - 3 working axis with possibility for upgrade for B axis as a turning lathe/cnc
- Material: - Full welded steel setup ( with my available tools it is much easier to work with steel than it would be with aluminium)
- Linear motion : - HIWIN rails and carriages for Y and Z axis, Guide rail and ball bearing - back to back setup for X axis,
- some good spindle with up to 300e in cost ( I've realised that working with steel is far fetched dream but the main point stays, if i do make some additional money i dont mind investing in a pro spindle for that purpose.(ofcourse waterpump for spindle)
----------------------------------------- still in consideration ----------------------------------------------------------------
Linear movement: "rack and pinion" or "belt and pulley" system for Y and X axis(though id rather put ball bearing and lead screws for X and Z) - would need some dire advice on theese and their implementation
3 axis control: NEMA23 3A 2.8Nm x3 -> but because of importance(in theory at the moment) if there is some way of adding a lathe like axis in "ground" level by swapping out table for some cnc lathing for which
Im thinking of using a stronger motor for Y axis so i can separate it onto both outer sides of gantry or just 1+1slave for Y for more safety.
corresponding drivers for motors and a 6axis UC300ETH - 5LPT board that supports mach or other software.
Thought on motors and use of gear transmission to lessen the speed and improve torque/precision(dunno actually)
a possibility for swaping out spindle for 3dprinting head, ive seen that it is possible to swap cnc onto 3dprinting ability with right parts if machine is accurate enough (planing to do the resin leveling allso)
A vacuum/pressure pump for makeshift residue removal / cooling of workpiece
That is my idea so far. Since getting the budget will be a slow process ( maybe 2 years untill i start full assembly/getting parts) i am learning to work in Inventor and gobbling applied knowledge from all the people on this forum. before i start planning a layout, can someone explain to me the importance of shape of gantry sides? the most i see are leaning onto the back a bit