:) I am sure a ridiculous task, but once I have my mini-mill, I can make chips fly easily.

Basically wondering what parts I would have to machine myself and what things can/must be bought. I would be driving the mill with a 3-axis kit from IMService, servo motors.

I can understant the list must be enormous, but I think it would be well worth the struggle to create something like this...Can someone start asking me questions to figure out what I need to get?

Thanks,
Burn

:) I am sure a ridiculous task, but once I have my mini-mill, I can make chips fly easily.

Basically wondering what parts I would have to machine myself and what things can/must be bought. I would be driving the mill with a 3-axis kit from IMService, servo motors.

I can understant the list must be enormous, but I think it would be well worth the struggle to create something like this...Can someone start asking me questions to figure out what I need to get?

Thanks,
Burn


I have just finished my benchtop mill, and I put the documents on a web site.
If you wish you can goto http://home.earthlink.net/~gmduke/ and look my machine over.

gmduke

That looks really neat! Unfortunately, I don't have Inventor :( Still, a nice design. Good job! How much travel in X, Y, and Z is realistic for building a machine myself?

Hi Burn,

All of the prints to built the machine are on my Download Page at my web site.
You don't need Inventor to view the print for the machine, you just need Autodesk Express Viewer it's a free download from the Autodesk web site.

Duke,

Do you know how much in raw materials it cost you to build it?

The machine weight is about 220 lbs. Steel is about $1.00 a lb.
There is about 170 lbs. of steel in it.
Total cost for everything was about $2000.00.

Okay, and if I wanted to use a screw to do the Z axis, it would only really require the changing of the Z axis pillar?

Not quit sure what you are asking, do you want the Z axis to be manual or different?

Well, CNC-controlled...Yours uses a pulley, right?

Oh, can someone hook me up with a link to ground ballscrews? I haven't been able to find any...I don't know what length, diameter, etc. I need, can someone help me decide?

Here is the best do it yourself CNC mill project I've ever come across.
A great site with lots of cool stuff.

http://www.5bears.com/cnc.htm

Paul

I have read that in its entirety, I love that site.

Links to ground ballscrews?

honestly i would look at getting an industrial hobbies mill or find one of the RF-31 clone to get you started. your not looking at high rate production here yet anyway. wholesale tool has an Rf-31 clone for $799. can't beat that and they are fairly easy to cnc. i don't know what your tolerances are but other than flatness where your water block contacts the chip i think you could get away with ±.005. where the block contacts the chip i would go with a grinder anyway to make sure you have even surface contact.

btw you need at least a mill to get you started in building your own, so why not convert one first.

Well, I'm going to be using my CNCed Taig to machine the parts for this stuff, and anything it can't handle will be taken care of by a local machine shop that has a full-size CNC mill.

I don't want to buy another mill because I already am; I would rather take the adventure and see what happens when I combine some hard work with some ingenuity and create something really nice.

I have read that in its entirety, I love that site.

Links to ground ballscrews?


You can try http://www.nookindustries.com for ball screws.
you will pay lots and lots of money for ground ball screws, but the rolled screws will work just fine for most applications.

duke,

Burn,

I have another home built at www.gimbal.com.au/content.aspx?name=cnc-mill.

It owes me well over AUD$5K if you include machinging time at the local college. I have rolled ballscrews in this machine.

Not to tell you what you should and shouldn't do, but if it were me, I'd perhaps outline some requirements first which might help guide your selection of materials and components - ie kinda hard to decide what diameter ball screw you need when you haven't decided what sort of loads it will be subjected to.

Most commercial run of the mill cnc machining centers use class 5 ballscrews which will be in the $1000s per axis.

If you really want to know the ins and outs of ballscrews thk.com or hiwin.com would be good places to start. The THK site also has all the equations for calculating load etc.

Cheers,

Pat

Your linear rails or whatever else you use is probably going to cost you a bit. You don't want dovetails, thats a pain and leaves a lot of room for error if you mill them yourself.
Your project is really limited in size due to your current mini mill. I thought about making my own CNC mill from scratch, but for the cost of a full size and already built X3, I dont think its worth it.
Biggest thing I would look at before you attempt it all is start looking at what motion control hardware you want. Cruise McMaster Carr.com :)

Will do, thanks :D When I go to mill out the entire pieces, I'll probably go to a local machine shop, I know someone there :D

I'll start looking and come back with ideas.