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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58

    Finished at last (well almost!)

    Hi Guys,

    Its been a long time and the admin have been asking where I've been!!!

    Well the truth is that my work has taken me away from the CNC build and things got delayed. But a recent hip replacement operation has given me the chance to complete the build on a table I started 2 years ago.

    The table is nothing special and follows a lot of the usual design conventions found amongst other home builders but I'm quite pleased with it for a first attempt and will put a few pics up so that the critics can decide if my time was spent wisely or not!

    This first pic gives a general view of the machine. I'll post a few more and you can let me know what you think.

    BTW I have hit a snag - whilst the mechanical stuff has been a logical process of design, try and redesign until it works, I am not so hot on the software so I could do with some advice on what to use to get cutting.

    Cheers,

    Nick
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails gen view 1-t.jpg  

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    My outline idea for the machine was a smallish, compact design with a good degree of accuracy but without spending an absolute fortune.

    I am lucky to have a fairly well equippped workshop with a huge Milwaukee milling machine (non-CNC but DRO equipped), a couple of lathes and a small Step Four Basic 540 desktop craft miller.

    To be honest, all I've really done is manufacture parts that hold all the standard fittings together - I've not really made anything of significance.

    Next post will give some more details.

    Another general pic of the machine and a closer view of the Y and Z drive axis.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails gen view 2-t.jpg   y and z axis-t.jpg  

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    The overall dimensions were set out after I bought a piece of T-plate off Ebay. This was 700mm long by 375mm wide so this is what I started with.

    First off was to draw the plate up in Cad and start playing with ideas. I'm a fan of the Bosch extrusion range so a quick download of their cad files allowed me to do a virtual build on the computer.

    I knew that I wanted to use linear tracks for the X axis and these were again sourced through Ebay. After many, many different designs were tried out I decided that I would fit 45 x 45 extrusions as close to the long edges of the T-plate as possible and run the linear bearings along the inner face of these members.

    As I was using 12mm track I had to "relieve" the slot in the Bosch extrusion to get a good fit. The two extrusions were clamped up on the big mill and a brand new 12mm cutter was set up. The two slots were then milled out to a depth of 1.5mm to give a good seat for the tracks.

    Here you can see the tracks attached on the underside of the table.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails undeside-t.jpg  

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    For those of you wondering what the various brown bits are I should explain that I decided to try using Tufnol for a lot of the pieces.

    I was not to keen to use MDF or any other sort of wood based material as my carpentery skills are not the finest in the world. I had come across Tufnol before and was impressed by it's strength and ease of machining - it seemed ideal for generating parts with my little Step Four machine.

    So far, this material has proved to be a good move - that statement is probably going to be the kiss of death and I'll be told that is warps, melts or generally self destucts after 6 months!!!

    Anyway, it was easy to select an appropriate thickness for a particular part then draw up the shape in cad and transfer it via a *.dxf file to the Step Four. I use mainly 1.5mm, 2mm and 3mm solid carbide cutters on the little Step Four and these have worked well with the Tufnol. The finished accuracy has been superb with "bearing fit" tolerances in all cases.

    Cheers,

    Nick

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    I'll put some more pics up later if there's any interest but, meanwhile, here's a pic of the plate that I made for the end of the machine. The idea was to tidy up the open end, provide a place to mount the stepper connectors and to play with the Cad / Step four capabilities of following intricate outlines.

    I think it worked fairly well. I used 2mm epoxy glass plate for this item which was machined very quickly in a single pass and fitted very well to the end of the table. I haven't got around to learning how to cut alpha-numerical shapes yet so the "X", "Y" and "Z" were simply lines drawn with cad. The connectors are standard 4 pin DIN sockets from Maplins.

    Cheers,

    Nick
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails connectors-t.jpg  

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    1316
    That's a cool looking machine. I always like to look at the machines that have fine finishes unlike the just in time ones that I build.

    Software:

    Mach3 to drive the machine http://www.machsupport.com/
    Vectric VCarve 5. http://www.vectric.com


    Jason

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    Well thanks for the compliment, Jason. As with everything, there are still some flaws with the design but I'm still pretty pleased with it.

    I'll give the vetric site a go and see what it can do. I'm already running Mach 3 on the computer that controls this table but I find it quite confusing and not as easy to use as the software that comes with the Step Four machine.

    Cheers,

    Nick

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    Here's another pic of part of the machine - this time it's the Y axis drive motor.
    I like the idea of Huco type couplings but this would have had two bad side effects: firstly the motors would be sticking out the side of the table making them vunerable and unsightly and secondly, it would have meant more difficult machining in my chosen materials. Therefore the design was developed using timimg belts with parallel motor / ballscrew arrangement.
    In the pic you can, hopefully, see the rotating plate that holds the Y stepper motor which gives a fair degree of movement for tensioning the Y drive timing belt.
    I have used a similar set up on the X drive motor / spindle but using a parallel sliding plate rather than a rotating plate as on the Y drive. The X-drive utilises a standard Huco coupling as this was the most effective way of doing this.

    Just for the teccies! the pivot point of the Y drive is a socket head screw with shoulder (damned expensive!) whilst the top screw is a standard socket head with a washer.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails y-drive end-t.jpg  

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    Thought I'd post another pic of the Z axis.

    This shows the use of Tufnol components that were cut out on the Step Four cutter and assembled with fairly standard bearings etc.

    The Z axis side plates hold flanged 12mm linear bearings that run on 12mm hardened steel shafts giving the Y motion. Motion is controlled by a 12mm ballscrew - the nut is out of sight in this pic on the other side of the Z assembly.

    The Z axis motion runs on two vertical 8mm hardened shafts with an 8mm ballscrew driven through a timing belt. Tension on the timing belt is achieved by sliding the Z motor plate back and forth.

    For this machine I decided to incorporate the tool holder with the bearing supports and ball nut retention to simplify the parts. The plates have been cut with a 20mm hole for fitting a Proxxon long neck grinder spindle with clamping as per the usual method of cross drilling and threading the slotted end of the holder. This is the only area where Tufnol has to be treated carefully as it is a laminate material and drilling and threading can split it easily if you get a bit ham fisted with it.

    If anyone was interested, I have all the drawings for the parts in cad (dxf) format.

    Cheers

    Nick
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Tool holder-t.jpg  

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    384
    It looks very nice, good job.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    28
    Very nice. I'm not familiar with the gantry material. It looks sturdy. The main problem I hear with non-metal gantries is some people complain about flexing. You will be able to see it in the carving if that is an issue, but a simple brace can fix it. Mach3 does have a learning curve, but the vidoes on the website are excellent and I use Mach3 without issue. The cam software does most of the work you just import it into Mach3 and run it. Vectric is the cam software I use. It is easy to learn and the tool paths it generates are amazing. I started with cut 2D then upgraded to VCarve Pro. If you can afford it VCarve Pro is well worth the money. I hear Aspire is fantastic also, but way out of my price range.
    As far as time well spent, your result speaks for itself. I remember the first time I cut something on my machine....I was so happy, I felt like a kid, except for the part of having a well deserved cold one.
    Nice work.

    Jim

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    628
    Great looking machine! Well designed and meticulously constructed. Maybe we'll get a chance to see it in action?

    If the Tufnol is similar to the phenolic plate I've used for jigs/fixtures (Garolite, Micarta), it should be very stiff and durable. This is a fabric or paper base and epoxy resin holding it together.

    Steve

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    168
    Ali Kat that looks a bloody damn nice machine bro and it looks amazing. I tried to make my own MDF homebrew and to be honest I have sort of given up really as I would like to spend my time and money on something along those lines solid and sturdy, so when I have some time I will be looking at making one from aluminium plate and make a proper job of it.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    Gents, thanks for the kind words - it certainly makes it all worth while.

    In response to a couple of the points that you have brought up:-

    I went to the Vetric site and spent some time looking at the software and then plunged in and purchased a copy of 2D cut as this suits the sort of cutting that I intend to do. It is a great piece of software and I was familiar with it within an hour or so of using it. I must admit that I am still having problems with Mach 2 (not Mach 3 as I earlier posted - duh!) - I can open up the Vetric generated G code in Mach 2 but it comes up with error messages for tool slot numbers - I know I should be reading the instructions but I'm a man and I want it to work straight away! I suppose I'll just have to work through the Mach 2 manual until I figure out the gremlins.

    As for the Tufnol, I believe that it is the same material that is referred to as Phenolic epoxy. It's been around for years and used to be used in electrical equipment for insulation and for circuit boards I think. In it's 12mm thickness it is extremely rigid and I'm confident in it so far. The main reason for using it was the ease of machining on the little Step Gour router table that I have. It allowed me to think a little bit outside the "box" when it came to designing certain parts, knowing that I could set up a fairly complex drawing and have the little machine cut it out for me. Things like radiused corners are a piece of cake. If I was using my larger, manual mill it would be square corners and hours of work with the DRO and a pencil and paper to make sure everything was in the right place.

    I'll try and get some more pics together and, maybe, a bit of a video of it moving. Could I use a web cam to record a video and post the file?

    Cheers,

    Nick

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    Hi again,

    Just figured out how to "PDF" some cad files so I'll post a couple of these to give an idea of how the design evolved.

    The Gantryplt file shows how a pocket was formed to accept the end of a piece of Bosch 45 x 45 ali profile. The Step Four cut this out along with the other holes and the outline and it was a perfect fit over the ends of the profile. A 10mm threaded rod down the middle hold it totally rigid.

    The second file shows an end view of the various bits drawn together. It's not quite the same as the finished item as I made some last minute changes, mainly on the overall height. Hopefully this will make the earlier pictures a bit easier to understand.

    Cheers

    Nick
    Attached Files Attached Files

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    168
    Hi Nick you mention a Step Four machine what is this any links or pics ?

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    58
    Hi Kammo1,

    Step Four are an Austrian company that make CNC equipment for hobbyists, light industry and education.

    I have a Step Four foam wing cutting package and a Step Four Basic 540 milling machine with pro cutting software.

    I have been to their premises in Salzburg a few years ago and met with a lot of the technical people. Their products are a bit lightweight but good and their in house software is very good. However, it can only be used with their own controllers.

    Try this link for Step Four:
    http://www.step-four.at/e_index.html

    I will probably be selling my own Basic 540 package when I'm happy that I've got my own machine "under control !"

    Cheers,

    Nick

  18. #18
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    7

    CNC

    Great job on the CNC! It truly looks like a work of art! (more like a labor of love I suppose!!) Your building material really makes it stand out as one of a kind..hope it performs well for you.

    Elektro21

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