This poll is not so much about why you are into DIY CNC now, but more about what first got you interested.

And another question, aside from the poll:

When you first saw that some guy built a CNC machine in his own garage, what was your reaction? I, for one, was blown away, completely amazed at the ingenuity and resourcefulness. Slowly, my fascination changed from observing to thinking "yes, I think I can do that!"

Is that a universal reaction?

Yes, I agree. That was the same reaction I had when I first learned about home built CNC machines. I didn't know what 95% of the CNC related stuff was. Things like backlash, ball screws, and stepper motors, I had never seen before. But slowly but surely, I'm figuring it out.

For me it was a matter of days inbetween not even knowing what CNC was, and desciding to build one. I suspect in hinesight, if I had known as much as I do now ( Still not that much) I would have been self intimidated into not building one.

I guess entering into it blindly can in some ways be a benifit than a hinderance. :)

I guess entering into it blindly can in some ways be a benifit than a hinderance. :)

I completely agree! Already, I learned far more than I expected (almost more than I wanted to!) in just planning my CNC machine.

I get the feeling that a lot of people here built their machine because nobody told them they couldn't! If we knew the details of what goes into a professional machine and tried to emulate every detail, we'd never get started!

i was looking for a way to make my own parts it was cheaper to buy a sheet of material then it was to buy em pre cut but thats where my trouble came in i go to cut a straight line with a saw and it looks like a figure 8 :) then i tripped on this site
boy did that make a difference the machines i saw and the thought of using my puter to cut out what i could draw or scan that had me hooked and the best part was how friendly and willing to share the knowledge the guys were on here kinda made it my second home

I started out by building a Duplicarver to help me make Mandolin tops/backs. Around that time I got in to American Chopper and Monster Garage. It is suprising what you can pick up tech wise from those shows.

Anyways... I was watching DIY network and saw a guy use a CNC router. Took about two seconds..."Hummm, bet I could make one of those!" Ten months later I was cutting my first parts out on a machine I built for under $500.00.

Well none of the selections fit my profile. I've always been interested in CNC since the first time I saw this "woman's shape" cut from 1/4 inch steel by a torch that was mounted on a frame and it was being manually pushed by a person following the contour of a pattern.....so, that got me thinking of how cool that was...which lead to 'can I do that with a computer'...which lead to 'how do I create a pattern'....which has finally lead me to an inexpensive way to accomplish all this.

You've all seen that "woman's profile"...sometimes on the mud flaps of large trucks, etc.....so, I guess "sex" got me interested....funny how that turns into work which we do for nothing...hmmmmm....

I put a wakeboard tower on my boat last summer, and I thought everyone was jacking the prices for the tower accessories.

After building a PC, mini-mill with steppers, driver, ballscrews, tooling, etc. it would have been MUCH cheaper to just buy the accessories and be done with it. Although now I can sell the extras I have made along the way, that's how the wife approved this project..

I DO now know what I am going to pursue as a job/hobby/income generator after my wife finishes school though. It's to satisfying to draw something in CAD, then work out the CAM, then see you design come to live by whittling away bits of AL...

Rod

I actually became interested in "CNC" before i had ever heard of it.. I came up with the idea of a computerized cutting table in 1985, but had no access to the parts that would eventually be available.. it wasn't until I discovered CNCZONE.COM that building one ever became a reality..
I must have tried 15-20 mockups and failed in the past.

Eddie

I actually became interested in "CNC" before i had ever heard of it.. I came up with the idea of a computerized cutting table in 1985, but had no access to the parts that would eventually be available.. it wasn't until I discovered CNCZONE.COM that building one ever became a reality..
I must have tried 15-20 mockups and failed in the past.

Eddie

Now that's determination! Do you have any pictures of what you did that didn't work? If so, you should start a project log to show what you tried, and how it worked, or didn't!

Hmm.. 34 votes and none of them are for "I went looking for a new hobby."

Actually, I can't remember ever looking for a new hobby. The ones I have I stumbled across.

Personally I never look for a hobby...just see something or run into a situation that needs a solution....so I develop another skill....

I think it is the hobby that finds you............

Now that's determination! Do you have any pictures of what you did that didn't work? If so, you should start a project log to show what you tried, and how it worked, or didn't!


I wish i did, but they all went to the scrap heaps long ago.

In '85 i was studying Industrial Electronics, and my primary interest lied in Robotics and Computer Control. We built a 32 tune Chime using Solenoids, lengths of brass pipe cut to various lengths, and a Microprocessor with 4K of memory, which had to be programmed in Machine Language (Hexadecimal Code.. i.e.. op-codes). When we managed to get it to play the theme from the Twilight Zone show, it was AMAZING.

In '86 I saw my first CNC machine.. Reel-to-Reel tape drive, as i recall, and it was all programmed at the machine, using about a 30 key programming board. I never actualy saw it get to work, but I knew then that my ideas of computerized cutting tables were realistic..

of course, now everybody is doing it, and i am getting in on it late, but atleast i am finally building one that runs!!

All I need to do now is learn to program it and convert clipart to G-Code... I think the machine was the easy part.. HAHAHAHA

Eddie

I’ve always been interested in interfacing computers for real world applications. Seeing what people had made with DIY CNC blow me away. But what really made me decide to start to try and make one myself was watching videos of CNC machines in action.

About three years ago I was working in a really stressful job ( computer programming – moved jobs soon after ) and I got the opportunity to buy a small manual machining centre, at this point I decided to start and build a small uniflow steam engine, this resulted in a small scale foundry moving into the garage, then came pattern making ( at least with wood you can stick bits back on! ), the simple patterns were not too bad, then came some really complex shapes and I got to thinking it can’t be too difficult can it, six months on and £500 I am nearing the completion of my first CNC machine.

This process has been so personally rewarding, all the extra skills I have learnt along the way and it looks like it might even make a modest income.

I’m hooked.

I was working at a shop running conversational Proto Trak cnc mill conversions. I started making a belt buckle out a stainless steel scrap piece. After a couple of lunch hours spent working on it, I took a good look at it and realized how crappy it looked! Another employe thought it was just great and wanted to know if I would make him one. I just handed him the buckle and he couldn't believe I would give it up! I told him I was going to make another one (belt buckle) on a cnc that I would build myself! I found Bruce Shapiro's website on the local library internet access (just bought a new 166 p1 machine and didn't have internet at the house yet) and KNEW that I had to build one! http://www.iaxs.net/~bshapiro/home.htm
It's been great ever since! Rick-o-matic Rick

I got the bug around a year and a half ago. I have a homemade foundry for casting aluminum, but I don't have the patience to carve/whittle out patterns that are much more than 2D shapes. I use 3D CAD (Pro/E) in my job, and I'm pretty decent at that. I went looking for someone who'd made a homebrew rapid prototype machine. (We have one at work that used a cornstarch-like powder and an inkjet head printing a binder that works in layers to make a part) Not finding any of those, I did stumble across some folks with cnc routers using dremels and such. I immediately decided that was much better. A few weeks later I had a driver/stepper motor kit ordered from Hobby CNC. I plan to use a cnc powered dremel to carve pink insulation foam into patterns to cast using lost foam. I started out looking to design my own and cast a lot of the parts, but laziness set in. I am mostly done with a Jgro designed machine and can't wait to see foam "chips" fly... :cool:

been messing around with motorbikes (tuning customising) for years
decided i need a cnc at home so as not to upset my employer and with the help
of a friend and you guys at cnc zone built a small router from plastic sheet
proved the concept,remade it in ali then cnc'd an x1 micro mill cost sofar about
£500 tops which iv'e since recouped
it is another whole hobby though.
mike

here at work we have an older esab cnc router 12'x 12' and i wanted to know how it worked. next thing i know im collecting parts for my own

I was looking for a way to cut model airplane parts and started out wanting to use a foam cutter. Then some how I found this site for a CNC router. I have been hooked ever sence. I'm still collecting parts to build my first machine but I'm hooked.

Prior to having a bad accident, I was building a street-rod. I make /fabricate all of my own parts so it became pretty clear that operating a manual mill out of a wheelchair was NOT FUN.operating my lathe(s) was not too bad, but I needed the mill for lots of parts.. explored the possibility of converting my Tree Tradesman 200 to a PC operated CNC(at one time it was a tape nc machine, when I got the mill,all controls were stripped and it was just a manual ) I found this site in November of 2005, made plans and started in December, 2005. !st rebuilt the head,then the x and y axis, ball screws and nuts,added auto oiling to the ball nuts and quill. Using nema 34 servos with Parker Bayside Planetary reducers.Desk CNC system with MTC seervos.recently just finished a 3rd (quill) axis and installing a VFD .presently I'm calibrating all axes.The most fun ? Removing all of the 25 year old controls and wires( there was a garden wagon full)!
Being a total computor KLUTZ the hardest part is programing and learning the terms, but this site has been a real help, there are just a lot of real knowledgeable people that give freely of their time and expertise to CNC Zone..Thanks to all !

I don't even know, I have worked at a machine shop for a while, and all of the sudden it hit me, I want to build a cnc router, so I am in the planning stages currently and hope to have it finished this summer.

I'm a violin maker and was looking to accurately reproduce the carved parts (tops and backs, possibly necks too). Also looking to expand into cellos and basses, both of which are huge instruments by comparison. It's a lot of physical work to carve a 356mm x 125mm X 4mm thick shell precisely out or hard maple, thinking of doing that for something 1110mm x 600mm made my arms sore even before I picked up a gouge.

It never did. Do machining for a living for the last 25 years and now I tell kids to forget about cnc for anything but a hobby and become a hairdress in stead you will make more money

I was already into machining as a hobby, via Model Engineering, CNC was just an extension of that.

When you first saw that some guy built a CNC machine in his own garage, what was your reaction? ?

the first time i realized guys were building them ,i sat there stairing at the computer screen ,more like thru it :idea: i did google search after google search , i was thinking of building a small manual , it was incredible that a cnc system could be built so easily , the electronics are accessably cheap , and then i saw controllers such as mach , where as what i'm used to looking at on the machines at work is on my computer screen , now how can it get any better than that ?
that is when i decided that i've got to have me one of them babies

I decided to convert my manual mill as i'm too impatient to keep moving the part around to get curves/circles etc....So I suppose it's just laziness thats got me into cnc :D

its just amazing stuff how can you not be into it??

When I was in 7th grade we had a tech trailer come to school and the guy had a desktop mill running off an old I386 pc. He demonstrated cutting a small part out of wax. I was into Hobby RC and Computer programming at the time “on my Atari 130XE” so the mechanics and electronics did not really impress me at the time but the possibilities it had always did. Later on in life I started working at a commercial lawn mower manufacturer. I started of learning general fabrication and moved up to running a very troublesome plasma table that they had at the time. Coupled with my technical computer abilities learned as a kid and relatively high mechanical aptitude everything just clicked like clock work to me. I quickly moved up to machine programmer. Programming and trouble shooting a Trumpf TC500 punch press and Mg Plasma table. Later on they bought a Mazak MKII 2.5 kw laser in an FMS system. And shortly after they bought a second 4.0 kw Laser for the FMS cell. I now work at an aerospace manufacturer as an Engineering specialist. At home I am currently nearly complete with retro fitting an old Tree Journeyman 320 with a new pc control and PWM drives. I am also doing a complete cnc conversion on a little Harbor fright drill mill. Hope fully with the TREE mill up and running I can finish some redesign work on a miniature 5AXIS gantry router that I built a few years ago. I guess that is what you could say was my first DIY cnc project. It is a small 3axis gantry with a dual nutating head. Initially I just wanted it to mill foam or wax for prototype models but I have redesigned some structural parts to allow for aluminum and soft metals. And for the reason why? Well because it can be done and it is fun.

to many part that arnt easely dooable on conventional machine

15 years ago when I saw CNC lathe working at my workplace. But that time I didn't heard of windows. Then I assembled my first computer in 2003 and while seeing instructable (gr8 site) I came accross CNC router and immidiately relised that I'm gonna build it. Right now I am in learning process. I have to fabricate and build all things of Joe's becoz I do not have readymade parts/drives etc. I've collected xerox steppers nema 23 2.5A, 3.25A & 3.35 A Unipolar I think of 110, 170 oz/in. I have to get machined lead screw here which is not readliy available and thy can't make it in 1/2". I have to go with 3/4" or 1" dia :(. Another problem is driver, which is to be built from scratch with available parts ? I haven't decided yet chopper or linear???
A long way to get it working.
I enjoyed reading all posted related to Joe's, the gr8 inventor and geek ;)
Thanks Joe for all your contribution to this really really gr8 forum.

3-4 years ago when I random browsing web and learn about DIY CNC. I bought the 1st CNC kit from Dan, Camtronic. Now, CNC become part of my job. I build and sell CNC machine now.

I do wood art fish,birds dragonflys etc.but i use a grinder with a 60gt wheel and it limits the size i can cut.i have had lots of request for smaller pieces.
the only way to reduse the scale is to use a dremil or hand carve which takes way to long plus i suck at it.
So when i ran across diy cnc the bug started chopping.
now to just speed up my machine and by the $$$ software.