Hello everyone, my name is Marcus. I am sure that many of you know my father, Mariss, whom I know frequents this forum. I work for Geckodrive as the production manager and quality control manager, so I am not new to electronics or CNC machines in general (I operate an 8-axis pick and place machine).

What I am attempting to do is to design and build my own table top CNC router running steppers (using G202s of course) and operated on leadscrews. It will have a footprint of 20" x 30", utilizing four motors across three axes. Apart from that, I have no idea what exactly to do in regards to getting the hardware to build this or any little useful nuggets of knowledge you think that I should know before I dive head first into this.

I have already drawn a rough design on paper and built a small scale model out of balsa just to help me wrap my head around this, and I am currently working on designing it in AutoCAD. As soon as I have any designs worth posting, I will put them up here for you all to critique/laugh at. Now, on to my questions:

1.) Do I get the majority of these parts custom machined? I am going to be designing this myself, and I am not sure if there are parts I can utilize from other setups.

2.) Where should I get leadscrews (I was thinking 5 TPI, but please tell me what you recommend in regards to TPI)?

3.) What size motor should I get?

4.) What motor specs should I be looking for?

5.) What software should I use? I was thinking about getting a Mach product, but I do not know what version I should get. This will be running on a dedicated computer.

6.) I am assuming I just build the frame and chassey and then plug in a mass produced router. Is this correct? If so, what type of router should I get?

Thank you all for your help in advance!

-Marcus Freimanis

Do you want ballscrews, or acme? Your dad should be able to help you figure out motor size. He's helped a lot of other people here. Motor size is largely dictated by the machine and the required performance. Mach3 is what you want, use the latest version. (lockdown version). And yes, just by a handheld router and mount it. Sounds like you should spend some time looking around here. Welcome, btw.