[brianrumburg]

After drooling over this forum for weeks, I have decided it is time to start my own build. This will be my first CNC project and I'm starting from scratch in
order to learn as much as possible during the process. I'm looking for guidance from folks who have been down this road. Any help or comments (good or bad; I can take it) would be greatly appreciated!

The basics of my design are as follows:

The base frame will be 2" square welded steel tubing. The rest of the structure will be constructed from 3/4" MDF. The rails are 1/4"x2" aluminum sheet. All rails overhang 1/2" from the edge. Sitting on the rails are linear carriages from cncrouterparts.com. The gantry rides on the extended linear carriages.

I will be using 5 start 1/2"-10 precision threaded rod and anti-backlash nuts from cncrouterparts.com. I will be placing thrust washers at each end to bear the axial (correct?) loads. I plan to use 380oz-in steppers with a Gecko G540 and 48V 12.5A power supply. I'm also planning to use a Makita RF1101 2.25HP router due to its built in speed controller and reported low noise.

When all is said and done, I should end up with a cutting area in the neighborhood of a 45.5" x 31" x 8.5".

I have modeled the machine I intend to build in Inventor. I have posted the designs here:

• CNC Router.dwfx
• CNC Router.easm

You can view the model with Autodesk Design Review or eDrawings Viewer (both free).

I have also put together a BOM with price, quantity, and source.

So, what do you all think? Did I make all of the newbie mistakes at once, or could this actually function? Thanks in advance!

-Brian