[CNC Darren]

With the help of you guys i'm finally getting everything together. Was over at a friends house last night and he gave me this computer case, should work like I want and be able to fit everything inside it.

Spent a few Hours today cutting up the MDF at my dads custom woodworking shop. He seemed kinda interested in it and was asking anout building a 4'X4' table if i get mine all set up and working. He runs a small custom woodshop for a hom biz: http://www.albertswoodworking.com/ the site is still pretty new.

Darren

[CNC Darren]

My router is going to built from JGRO's plans, I was going to midify it and make it larger but in the end i decided to go with the original size. Here are most of the parts all cut out and ready to have the holes drilled

[CNC Darren]

I got my driver board and stepper motors :banana: I went with the Hobby cnc 3 axis chopper driver kit. It goes together very fast, had it all soldered up in about an hour and a half. It sure went together easier than I thought it would.

[CNC Darren]

ok, ok, I know its a sin to spin the motors before the machine is done, but I have wanted to do a project like this for so long I couldnt resist I tried a few DXF files I drew up in Turbocad and imported them into KellyCam. I have Mach 2 also but havent tried it yet, still learning this part.

[CNC Darren]

While this doesnt aply to my project, thought you guys might like to see it. This is what happens when your boss tell you to go play with a 3000 watt Trumpf laser. This was a freebie program that was on the machine, the larger eagle is cut from a full 4x8 sheet of .125 aluminum and the smaller one is cut from 410 stainless and is about .030 thick. After the general manager saw the smaller eagle from then on any customer that came thru the plant got one, MAN did we get tired of putting thoes together!! Sadly I no longer work there as the plant was shutdown, I could really use access to that laser again.

Darren

[CNC Darren]

Well, busy day today! Its kinda nice to see the pile of parts going together then all of the sudden it starts to look like something. Next I need to get my pipe, I will be pipe with a brushed nickel finish from the celing fan department at Menards as I like the looks much betterand feels smother. I have to get bearings too, i'll take a look around localy or go to ebay where I see them all the time. I have to say tho that that gantry feels heavy and its hard to belive that the pipe will support it but I have an idea to counter the weight.

Darren

[CNC Darren]

one more, it actually looks like something

JGRO if ya see this, thanks for the free plans they are great :cheers:

Darren

[jgro]

WOW! That looks familiar

jgro

[cncadmin]

Looking good, keep it up. What kinda things to you plan on cutting and making with you're router?

[CNC Darren]

Mostly model airplane parts, I hate cutting out wing ribs. I would like to do some 3D carved signs but I havent looked into how to go about the 3D stuff yet, just the 2.5D cutting. Since my dad operates a woorworking biz he was asking about cnc carved drawer pulls again a 3D thing.

[CNC Darren]

the latest update, all the wood work is done. Most of it is primed. I went ahead and put a 1/4" radius on all of the gantry parts to make it look nice. Just have to get the gas pipe and some screws. The bearings I got for free(not in the pics) my brother works for a copier repair company and it seems that the 8X22X7mm bearings are quite common in SHARP copiers. They may be in other brands to but not sure. We went over to his work last night and they had 25 copiers that were leased units ready to go to the dumpster so we stripped them. Tons of computer fans, all 24v tho and around 20 bearings of the size I wanted we quit pulling them out when we had 75 of them lol. Lots of timing belts and pullies too. If you have any copier repair places around they may be willing to let you come in and pull off what you want, just less that goes in the landfills. On to the pics..........

[buscht]

CNC Darren,
Thanks for the pictures, looks great!
Making the CNC carved drawer pulls is a great application for your machine.
It's a little different doing 3Dwork, but not that bad once you get into it.
Here's how I do it.
1. Make a real life actual size model, either clay or handcarved.
2. Scan it, or pay someone to scan in the model into 3D. I have payed people to scan my models, $25 to $100. But know I have my own Roland 3D scanner, so I do my own.
3. Run the model through MESHCAM to get the CNC program.
4. Cut on your router using a 1/8" ball nose end mill. You need this small size to get decent detail.

Things to consider; are that you can't do undercuts very well with a vertical router bit. Usually that's not a problem if you take that into account when designing the part.

You need to do 2 steps in routing to cut the design, then cut the back. Actually, cutting the back first would probably be best. Then make a holding fixture and cut the design on the front of the part.

If you have good CAD skills you can design the part entirely in CAD and skip the scanning steps. But I never had any luck other than simple designs.

The down side to the whole thing is that an elaborate 3D drawer pull will take about 2 to 3 hours of router cutting time. This is at about 30" per minute with a very small stepover .008". You won't be able to make thousands, but a kitchen or two is very feasible.
Good luck and have fun.
Trent

[CNC Darren]

Thanks for the info buscht, the drawer pulls would be low volume thing probably made as needed thing for each job he would do mabye 25 to 30 at a time.

[jgro]

I see that you added sides to the base, good idea. After you get everything assembled and set to square, you can put a piece of wood on the top surface of the base to totally enclose the gase pipes. All that would be left is an opening about 3/4" wide where the gantry slides back and forth. You could then add one of those brush-type door sweeps and keep the dust off your pipes altogether. Believe me, the dust gets everywhere. Hope this makes sense.

jgro

[CNC Darren]

Thats the plan JGRO, actually the tops will be hinged on the sides so I can flip them open. Also not in the pic yet is a part that will get screwed to the side frames on the inside to eliminate any flex, 4" wide and running the length of the sideframe. There will be one bolt going thru the sideframe and into a hole drilled in the pipe to give the pipe support at the mid way point and a nut on the bolt to hold the pipe against the bearings, so there should be no diflection of the pipes. Hope that all made sense. Its getting to the point that I want it done faster than I can get the parts cut out lol. What do you guys suggest you use for wiring the stepper motors with? at first I thought some CAT5 network cable would work ok but thoes are some tiny wires in there.

I also got some 2" square aluminum tubing to support the table from underneith.

I may have a new table soon to, a place that my brother goes to work on thier copier has an older cnc table for cutting wood, with a router I assume. Well my brother was telling the owner of the shop about my little table and the owner told him that they were looking to get rid of it for cheap because it didnt work anymore. We dont know what is wrong with it but my brother said it looked like it could hold 4-4x8 sheets, I havent seen it so I dont know actual size but that is way to big for what i need but it might have some nice parts on it I could use, we'll see. I'm going over there to the shop on Monday

[CNC Darren]

2 out of 3 isnt bad, got the gantry alive and moving last night. should be able to get the third going tonight.

[mvaughn]

Lookin great Darrin.

I'm impressed with the speed that you are building your machine.

[CNC Darren]

Here are a few pics from tonight. Its ALIVE :banana:. still needs a few tweaks here and there but other than that it runs!

A BIG Thanks goes out to the group for all the help!!!

Darren :cheers:

[The Wizard]

Looking good Darren!

I am building the same machine but I have shortend the table due to space restraints at this end. Hopefully I will get the MDF this weekend and can start on the woodworking. I have been spending my time making what parts I can in the meantime. You can follow my progress here......

http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6244

Made but not photographed yet are the linear bearing brackets (I will get photos as soon as I get the nuts and bolts together). Tonight I started on the pipe adjuster blocks which I am making out of 3/4" nylon flat bar as I have some available.

Did you use just one bearing per leadscrew as per 'jgro's' design? I was planning on mounting a bearing at each end to fully support the LS and to eliminate lateral forces on the motor bearing. This means mounting the motors on brackets instead of directly to the frame but I think it might be worth it.

Larry

[CNC Darren]

well 2 bearings support the lead screw oppsite of the motor but the motor taks the load on its side, however i machined my threaded rod so that there is no side to side forces on the the motor bearings. i'll post a few pics of how i did it soon. I'm gona do a little more testing tonight then it will all get torwn down for final primer and paint, still trying to decide on the color. The trumph laser we use to run was royal blue and off white and i thought it looked realy nice so i think i'm gona go that way