Hi all,

I've been lurking here for a couple of months now and I've finally got my CNC router to a point where I can show it to you guys. Here are the specs:
15" x 30" cutting area
6" z travel
3 116 oz. Pacific Scientific stepper motors
1/4-20 lead screw
Skate bearings on gas pipe for guides
This power supply (http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=480&item=PS-2465&type=store)
I plan on using a Xylotex driver board and TurboCNC to run it.

Here is the CAD model in SolidWorks:

Here is a pic.

Awesome, Looks Great Jgro!
Keepus informed with pictures and details.

Regards,
DaSigntist

Awesome Jgro!
And thanks - I might borrow your "outa - the - box" by being in the box for the Z axis!
I was just struggling on my design and your method may be my solution!
I like how you nested the bearings inside the rails! Helps keep your x-axis size by a bit. The rest of the rig is cool too! Nice sw image too.
Gud-on-ya-mate! (pronounce that "maight")
:cheers:Jim!
mental note - lurking and doing -- not blabin' I'd better get back to the garage (that's pronounces gare-ig) and get some work done!:D

Everytime is see someone post a 3D model of a machine my heart sinks a little because it seems that that's as far as it goes. The threads die without a real machine turning up that looks like the model!

I was very happy to see a real machine as I scrolled down a little farther! Very nice job. The cad part is the easy part. Putting the tools to work and building something is the hard part. Looks like you are on the right track! Looks great. Just wait till you get it going on it's own steam!

keep up the good work.

Eric

Nice Job!

I've started to design my first CNC machine and seeing your work inspires me! I have a few questions for you. First, what CAD package are you using? Also, I noticed the L-bracket under the Y-axis, what is it for and how does it work? And finally… In the CAD rendering I see that on the Z-axis, you have the topmost bearing on the front of the pipe. But, would it not be better to have it behind (since the weight of the router will "pull" the top of the carriage forward)?

bb99

wow, great job

Where can i get a copy of SolidWorks?

bp99, I think he has 4 bearings there. at the top he has one in front and one in back. You just can't see the back bearing.

Eric

My take on the "L" bracket it added support the Y rails. Chuck Knight used a 2X2 with the corner beveled for a better contact to the rail for the same reason.

Good job Jgro.
For me the cad part was too much so I went to full size plans on a roll of brown construction paper from where else, Home Depot
Hager

Nice job! Looks like a really nice design.

I have sent you a PM.

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm lucky in that I work for a design/engineering firm and have access to all kinds of CAD software. We mostly use Pro/Engineer, but I like SolidWorks because it's a kick-butt piece of software. We also have a CNC machine in the model shop. That's where I cut alot of my parts. I did design it that it could be done on a table saw or with a router. I just wanted to learn CNC programing, so I went that route.

The l bracket is for support. I used 1/2' pipe on the x axis which is way too small. It flexes alot. I'm going to see how bad it is when it is all together and if it is untolerable, I may make a new base using larger diameter pipe or solid rod.

Here's the cad model for the Y Gantry:


jgro

...and here's the Z gantry:

Hi Jgro,

Would it be possible for you to send me a copy of your solid works files? I would love to take a closer look at what you have done.

I have PM'd you my email address.

Thank you!

Albert

JGRO,
Thanks for the SUPER drawings. One picture is worth a thousand words. The viewer can really understand the construction.

Are the red spots pins or dowels? I thought about adding them to mine after everything is aligned.
Hager

The red spots are .250 x 1.50 long steel dowels. This allows me to take it apart and put it back together and not lose my alignment. It also adds some rigidity to the joint.

jgro

Nice work on your router and models! I too like using soldworks!

Hi all,

Just thought I'd post an update. IT'S ALIVE :) As you can see if you compare these images to the ones that I posted earlier, I redesigned the base to use 1" pipe and I doubled up the mdf on the end pieces to give it more stiffness. I built two torsion boxes, one between the end plates and one under the cutting surface. These helped to stiffen up the whole assembly. I've got homing and limit switches wired and working. All the tests that I've done so far are very encouraging. I cut a 4" square and measured the size with my caliper, within .002. I measured across the corners and they were dead nuts equal :D Right now I'm cutting some new mounts for mounting my new rotozip that I got for Christmas. Then I'll be able to hog out some material with something other than a 1/8 bit. This is Fun!

jgro

another

my control box

jgro,

with the bearing setup that you did for the X-axis how much
deflection do you get with the gantry on lateral moves.

curious because you must have the bearings tweaked pretty
tight.

dan

I haven't noticed anything yet, but then again I've only been taking light cuts until I can get my other router mounted. The weight of the gantry does not cause any deflection (as far as I can tell).

Do you have any more updates on your machine?

Chris

JGRO-

You machine is very impressive! I am gearing up to build my first machine, and have a couple of questions.

After a year with your machine, what do you think? Are there any specific things you would do differently? Any serious limitations?

Also, I downloaded the plans, thank you very much! When I took some measurements in the CAD program, it seemed like you were using 3/8" MDF??? Is this the case? Or maybe was my CAD program messed up? Did you use the same thickness of MDF for the whole thing?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Chris

The one problem that I had was that I didn't put any adjustability into my version. I had cut all of the parts on a cnc at work and didn't have any adjusters for the gas pipe - big mistake. The design that I uploaded has adjusting blocks. The other thing that I would/am doing different is to seal the MDF! We had one of the wettest springs here in years. My basement was damp/wet for over a month. Despite trying to keep it dry, all of the MDF sagged :( I am presently rebuilding my machine with a new/different design.

The design that I have for the anti-backlash nuts are not the greatest. Make some like this http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.phpt=2037&page=2&pp=5&highlight=anti+backlash It's what I'm using on my new design.

You may also want to stiffen the gantry some. It is a little on the weak side in side to side play. I can hit mine with my hand and watch it vibrate.

I only use 1/2" and 3/4" MDF as it is the only sizes that I can get.

jgro

Thanks for the info! And thanks for sharing your design files!

For my application, I will have to seal the MDF, so that's pretty high on my TO DO list once I get things done. But I am a long way from that!

The anti-backlash link that you posted didn't work -- is this the design by Chuck Knight (the slotted cutting board pieces with tensioning bolt)? That design looks pretty good.

In what way are you suggesting your gantry is weak? The structure of it, or its connection on the rails and drive screw?

The structure of it. It needs something to keep it from swaying side to side, so to speak.

jgro

JGRO
Downloaded your pdf file for the router. WOW!!
A few small questions:
1) detail drawings cnc-dtl17, 18, and 19 for the gantry were not included. Was that intentional or an oversight? Are they available?
2)detail drawings cnc-dtl11 and 12 were not included. Do you have the part #'s for the 2 items they identify?

Whoops! I missed dtl17-19. I updated the PDF file and sent it to the admin here to update the downloads section.

Here are the part numbers:

bearing: 6384K352 Add another one to your order. You need 2 of them in assy09. Put one on each side of the MDF and trap them with jam nuts like I did on the other axis.

t-track: 21753 This is a 4 foot piece.

jgro

Here is a working link that show the anti-backlash nut.

http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2037&page=2&pp=5&highlight=anti+backlash

I haven't found the plans, can someone tell me where they are?

Thanks a bunch

Chuck

Chuck,Try this:
http://cnczone.com/modules.php?name=Links&file=viewlinkinfo&op=newlink&lid=248

and click on "view link"

Larry

Thanks Larry, much appreciated.

Chuck

I didn't see anywhere you said what your machine cost to build. By the way looks great. :cheers:

That's a hard one because I went through a few different iterations. I probably had about $300.00 stuck into that design (rough estimate).

Do you have any pictures of pieces made with your CNC machine. I need all the encouragement I can get to get started.... :)

Go to my website and look under the "Projects" section: http://www.nconnect.net/~jgro

jgro,

Great design and thanks for making it available. It has really got me moving on my project. In looking through the PDF download though I have noticed that cnc_dtl08 - cnc_dtl12 are missing. Can you share these pages as well?

Thanks,

Matt

Go to my website and look under the "Projects" section: http://www.nconnect.net/~jgro
That is pretty amazing what a person can accomplish once they get going! Great Job!

ViperTX,

I have been to that link and looked at several pages on his site but have yet to find a new download with the missing pages. What am I missing?

Matt

mdframe,

I went to the website, clicked on CNC Router and at the bottom of the page is a "Click here for pics of new CNC router". Is that what you're missing?

ViperTX,

Nope. He has provided his plans in a PDF format and several of the design pages are missing, the ones I mentioned in my first post.

There are no missing pages! If you look at the stocklist, everything on the stocklist that needs a drawing, has a drawing. The dtl in the sheet names/part names stands for detail. It corresponds with the item/detail number on the stocklist. Hope this makes sense.

jgro

All the CNCZone links for that PDF come up as closed now??

Any way someone can post a link directly for the PDF?

All the CNCZone links for that PDF come up as closed now??

Any way someone can post a link directly for the PDF?


All the downloads are working they are not "closed Now" but it's only availale to registered members.


UPLOADING ATTACHMENTS:
Please upload any plans that you have created for sharing to the download section only. Do not upload them in the forums, you can add a link to the discussion in the forums for the discussion of it.

All the downloads are working they are not "closed Now" but it's only availale to registered members.

I didn't actually mean that it said "Closed Now". What I meant was that the links that were given previously in the thread no longer worked.

Also, unless there is something I am not aware of, I am a registered user.

See what I am seeing:

http://users.adelphia.net/~javamoose/Error.bmp

Jgro, thanks for sharing your design. I am a newbie and thinking of building it. So far I can say I get the big picture. But in terms of materials and processing them(like cutting the mdf parts) I am lacking greatly.

I am thinking of finding someone to cut all the parts for me since I have no tools and place for cutting them "accurately". Do you have another pdf,dxf,dwg (or another cad file) showing only wood parts needed to be cut(plans are great but I am lost in them and having difficulty in extracting wooden parts from them). Actually dxf or dwg would be much better since here we use metric system and I need to convert them before getting it cut.

Thanks

Jgro, thanks for sharing your design. ... Do you have another pdf,dxf,dwg (or another cad file) showing only wood parts needed to be cut(plans are great but I am lost in them and having difficulty in extracting wooden parts from them). Actually dxf or dwg would be much better since here we use metric system and I need to convert them before getting it cut.

Thanks
RedLabel,

JGRO's dxf drawings can be found here: jgro_cnc_router_dxf (http://www.cnczone.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&file=viewfile&id=24)

If you have already downloaded the CNC_Router_jgro.pdf (http://www.cnczone.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&file=viewfile&id=4) be sure to look at page 53 (the last page) for the CNC ROUTER - STOCK LIST and match the MATERIAL column with the appropriate drawing in the PART NO. column.


I hope that will help you along,

HayTay

RedLabel,

JGRO's dxf drawings can be found here: jgro_cnc_router_dxf (http://www.cnczone.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&file=viewfile&id=24)

If you have already downloaded the CNC_Router_jgro.pdf (http://www.cnczone.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&file=viewfile&id=4) be sure to look at page 53 (the last page) for the CNC ROUTER - STOCK LIST and match the MATERIAL column with the appropriate drawing in the PART NO. column.


I hope that will help you along,

HayTay


Thanks a lot, this file helps a lot. I am now putting the pieces on a clean file. When finished I am planning to give it to a cnc cutter to get accurate results.

Hello JGRO,

I am working on my second machine at home. My first machine was a moving table design. My second machine is going to be fashioned after your design and I was wondering what kind of feed and rapid rates I could expect following your design. With my first machine that I built there were alot of mistakes made on my part so I have been dissappointed with the 15 ipm. In my professional life I program and operate Heian CNC routers so I can imagine that I am a bit spoiled by have the power rapid at 2400ipm and cut mdf at 350ipm. I am very ignorant when it comes to power supplys, how much I need for torque w/ a stepper and the like. Any information that you, and anyone else listening, could give me would greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Scooby Doo