Hi Everyone,

This is actually my first time using a forum... so I feel a little nervous haha.

I've been constantly reading the posts of other members, such as thkoutsidethebox (I think I spelled that right..) and have been reading (and learning) a lot from this forum, so I thought that it was time that I started my own build of the Dual Leadscrew David Steele Solsylva 25"x37" table.

The day before yesterday (first day), I cut out the Gantry out of Red Cedar 2x4 (don't know if that was an appropriate choice...) but then yesterday I buggered up the holes so it became NFG.

Lesson learned: Do not trust the laser "alignment" on a Ryobi Drill press.
Second lesson learned: Cutting multiple piece of wood with a calibrated (squared by hand) Chop-Saw is faster than cutting a piece every few days and having to re-calibrate the saw every day...(pretty obvious...I know...)

So that's what I did yesterday, just cut up all the 2x4, 1x4, and 1x6 pieces that I'm going to use. (See attached picture!)

Plans for today are....actually I'm not sure, maybe cut up the MDF or Hardboard? I don't have a bandsaw though....so I'm not sure how that's going to work....

I'm also asking my uncle to see if he has some kind of metal cutting saw to cut the conduit on the Gantry...arm? I don't want to cut it using a hacksaw...who knows how square that would be with my lack of skillz.

I built the shed that you see in the pictures with my Uncle and laid down some bricks and everything...all to start this project haha....wow what an effort that was. I moved out to BC from Saskatchewan for University, so I don't have a workshop out here or garage yet since I don't even have a house! So I guess this shed will do for now...until I fill it with CNC machines... ^^

Any tips, suggestions, or comments for a CNC n00b?

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum.

Suggestions
- buy a heater for your shed. :)
- Keep the wood off of the floor or it will warp from moisture (yes, I am very sure about this.)

You can buy for a few dollars, or borrow, a tubing cutter to cut the conduit. Squareness on the ends is mostly an appearance thing. A hacksaw is useful and accurate enough for most of the parts, and a little file or bench grinder work will clean up the cuts that go off angle.

I'm building one of these also.

CarveOne

Wow I already have responses to my posting haha. Thanks for your advice!

Welcome to the forum.

Suggestions
- buy a heater for your shed. :)
- Keep the wood off of the floor or it will warp from moisture (yes, I am very sure about this.)

Ah yeah....I should probably get a heater....hopefully it won't be too cold in Vancouver for now until I get one. I'm from Saskatchewan though so I'm used to the whole -40C thing.

Wood warping! Yeah that's not good, better move that from the shed floor to the table or something.

You can buy for a few dollars, or borrow, a tubing cutter to cut the conduit. Squareness on the ends is mostly an appearance thing. A hacksaw is useful and accurate enough for most of the parts, and a little file or bench grinder work will clean up the cuts that go off angle.

I'm building one of these also.

CarveOne

Oh really? I had thought that maybe the squareness would be important for aligning/measuring where the holes go to attach to the gantry. Hmmm but I'll look into renting/buying a cutter though.


Yesterday I re-did the Gantry, drilled the center holes and holes in the top to attach the conduit. I *almost* made another NFG but it turned out functionally ok, but maybe not aesthetically. No pictures though, didn't have a chance to take any. Not too much done... hopefully I'll accomplish more on the weekend! Mostly I was trying to figure out how I was going to go about cutting the aluminum extrusion and conduit, but now that I know that hacksaw and a little grinding is probably ok, I think I'll just go do that.

Thanks everyone! More posts with pictures coming this weekend!

What's most important is that the holes in the conduit match the holes in the channel and those holes match the holes on the gantry (or the x axis side rail holes as the case may be) or the mounting bolts won't fit through all of these parts so that there is some freeplay in the bolt holes for alignment of the conduits for parallelism and coplanarity. If these aren't near perfectly aligned there will be binding in the truck bearings against the rails.

The tubing cutter I mentioned is the simple hand held variety that cuts deeper into the tubing as you tighten a knob and rotate it around the tubing. You might pay $10 to $20 for a decent one, or a cheaply made one for $5 on sale at Harbor Freight. As long as it can handle 3/4" steel conduit it will suffice, and produce square cut ends.

CarveOne

Sorry everyone for not posting lately, been really busy, but I have been working on the table!

My Uncle suggested making a ghetto setup for cutting the conduit with the chop-saw. SO we took off the saw blade and replaced it with an abrasive disc. Kinda scary, but it worked pretty well...I hate the smell of burning metal...even though I wore a dust mask I could still smell it. Probably getting cancer from that. I also cut the Plywood Edging the same way, worked really well to cut the aluminum...would recommend it, if you first align your saw blade haha....(experience...again).

As you can see in the photos, my CNC has been blessed with a splash of gold.... The reason for this is that I couldn't find any other colour in Home Depot. Oh well, I actually think it looks kind of cool.

I got some fluorescent lights now in my workspace too, courtesy of my Uncle again. Pretty sweet, no more squinting in the dark trying to measure something out.

But, I have some serious problems (related to what CarveOne was saying about hole placement).
Unfortunately, I found that I cannot drill properly.....my drill bit wanders a little bit every time I try to drill a hole. I talked to a co-worker, and he said that this tool should solve my problems:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32318&cat=1,180,42311,42321

So, I haven't bought this yet, but I'm definitely going to before I go to work on my table today. I drilled my conduit but one of the holes on them was 1/16" off, so I have a slight deviation in the rails (!!!!!) I've already had to re-drill one once, and this is getting retardedly expensive if I have to redo every part every time...

I also made some of the angled aluminum brackets, but I suspect the corner holes of being slightly off, although they look not too bad. I will likely remake this part too with the tool from Lee Valley.

Alright, that's it for now, better get back to work....

Next time you need a set of drill bits, buy a set of split point drills that are made for drilling metal. These have no V shaped web in the center of the drill point, as with normal drills, and they will start cutting metal immediately on contact with no walking around in a circle. They are the only drills I will buy now. You should also center punch the hole location in the center of the pipe's diameter. If the drill contacts the round pipe off center it will try to slide off to one side even with a split point drill. Split point drills are available at most hardware centers. These are not the same as the pilot point drills sold by DeWalt, which have a reduces diameter tip with the standard drill point.

There is a simple Y shaped centering tool that will fit into the chuck of a drill press and has a pointer that tells you when the chuck is centered on a round or square bar. Prices range from $5 to $13 depending on where you buy them. Grizzly Industrial, CDCO Tools, and others sell them.

CarveOne

Worked on the table again last night, more pictures to show!
I went to Lee Valley Tools and picked up that drill alignment guide. That thing was so worth it, it drills holes extremely accurately with my drill bits.... I wish I had Carbides, right now I'm using HSS.

Next time you need a set of drill bits, buy a set of split point drills that are made for drilling metal. These have no V shaped web in the center of the drill point, as with normal drills, and they will start cutting metal immediately on contact with no walking around in a circle. They are the only drills I will buy now. You should also center punch the hole location in the center of the pipe's diameter. If the drill contacts the round pipe off center it will try to slide off to one side even with a split point drill. Split point drills are available at most hardware centers. These are not the same as the pilot point drills sold by DeWalt, which have a reduces diameter tip with the standard drill point.

CarveOne

I think they're probably just the V shaped ones as you said CarveOne, instead of these split point. Seems like a pretty good idea, I was unaware of the differences in points... Pretty interesting, reading up on it now.

Anyways about that drill alignment thing from Lee Valley Tools. I would strongly recommend it to anyone building this table, since it allows you to drill pretty good corners in the aluminum angle extrusion. I ended up making a new Aluminum Bracket last night since I was pretty unimpressed with the alignment on the other one. I must say I was really impressed in comparison to the one i made before.... I guess that one was really garbage. Another NFG.

Had to buy more conduit again last night since I didn't have enough to remake the Gantry conduit (just one side). Will remake it tonight.

Oh I also put on the bearings for the Brackets, bought these bearings from VBX. They're ABEC 7's, 2RS. Pretty good for the money (really inexpensive, bought 100 at once or so, sold the other half), and pretty decent quality. They're oil lubricated though, would have preferred grease I think.

Ground down the bolt heads a little using my bench grinder (parents brought it from Saskatchewan....probably will have more use in my little shop than it's entire lifetime in my dad's garage..) Unfortunately it's a bit hard to get into the bolts without grinding on the aluminum :S so I took off what I thought was appropriate for the bold heads, and also took off a little aluminum in the process :S hopefully that wasn't too essential for something....should be ok..
Sorry for the blurry picture of the bolt heads, I set my camera in Macro mode but it's from year 2000 or 2001 or something, so it's a 1.2 MP Canon (good camera, just old) and the lighting was not so hot... Pretty sad coming from a hobby Photographer, but I'd rather leave my 1.2MP in my car or shop than my Nikon D70S ><

Anyways thanks for the advice! will keep you posted

Glad to see that you are making some progress with drilling the holes now. At least the EMT conduit tubing is one of the lower cost items in this build, and the no-good tubes make useful stakes for the garden. :)

CarveOne

Worked on the EMT again yesterday....
Cut out another piece, and drilled the holes. I had two surprises though, one was that actually I HAVE Split point drill bits (and was using them...), and the other surprise was drilling by hand on the EMT works a lot better than drilling using my drill press. Interesting....After center punching the spot (did that last time), then using a smaller drill bit to pilot hole, I found that drilling concentrically was really easy, in comparison to trying to get everything all aligned with the Drill Press. I remembered someone once saying that "too many precise holes = no precision" or, over-constraining things does not work in my favour, maybe that's what happened. That or I suck with a Drill press (likely).
I only discovered this after I drilled 2 holes, all three are axially parallel, and co-linear to each other, but actually one STILL wandered, in spite of my efforts to build a crap jig to kinda align things better. Whatever, it worked better.

Today I think what I'll do is cut out another piece of 1x6 for the Z axis assembly, then start drilling my holes.... After that I'll coat it in Polyurethane clear coat. Oh crap I forgot to coat my Gantry as well.... I guess I'll take that apart and coat it, then maybe lock-tite it?? Good idea? or should I wait a bit longer to make sure the alignment is ok....(maybe I need to cut more EMT...)

Any suggestions on how to go about cutting the hardboard and MDF??

I wouldn't Locktite anything until you are happy with the alignment. Use the type that can be loosened when needed such as the blue Locktite.

Use a 14" woodworking bandsaw if you can get access to one.

I managed to make some progress on my own Solsylva 25x37 today. Hopefully there will be more progress tomorrow. The gantry block is ready for polyurethane and assembly of the tubes. Also made some metal parts today.

CarveOne

Yeah I haven't used any lock-tite yet, will do when I'm sure the machine actually runs ha ha ha...

I didn't have a bandsaw, but I did have access to my uncle's jig-saw and I also did most of the cutting using a hand saw, which worked really well. I coated both the Gantry and most of the Z carriage with Polyurethane yesterday, which worked pretty well. I was too lazy to take apart the Gantry though and paint it properly... haha....so lazy. Oh well, it's clear coating and I mostly just want to keep the humidity out of the wood, so I think it should be ok.

Yesterday I also went and cut out my profiles from the hardboard, and drilled all the holes. I really think that guide from Lee Valley was worth the money, I haven't screwed up nearly as much since I got it, and I think it takes me half the time to drill holes now too. Very impressed.

Ahhhhhh as I was writing this I realized I forgot to drill the corner holes in my second pair of brackets that I was working on today!!! So pissed.... well, hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow...otherwise I'm not sure, I'll have to take out my ground bolts. I ended up drilling holes into a wooden cutting board, then mounting my grinder to that, and clamping it to my table hahaha, it looks pretty awesome.

Now I realized that I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the Z carriage, I didn't buy a trim router yet, and I need to do that (or should have done that...) before making the hardboard profiles, because they're dependent on how big the router is (...sigh). I was thinking about getting the DeWalt one, but that one's kind of long..... any suggestions for a reasonably priced one that's fairly high performance (like 5A)? Canadian Tire?

So CarveOne, you worked on yours too eh? Awesome ^^ do you have any pictures?

Yes, I have some pictures that I'm saving for my own build log that I will start sometime soon. Maybe later this weekend. I don't want to steal space in your build log with them though. You deserve full credit for your own work. This build is a lot of work, even on much better equipment than you or I have.

I'm making some changes to David Steele's original design, such as red oak woodwork, 1/4" aluminum stepper mounts, 1/2" lead screws, maybe some purple heart (or aluminum) bearing support blocks. The z axis side plates are next to make and will be 1/4" aluminum. The oak is finished with MinWax golden oak stain and MinWax clear satin spray polyurethane. Enough red oak for this project was surprisingly expensive.

So far, I have built the frame and the gantry. I have a 425 oz/in stepper system kit from Xylotex on hand. I haven't ordered the pulleys and belt or bearings yet. I picked up the aluminum angle and flat stock today for making the truck assemblies.

Ok, as a teaser, here are a couple of the stepper plates:

Whoa snap!!! Now those look pretty good!
Do you have access to a milling machine?

I just bought my trim router today off eBay (used one) for something like $48, and then $24 shipping (living in Canada can be expensive sometimes...). I know a new one is $99 from Amazon.com though, but I think it's free shipping only within the states, and then I have to pay duty too, so I think overall I saved a bit that I can use to put towards something like bits, etc. Eventually I plan on replacing the router with a more powerful one. I will probably use that to go about building another CNC eventually (moneys/space/time permitting...I also have to start studying for courses soon.......).

Make sure to post something when you start your own log, I'm really interested haha. It looks like it will be pretty awesome, far more awesome than mine haha.

I have a Lathemaster dovetail column milling machine http://www.lathemaster.com with Grizzly Industrial 3 axis glass scale DRO and power feed on the x axis and the gear head lift. My lathe is a Harbor Freight 12x36 gear head. It all fits in a 12x16 utility building along with too much other welding and woodworking stuff.

CarveOne

Hey Pumelloman I ess your in vancouver, Im in deroche just east of mission. Just thought id tell ya if you havnt orderd your belts better do it because it takes a while to get here from new york. I think were due for a cold winter this yr so ya a heater is a must for your shop plus it gets very wet here so watch the moister. I am guessing you didnt get your lead screws yet, If you can get 1/2" acme screw with 2 start if you can find them, Will help with speed as with 18 tpi all thread are slow and youll just want to change it right away , I know that for a fact lol. There is a place in abbatsford that might have the belts and pullys, Ill look for the name and # for you , maybe you can phone to see, will save in time. If I can remember the name of the place. Ill keep watching your thread for so if you need help. Graham

Hey Graham,
Thanks for the help! I've ordered my belts already though from the place recommended in the books (SDPI or something?). Those were so pricey....and I had to pay duty! If you can let me know where to find belts and pulleys at a better price, please let me know. Who knows if I'll be making another one, so it doesn't hurt to know haha.

I did get my leadscrews too from Home Depot (not ACME, that's for sure...). They're the 1/4-20's I believe. I just want to build the router, as crappy as it may be....then I'll work on replacing the parts slowly haha. I would rather have done it right the first time, would have been more cost effective too, but I'm really pressed for time since I have to start studying again soon.

Yeah it was 5 degrees this morning....looks like I'm going to have to find a heater hahaha....sigh.

Hmmmm I didn't do anything yesterday. However today I think I will get started on assembling the Z carriage and making the Z carriage spindle plate. Should be the same size as David's plans, since he was using the Porter Cable Trim Router. (hopefully....). At any rate I should probably work on something, I want to get stuff done soon.

btw, amazing stuff CarveOne, I wish I had tools like that...
How did you bore the hole in the motor mounts?! I'm not that great at machining, so I'm confused how you did that haha

Hey Pumelloman, welcome to the forum. Looks like a great start to your first cnc router. Just remember to be patient, measure twice and cut once. Picture in your head how the parts should fit together and then rewind and picture it again. Make sure you develop good work holding skills(I seen you had trouble with the drill press) which is the most crucial part in building and machining anything. And Ebay great for stuff but don,t forget to check you local area classifieds,garage sales and hunt for a website that shows government auctions in your area. Good luck and keep the pics coming, we Luv pics!!

Prior to doing the hole drilling I drew the stepper mount plate in TurboCAD 12 and put crosshairs in each hole to better locate for the drillings. I printed it at 1X and checked the printed copy with a caliper. Then I sprayed onto the paper a light coat of 3M 77 spray contact cement. After waving the paper around a little to dry the cement I placed it on the aluminum so that I could cut the plate to size and accurately drill at the hole centers. The paper can easily be removed if you only spray the paper and not both the paper and aluminum. I made a pointed 3/8" rod about 3" long on my lathe to use in a spindle drill chuck as a pointer that shows when the spindle is centered on the crosshair "targets". It's simpler than using other centering devices and will work on your drill press also. Even a short pencil with an evenly sharpened point is better than no pointer or centering tool at all.

Using the milling machine to bore the 1-1/2" hole I first drilled the hole with a 1/2" drill in a 1/2" collet in the mill spindle and then re-drilled it with a 1-1/4" Silver and Deming drill that has a 1/2" shank. Then I removed the S&D drill and installed a 1/2" shank boring head with a carbide boring cutter inserted and finished the hole to 1-1/2" so that the stepper motor just barely dropped into the 1-1/2" hole. The smaller stepper mount screw holes were drilled using the pointer and they all align just fine.

CarveOne

Thanks for the advice ZipSnipe, I will definitely have to check out those government auctions, didn't even think of that, and I will keep the pics coming ^^

CarveOne....all I can say is wow. So sweet hahaha. I had no idea there was such a tool as a shank boring head. I was talking to my friend about how he would make that piece too. He said that maybe an option would be to use a Rotary Table. But that would be expensive to buy...
Making an alignment tool to center your mill was pretty smart...never thought of making my own haha. I think I'll have to make one of those next time I go into the machine shop at school, I kinda made the one I got at Lee Valley tools a bit "flat" on the end. Aluminum Extrusion vs. Lee Valley Tools center punch didn't work out well. Now I use my Uncle's bigass Steel punch...so much better.

Anyways though, I'm almost finished the router carriage. Glued it with wood glue, and put drywall screws into it, holds pretty nicely. I ended up using the leadscrew through one of the holes to support the carriage and keep it square. That worked surprisingly well...

Next step is to put make the Z-axis "spindle plate" and conduit, then I'll be pretty much done the carriage.

Ordered my Transformer from Allied Electronics last night too. Should come in sometime next week or a bit later. Going to buy a speed controller (potentiometer) soon, then hook that up to the router. I really want to be able to cut aluminum, so I think it's kind of necessary for me to have a speed controller. However, has anyone cut aluminum before with this router?? Does it work well?

Enjoy the pictures!

Your z axis assembly is looking good. Maybe your pictures will show me some details that I may not see in the Solsylva assembly book. I am working on the z axis parts now.

My oak blocks have been cut to size but not drilled yet. I will complete the side plate drawing today since I got some unexpected time off this afternoon. Maybe this evening I will be able to cut the side plates to size if I don't go back to work again later this evening.

You will want to taper the pointer so that it is easy to see the sharp point when it is on the center of the punch mark or crosshair. I lower it into the punch mark slightly or to the paper and look at it from the front and one side to visually check the alignment. Having a sharp well centered point is essential and you can get within a couple of thousandths easily.

I have an 8" rotary table with a 6" four jaw independent chuck mounted on it that I use with an end mill to bore large holes but the thing weighs so much that I can barely lift it onto the milling table. For this reason I tend to not use it until I need to make a 2" or larger hole.

BTW, here is a good chance that I may get a chance to visit the ShopBot folks in Durham, NC in a week or two. Looks like I may get involved in using one at work later this year. Yippee!! :):):)

CarveOne

pumelloman,

I started my project file in this forum today. CarveOne's Solsylva 25x37 Router Build (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43894) is what I called it. Ok, it's dueling leadscrews time.... which of us will finish our machine first? Does my workspace look as small and as cluttered as yours?

CarveOne

Thanks CarveOne, just posted to your forum now ^^ looking really good.

I also worked on my router this weekend. In typical pumelloman fashion, I made several parts....twice! (oh my god...)

This weekend I completed the Z axis Spindle Plate. I ended up making that out of 3/4" MDF, which was pretty nice to work with as long as you're not sanding it I guess (I have a long history with MDF, once made a 10' plug for a car out of MDF boards...one of the more painful memories in my life was sanding that for 5-6 months). I kinda buggered up the first one, too short, but then the second one turned out really well. I found it hard to cut the ...reliefs? for the bolts to sit in and be adjusted, with a Wood Spade bit (I didn't have a hole saw at the moment). What was even harder was trying to tighten the rails on with one side on already. Had to do that with needlenose pliers.

I was pretty worried about slop in my machine, when I slid the assembly in, and it was rattling around in between the bearings. I could just imagine the router trying to cut something while it's jiggling around about 1/16". I started sweating and was trying to figure out how I could fix the problem, first I readjusted by bearings slightly, then I tried loosening the rails a bit so the channel wouldn't be pushed in as much. Eventually I realized what the tensioning leadscrews were for..... sigh. I just pushed on the sides of the carriage a little, then tried the spindle plate again and it was perfect. Whew.
I really need some calipers so I don't have to measure these kind of gaps using a steel yardstick, that was kinda stupid.

I installed the spindle plate on Saturday, and then on Sunday I (basically did nothing) worked on the Z axis bracket/rod coupler. Kinda buggered that up, going to do it again today. I underestimated the width of the drill (ie didn't measure) and now material between the edge and the hole to attach the 3/4" aluminum extrusion to the rod coupler is 1/32" thick. So I will be remaking that today....maybe I can use that as a mini tomato plant stake...it's only 2.75" long...

After this my Z axis is pretty much ready for me to install my router (still in the mail though), and then on to working on the next axis. Does the frame take a long time to build? Those caps that hold the gantry look pretty involved.

I ordered my Transformer on Friday so it should be here after about 1.5 weeks, so I better be ready for my electronics part at that time. I also ordered that Rheostat (speed controller).

I plan on using my Router to make moulds (I still haven't quite figured out why American's spell it "molds", mold is the fuzz, mould is the thing you pour metal/plastic/etc in? Pain in the ass googling stuff.) First I'm going to machine some machinable wax, make a mould for plastic parts. Mostly out of Polyurethane I think. Then I'm going to try laminating some MDF pieces and do some 3D work with that. I'd like to one day use the machinable wax to machine moulds to make female moulds to do metal casting in. That's probably several years down the line when I actually get a house that I can ghetto build a small foundry at. I heard also that Polyurethane foam is fairly easy to cut and keeps good shape. But mostly I think I would like to use my CNC to build another CNC that I design myself...

I'm pretty impressed by CarveOne's 2D router (I think that's what it is). That would make things so much easier to make a second machine...

Still not sure if this machine will be able to cut aluminum, even with the speed control. I'm thinkin' no.

That work room is just 9' x 10' and barely has space to move around three sides of the worktable.

Mould or mold? Some of us spell it both ways in the same sentence to just "dispel any ambiguity". Hah! sneaky Americans, eh? The words sound the same and are easy to get mixed up.

The CopyCarver redesign is actually a 3D duplicator. It can reproduce flat 2D plywood parts and with a rotating fixture can duplicate things like propellers, baseball bats, and rifle stocks as you manually rotate the object being used as a "master". The probe on the left side of the fixture is moved methodically over the surface of the master and the router bit follows the probe movements in all three axes. The z axis is limited to about 4" - 5" and moves in an arc. The weight of the y-z assembly (gantry) is counterbalanced so that the probe takes almost no effort to move it around. If you let go of the probe knob it will raise the router upwards until it reaches the limit of travel, thereby preventing gouging your workpiece. The pulleys roll on the x axis conduit very easily also. It doesn't have the accuracy of a cnc table but can duplicate anything pretty well anything that fits within its working envelope.

CarveOne

Whoa I like that CopyCarver idea, did you design it yourself? Pretty sweet.

So I didn't post pictures to all the work I did. Time to do that now! Didn't get much done today because I didn't have much time. My Z-axis assembly is more or less complete. All I have to do is drill the holes for the plumbing strap, strap the router on, and tune it a bit to get it tight. Today I just adjusted a few things, put in the Y axis bearing assemblies (after MUCH GHETTO MODDING). Oh my god.

I'm pretty sure I totally buggered up my Z-axis though, it should work, but it's by far from my standards. I think what I'll do is use the router to cut another carriage haha. That might work better.

Lately I've been having a few disagreements over how David's drawings are dimensioned. I think they instructions are done pretty well, but I'm kinda pissed about the dimensions...for example, some things are over constrained (specifying 3 lengths to make up the length of a board, then the overall dimension too? aka all dimensions are critical?), other things are dimensioned from non-critical edges, etc. Anyways that's something I'm a little more conscious towards lately. Will keep that in mind when I make my own drawings for a machine eventually.

Oh I just thought of a good example. So the length of the bearing assemblies is 5.5", and the distance in between the two pieces of wood is also 5.5" (supposedly), and the holes in the middle of the bearing assemblies have to be all perfectly aligned. So what happened in reality was, the board wasn't actually 5.5" wide, because I'm guessing the mills don't control the width of the boards by +/- 0.125" and the bearing assemblies were cut to 5.5" +/- 1/16" so, the space was smaller than what was required. I just don't understand why the bearing tracks would be a little bit shorter, so that they fit in for sure, then would be located using the holes. Plus then the ends of the tracks have to be "fairly square" otherwise the bearings will be torqued on an angle and bind with the gantry rails. Grrr....totally over-constrained (as you can tell I spent a lot of time fixing that). Also the whole bloody thing's been glued together already and the tracks have the bearings put in and tightened, so I'd basically have to make new bearing tracks if I wasn't so ghetto and pissed (which I am). Soooo I just ground the sides down, and the bottom where it rests on the 2x6, and counter sunk the holes for the bolts to go into (another design flaw), and I also had to chamfer the sides of the hardboard otherwise it was touching the bearings (again,....why not design them shorter...I don't know). If you're about to build your bearing assemblies (CarveOne?) I would strongly recommend decreasing their length by around 1/2" and moving the bearings with them, keeping the two holes in the corner in the same location.

However I did like the idea of tensioning rods. Very good.

Anyways without further delay, photo time! (I know that's what you're all waiting for anyways....hahaha)

Nice work pumelloman,

You captured a few details that I wasn't so sure about from looking at the plans book - before I got to the point of making my z axis parts. Thanks.

I made some y axis parts last evening and this morning. Will post a photo in a few minutes in my build log.

CarveOne

The Copy Carver site is http://www.copycarver.com and it uses a parallogram box design for a very simple and easy to build means of getting the 3D movements. I just redesigned just the y and z part of the carriage to use a 5/8" shaft and linear bearing block instead. No big bulky box and I can keep my wood dust and chip laden coffee cup on top. (Hmmmmm more protein, yay!)

CarveOne

The red oak 1x4 boards that I'm using are very close to 3.5" wide and have very square, sharp, corners. Most of the 2x4 lumber I have seen at the local Lowes store is not dimensionally accurate or straight enough for a project like this.

I had noticed the dimensioning issue that you mention. You need a set of zero width to -1/8" width band saw blades (in 1/64" increments) to cut everything as specified in the plans book don't you? :)

I've seen worse in my 40 years in the telecom engineering business. Some shipboard radar console manufacturing drawings I once worked with had little balloons pointing at various parts and had FTFHIP printed in the balloon. This meant to "File To Fit, Hammer In Place". Or more generally speaking, "fit as required". More often the drawings had missing measurements or the dimensions did not add up correctly to match the overall length or width.

CarveOne

I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, but before you start criticizing David's measurements, I would say to get the wood that is the right size that the plans call for, and not warped, as a few of you Z axis parts are! It is not a design flaw, it is the wrong size wood. If you use the wrong size wood, yes, the measurements will be off.. If your vendor's wood is sized smaller, get the next size up and cut it down to the RIGHT SIZE. I know I had to re-cut a few pieces that didn't fit right because I cut them the wrong size the first time. I swore I was right, but after I measured them again, I tucked my tail between my legs and went off to cut them the right size. It was worth the extra effort.

I don't recall anyone else complaining about those measurements. If your wood is under sized, you could scale everything down by that percentage, but the closer you put the rollers together, the less leverage you will have to keep everything solid.

Just my opinion...

Don

I agree with some of your points, for example, using the right size of wood, however I'm pretty limited to what I can do, and in abilities as well.


I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, but before you start criticizing David's measurements, I would say to get the wood that is the right size that the plans call for, and not warped, as a few of you Z axis parts are! It is not a design flaw, it is the wrong size wood. If you use the wrong size wood, yes, the measurements will be off.. If your vendor's wood is sized smaller, get the next size up and cut it down to the RIGHT SIZE. I know I had to re-cut a few pieces that didn't fit right because I cut them the wrong size the first time. I swore I was right, but after I measured them again, I tucked my tail between my legs and went off to cut them the right size. It was worth the extra effort.



The wood that I bought, albeit very poor grade, was the best that was available to me for a reasonable cost. I guess I could have made it out of red oak like CarveOne (so jealous....) but I don't really have the funds available to make it out of that, in fact I barely have enough to make this table out of the cheap crap I'm using now. As for cutting down wood, I think you're right in that it would have made things a lot better, however I also don't have a table saw or bandsaw, and this is pretty much the first serious woodworking project I've ever undertaken (total n00b).

Hmmmmmm however, the dimensioning problems that I'm referring to are perhaps just due to my own picky-ness with drawings. I'll pull up some examples perhaps to illustrate what I'm referring to.

On Page 1~3, the last dimension is referred to from the right edge, I believe this should probably be referred to from the left edge so that all the measurements have the same reference point and are properly spaced. (this is the most common thing I think).

The Drawing on 1~5 is perfect.

The Drawing on 1~7 is over constrained.

I guess in general it's hard for me to see at first what dimensions are critical, and which are driven. Looking over it again now, I can see why he dimensioned it this way though. I think it was so that it leaves room for the dimensions to be changed. Although I don't like the principle of measuring from both sides, as it makes hole to hole dimensions kind of sketchy (which ultimately is what this machine is using to align the parts), if the overall length of one part of the assembly is changed, then I guess this style of dimensioning would be more flexible and easy to change quickly. Which is probably what he's aiming for.

Anyways, enough whining from me. I have no experience anyways, prolly don't know what I'm talking about.

So last night I produced two more parts. The Y lead-nut bracket/lead nut, and the Y lead-nut support block.

Have you ever thought you would need to re-tap a rod coupler? Well, I didn't. But apparently sometimes you do. I was threading on my rod coupler to make sure that I didn't put the 8-32 bolts in too far (a problem I was quite worried about), then it got stuck, and only went on about 3/4 of the way. So, I figured the problem was from the one hole I drilled. So I turned it around, and it went about the same distance (I figured it would stop about 1/4 of the way this time, since it was probably that one hole). Then I got confused, so I thought maybe it was the rod, since I hacksawed that before. So I turned the rod around, used the un-hacksawed end, but it did the same thing! It was definitely the coupler. I grabbed another un-drilled coupler, and it did the same thing! So I figured then that I was pretty confused and didn't know what the hell was going on. That's about the time when I pulled out my 5/16-18 tap. Problem solved. Pretty smooth now...

Today I don't have much time (again), but I'm going to attempt to measure out everything for the Y-Gantry Stepper End, drill it, and do the same for the Y-Gantry End Plate. I want to finish by the end of this month, or a week after that, so that's my goal. Gotta start studying for second semester soon.

Not as many photos this time, but I guess not as much work...

pumelloman ,

Hope you didn't take what I said the wrong way. It was meant constructively... I applaud anyone who undertakes one of these builds, or any build for that matter. I wish I had all the right tools also. I had a hack saw, band saw. and old drill press, and a barely functional table saw to do my build. I cut slighly over size and sanded a lot. You notice I never show any of the slots I cut in the aluminum parts?? there is a reason for that ;(

I also had to tap the coupler for the 5/16 rod. I thought I would only have to tap up to where the holes were tapped, but I did have to tap all the way through. I think is is a matter of the threads on the rods being rolled, and the couplers being tapped, maybe, so they don't match cleanly enough for our use... And the fact that we are using them way beond their intended purpose... I know that on R/C plane linkage, the rolled threads don't fit the clevices as well as tapped threads do...

Build on!

Don

Hi pumelloman! :)

Just stumbled across this thread. Wish I saw it sooner, I would have warned you off the DeWalt spindle...dont get me wrong, I love DeWalt tools, they're nearly all I buy, but I'm using the DeWalt on my new router and its a PITA not being able to control the speed, apart from that its great! ;) And you did mention your getting a speed controller for it so that should make it much better.
The cheap chinese spindle on my solsylva build didn't last long, the cheap 'Not Real Steel' collet nut broke, and I can't get another one to fit! :(

Anyway, enough about me.....your build looks really good. I had problems aswell with the measurements, but I think its because I have a bad habit of converting some measurements to metric, and leaving some as imperial...I dont know why I do that..... :rolleyes:...

Your tool situation sounds like I was, except I didn't get the drill press or mitre saw until after the solsylva build :o ..... so your already doing great with the available tools. Workshop looks good aswell. I'd be careful, these things have a habit of taking over your life....first you build it, then you test and choose software, then learn (play with!) the software, then fiddle with the router, then learn (play :D ) some more....etc etc

I'd definately factor in some time in your schedule to build an enclosure, I don't know if you thought about this, but trust me, it would be great to have it before you ever cut anything other than air. Not least to reduce the noise....its sooo noisy! :eek: ....and oh yeah...there's a little bit of dust too! :D :D

I'm not sure how much aluminium you'll be able to cut with this, but I'm sure if it's a solid build you will be able to at least take light cuts, I look forward to seeing how that works out.

Anyway, gotta run, good work! :D L8rs.

Hey everyone,

Don't worry Don, I know I've got a lot to learn yet, but if I wasn't prepared to deal with screwing up a lot and not knowing what I'm doing, I wouldn't be building this table ^^

Whoa! the legend thkoutsidthebox! so many people have seen my thread, I'm so touched! It's because of your thread mostly that I decided that the Solsylva 25x37 was the table that I should build hahaha. Thanks for getting me started on this project haha, and CarveOne everyone else have been helping me a lot too. What a great community CNCZone is, I must say.

Enclosure?? Yeah I thought about making one out of that clear plastic "window replacement 100x stronger than glass!!!" stuff at Rona (but it's damn expensive, and we've been over the Pumelloman is a deadbeat Uni student topic already). Hmmmm but maybe I can find something similar or maybe scrounge around for some moneys and make it out of that and some silicone?? Hook up a vacuum to it? Is it really that noisy???????? I bought a Porter Cable, and I heard those are loud too... I hope the people next door don't get pissed and come over to my shed at night with blunt objects....

By the way, how is everyone securing their workpiece? Screw it into the table? Kinda worried about that.

I'm just ordering some File-a-wax and some Protowax online and from a local retailer. I had wanted to use machinable wax to do some practice cutting (it's recyclable, and i'm cheap! :D) do some prototyping, melt down to do casting, and also make female moulds out of for plastic/resin casting. Should be interesting.

Wrong link!
http://www-rpl.stanford.edu/user/files/papers/sff1998.pdf
there we go.

Here's a link to the study done by some Stanford and other Uni Profs, they suggested using 25% file-a-wax, and 75% protowax. It has less linear shrinkage than just file-a-wax, and has a pretty good melting temp. and machinability.

Anyways gotta go work on my machine!

Whoa! the legend thkoutsidthebox!
lol, thanks for the compliment, but legend I am not! I think the likes of Geof, Ger, AlTheMan,WidgetMaster etc etc (Too many to mention) are the legends of cnczone. You'll cross their paths eventually I'm sure. Don't mind Geof too much...hes a bit crotchety! :D ;)
It's because of your thread mostly that I decided that the Solsylva 25x37 was the table that I should build hahaha. Thanks for getting me started on this project haha, Oh noooo [groan]......does that mean I get the blame if all does not go according to plan! (chair)
What a great community CNCZone is, I must say. Yup. :)
Hmmmm but maybe I can find something similar or maybe scrounge around for some moneys and make it out of that and some silicone?? They say to make it out of polycarbonate which is impact resistant, not plexiglass or similar which is not. But yeah, its expensive. The way I look at it is that its most important purpose is not only to help cut down on dust/noise, but to shield you when metal shards from a broken bit fly at you like a bullet! :eek: So, I figure, anything is better than nothing between you and the 'bullet', so even the cheap stuff will help.....oh, and did I mention the noise and the dust?!! :D Remember, most of the enclosure will be MDF or hardboard. You only need some small squares of clear plastic type stuff so you have a window to look in. :) Hook up a vacuum to it? Is it really that noisy???????? I bought a Porter Cable, and I heard those are loud too... I hope the people next door don't get pissed and come over to my shed at night with blunt objects.... Yup its sooooo noisy. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! :( The vacuum is very noisy aswell...a cheap MDF enclosure for that is a good idea aswell!! :rolleyes: At very least you need hearing protection....you do have hearing protection anyway dont you? (wedge) I'd suggest double hearing protection, that means the cheap inner ear plugs, and then over them the ear muffs. There are decibel scales and protection levels to decide on either single or double hearing protection, but the inner ear plugs are so cheap for a set you might as well. :)

By the way, how is everyone securing their workpiece? Screw it into the table? Kinda worried about that. I screwed mine into the table originally. It was a pain and a waste of wood. Plus if your working metal, it's not really an option. I've since learned that you dont really need to hold the piece 'down' onto the table, you only need to prevent it moving/sliding lengthways or sideways. So for my 2nd machine I built a base with about a hundred holes in it. Into each hole I glued a nut, and I got pieces of wood with a bolt through them and tightened 4 of them down, squeezing the workpiece between them. It's ok, but still a pain. Im currently changing it by putting a permanent length of wood along two sides of my table, and I can push the workpiece against them, then squeeze it in place by clamping a length of wood to the other side of the table. Next machine will have a vacuum hold-down. For metal I think people use electromagnetic.
I'm just ordering some File-a-wax and some Protowax online and from a local retailer. I had wanted to use machinable wax to do some practice cutting (it's recyclable, and i'm cheap! :D) That sounds really cool. I never machined wax and only saw it online, please post pics if possible when the time comes. :)

Most [Read: 'All'] of my experience is wood based, so there may be some alterations to my advice given by those who regurlarly machine metal. Keep up the good work. Your thread is very interesting, you seem to laugh a lot! :D L8rs.

Ok! Updates!

Worked a lot on the CNC this weekend, and I have some photos.

I had a lot of difficulty trying to keep the bend fairly even on both sides...It was convenient that there was a 120 degree angle in the plans, since I don't have a protractor. I still think that my flat bar is kind of angled off to one side. Hopefully it should be ok, since the bearings touch tangentially to the rails.

Getting closer now, finished the End Plates of the Gantry, and mostly finished the small aluminum bracket parts....today I'll pick up some more bolts, then finish the 120 degree parts today. After that it'll be working on a frame or a table to put the CNC on.

Alright I better get to work...

I want to finish building by this Friday, do you think it's possible, working a few hours every day?? (not the electronics, just the build).

Possible to finish by Friday? Yup. :) But if you run into snags just take your time. I found the Z carriage to be the longest part to build, the rest is not too bad.

Alright! It's getting close to the end (hopefully)!!!

Yesterday I went out and bought some locking washers (because they were smaller diameter than the other 5/16 washers) for my bearing assembly. I also finished coating the pieces of wood with Polyurethane clear coat, while the weather was slightly drier (ie, wet but not as wet as it could be).

Drilled some holes for my frame as well, looking pretty good ^^ I'm overall fairly impressed with my work, considering this is my first project. I also discovered that I'd like to mill PCB's with this CNC, but I was reading that some people really discouraged wood due to the humidity and change in the machine's dimensions (low repeatability). Hopefully having some clear coat will help reduce that. I probably should have put more layers on but I'm running out of time. I might do more layers when I take the machine apart later to put on lock-tite.

Going to work on it some more tonight, I'm finally near the part where I'll need to use a cutting board LOL. I was wondering what that thing was for...time to head to Superstore with some Calipers, need the 3/8" THK one.

Enjoy the photos!

Alright! It's getting close to the end (hopefully)!!!

Yesterday I went out and bought some locking washers (because they were smaller diameter than the other 5/16 washers) for my bearing assembly. I also finished coating the pieces of wood with Polyurethane clear coat, while the weather was slightly drier (ie, wet but not as wet as it could be).

Drilled some holes for my frame as well, looking pretty good ^^ I'm overall fairly impressed with my work, considering this is my first project. I also discovered that I'd like to mill PCB's with this CNC, but I was reading that some people really discouraged wood due to the humidity and change in the machine's dimensions (low repeatability). Hopefully having some clear coat will help reduce that. I probably should have put more layers on but I'm running out of time. I might do more layers when I take the machine apart later to put on lock-tite.

Going to work on it some more tonight, I'm finally near the part where I'll need to use a cutting board LOL. I was wondering what that thing was for...time to head to Superstore with some Calipers, need the 3/8" THK one.

Enjoy the photos!

You mention washers being oversize. You are right and I have found two solutions for flat washers. Often the next size down will fit the next size up bolt tightly. For example a 5/16 flat washer will fit a 3/8 bolt very well in most cases. And a 1/4 flat washer will fit a 5/16 in most cases. There may be exceptions but I have generally found this to be true.

Then today I found that "SAE" washers are a much tighter fit than the normal flat washers. The problem is they have to be obtained at speciality houses. However I have found "Fastenal" to be a good source but you might have to buy grade 9 to get the SAE washers.

Garry

Looking good pumelloman!

Looks like I may have to concede defeat soon. My metal parts orders were placed and are on the way but I doubt I will have mine assembled before you do. Don't leave any stepper motor smoke trails as you finish yours first. :D

CarveOne

...so has anyone have anything good or bad to say about the CopyCarver? I am just in the beginings of investigations. I have a sign carver I bought with my dad 30 years ago and want to expand my horizons.

armyliferarmy,

There are even simpler designs online if you plug in the correct search terms.

1. You can build one of these a lot cheaper than a cnc carver.

2. The software is free and easy to use. (there is none)

3 . If you have an object that you want to duplicate and have a lot of patience you can use a small bit and probe tip and it can produce some very detailed carvings.

4. The original design from the CopyCarver plans works very well and you can modify it to use a linear bearing and shaft instead of the parallogram box. (It really isn't necessary if you use high quality close fitting hinges on the box.)

Many people making gunstocks for sale online use some variant of this design or other designs to rough out a stock blank quickly and then do the inletting by other means and finish up with plenty of hand work or Fordom flex shaft type tools.

People who make carved signs and props for ultralight aircraft engines use these. It can easily make duplicates of things like architectural carved blocks that you see in the older houses. Bird and fish carvers probably use them for roughing in a copy and then do the detail work by hand. Saves a lot of time and effort.

I attached a close up of my carriage assembly. It is flipped upside down on the rails for the photo. The structure is 1" iron water pipe and fittings, although 3/4" pipe would work fine. The pulley "wheels" are mounted to two 1/2" CRS shafts and have ball bearings at each end of the shafts. The pipe structure is mounted to the linear bearing housing block so that it can slide left/right and rotate up/down. I'm using an old Sears 3/4hp router to cut 1/4" birch ply and lite ply 2D parts with it until my cnc machine is completed.

EDIT -The "T" shaped affair on the right is a counterweight device that is partially filled with lead bullets or tire weights to make the probe almost balanced. You want the probe to be very easy to lift and move but it should be slightly lighter on the router/probe side of the linear shaft.

CarveOne

Had to stay a little later at work yesterday, so I didn't get as much time to work on my machine as I would have liked. However I did do quite a bit, and because I stayed later yesterday, I get to leave earlier today ^^ (a better deal, I think).

Yesterday I just drilled the holes for the endplates (frame), the frame, and cut a piece of 3/4" EMT. Also bought a Cutting board for the motor mounts lol...probably should have just tried to find one but I'm short for time! Oh well.

More photos to come. Today I should be drilling the conduit (I hate drilling the conduit...) and cutting the legs.

After I get this all done though, I have to build a table to put it on!

Looking great! :) Keep up the good work.

Don't have much time to post today, so I will write more later!

I chiseled out part of those feet for the table, and drilled holes in the conduit (as per the holes in the 2x4's, not blindly measuring...learned my lesson from the first one lol). Also received my router speed control, but there is no router to test it on at the moment...so still waiting for that and various other parts.

Ordered my wax, 2lbs of Green and 2lbs of Blue Ferris File-A-Wax. Lately it's cheaper too because of the CAN Dollar lol...sweeeeeet.


Enjoy!

pumelloman,

No posts from you in a while. Have you returned to school, or just too busy having fun with your new homebuilt?

CarveOne

Hey everyone, big question....Instead of a copycarver type setup - what kind of price am I looking at for a CNC wood router setup? I've got the computer but no software yet. Lots of computer knowledge but the mechanicals for the CNC I have no clue how much is involved. I do have mechanical skills but not sure if they are up to the task for this.


Thanks

armyliferarmy,

If you don't feel the need for a large machine you can build one of the standard RockCliff cnc routers for around $500 or less not including software. If you are a good scrounger of materials you can build it for less. The control board, stepper motors, and power supply will be the largest hardware expense.

Look in the RockCliff forums on cnczone.com and on the RockCliff website for more details. I have put close to $850 in my Solsylva 25x37 hardware so far but some of it is higher priced wood and leadscrew parts. Still need to buy the Mach3 and VCarve software that will cost more than the machine.

CarveOne

Hey CarveOne,
Yeah I've been pretty busy lately, my girlfriend just moved in so the "CNC Time" became "Time with Girlfriend" lately....it's also good, but it's just sad when I think about my CNC all alone in my shed, sitting uncompleted...I really want to work on it....

I think I'll be working on it this weekend, as well as picking up my machinable wax. I still have not received my transformer yet, (damnit Allied Electronics, charge me $30-$40 for shipping then take your sweet time.....) so I can't work on the electronics yet at home.

I'll look around for those EMT endcaps, seems like a pretty good idea. I have some pictures from some stuff I did before my girlfriend came (cutting the 3/8" cutting board). Now I just have to drill the appropriate holes, make the motor mounts, and I'm ready for assembly :O

So close, yet so far... you might just win the machine-race yet CarveOne hahaha.

Ok, I'll accept that as a good enough excuse for letting me win the cnc router challenge. :) Tell her I said "Hi".

I'm making some headway on my z axis assembly now. The bad top and bottom blocks have been re-made and the side plates are next.

The metal caps aren't really necessary but they do look better on my oak framed machine. I also considered lathe turning some purpleheart plugs to fit the tubes since my bearing support blocks are made of purpleheart.

CarveOne

She was like "??? Hi...?" haha. I had to explain what was going on.
Exciting news though! Today I will work on my table again!

I can't remember if I said it before (and am too lazy to check! so i'm going to say it again!) but I got a table for my CNC to sit on from my uncle (old cousin's desk). It's HUGE! around 3 feet wide, and 5 feet long? I also got a computer (who knows what speed it is though...) for free, with monitor, and a small computer desk to put it on. I'll have to take a picture today and post it.

I'm still thinking about building that enclosure for the CNC, any suggestions? thkoutsidthebox was saying that I don't need too much polycarbonate, and should just go for building a box with a window on it to make sure it's going ok. I think maybe that's a more economical approach... maybe buy a bunch of brackets and thin plywood, some polycarbonate, and silicone to seal it from dust?

Also thinking about how to collect dust....was thinking about buying a vacuum filter, and a 160cfm fan from Princess Auto (I don't think you have Princess Auto in the states, it's a super cheap super shady quality resaler of all things chinese-made...but I go there all the time because it's priced for people like me ^^).

Have any plans for dust collection, CarveOne or thkoutsidthebox?

I am not an MDF fan, but it probably would do a reasonable job for your enclosure. Maybe you can just put a web cam in it instead of a window = might be cheaper.

This would be messy, but if you line the box with cheap carpet leftovers, it will help with noice control.

There are a number of DIY routers which use wet / dry vacs for controlling dust. In this case, MDF would be handy, since (I think) it will let some air through it.

She was like "??? Hi...?" haha. I had to explain what was going on.

Exciting news though! Today I will work on my table again!

I can't remember if I said it before (and am too lazy to check! so i'm going to say it again!) but I got a table for my CNC to sit on from my uncle (old cousin's desk). It's HUGE! around 3 feet wide, and 5 feet long? I also got a computer (who knows what speed it is though...) for free, with monitor, and a small computer desk to put it on. I'll have to take a picture today and post it.

I'm still thinking about building that enclosure for the CNC, any suggestions? thkoutsidthebox was saying that I don't need too much polycarbonate, and should just go for building a box with a window on it to make sure it's going ok. I think maybe that's a more economical approach... maybe buy a bunch of brackets and thin plywood, some polycarbonate, and silicone to seal it from dust?

Also thinking about how to collect dust....was thinking about buying a vacuum filter, and a 160cfm fan from Princess Auto (I don't think you have Princess Auto in the states, it's a super cheap super shady quality resaler of all things chinese-made...but I go there all the time because it's priced for people like me ^^).

Have any plans for dust collection, CarveOne or thkoutsidthebox?
Exactly the response I expected. :) Always keep them wondering. They do it to you don't they?

Good. I have the day off (Friday) and will be working on my z axis assembly.

A sister gave me a maple butcher block of that same size and I built a solid base for it with a shelf under it. Then I built a pull out drawer for it with full extension ball bearing slides and added 2-1/2" locking caster wheels so I can roll it outside the shop when needed. It's the bench I use when I need a really flat surface to work on. Like for building wings for my R/C airplane addiction. The table top is 1-1/2" thick.

I haven't even considered this yet but 1/4" luan or similar plywood and pine 1x2 strips should work fine. You will need to be able to take it off to work on the machine. It might also be good to make up individual panels that can be easily taken apart when needed. It's going to be a large enclosure. Even corrugated box material will work if it isn't in a damp area.

My place collects enough dust even when I don't do anything to help it.....:rolleyes:

I'll have to use mine outside on a bench until I can build a larger workshop. I hope to start on that soon. I have a portable 1hp dust collector from Harbor Freight that I will use on the router at some point. (HF SKU S31810) Being a squirrel cage and dust bag affair it's less shrill sounding than my 5hp 12 gallon wet/dry ShopVac.

CarveOne

So as I mentioned in CarveOne's thread, I got an LCD monitor piece of acrylic or something to use as a window, and might get some more ^^ pretty good, and free!

I liked the webcam idea too actually, a cheap webcam hooked up to my computer in the shed would be really really cool.

However I'm having some problems... I didn't think this out before, but actually the Porter Cable router has a 1/4" collet. So...how am I going to use drill bits! Especially very small ones for drilling PCB's or something?

My first idea was "ok, no problem, just find a chuck with a 1/4" straight shank". However my searches on eBay thus far have been fruitless. I found a lot of 1/2", but no 1/4". What should I do.....

I did find this though: http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-43224-4-Inch-Assembly-8-Inch/dp/B0000224O6/ref=sr_1_38/002-0527150-4598437?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1192557345&sr=1-38
might be ok for using cutout bits to mill materials... but it still does not solve the small drill bit problem.
Then I found this:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/30-PCS-HSS-COBALT-COATED-DRILL-BIT-BITS-1-4-SHANK_W0QQitemZ180168143002QQihZ008QQcategoryZ50383QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It still doesn't have smaller than 1/16", but it does have 1/4" hex, but will 1/4" hex fit in a 1/4" collet? I'm not sure...
Anyone have some advice on what to do (cost effectively)??

Most small chucks are attached with small thread. Many use 3/8 fine thread. Find a good straight bolt in the right thread and turn it down on lathe to 1/4 inch straight shank, or have an adapter made on the lathe.
Most chucks are not built for the kind of rpms many of the spindles can turn. A chuck may not be a good idea, especially at high speeds.

Ah...good point BobF....I guess if I do decide to use a chuck I'll really have to limit the speeds using the Rheostat otherwise it could be really "interesting". I will see what I can do with finding a chuck, might be a Princess Auto opportunity. It looks like an average drill press runs at a max of 3300 RPM or so.

I realize that there are no pictures on this page! So as promised, here are some photos of my work as of late. I think I will be working on the machine again pretty soon, and lately I've been trying to get my HobbyCNC enclosure stuff in order (trying not to have to order the DM-4 Pactec case...customs/shipping is murdering me). I want to get working on the electronics quick, and finish the assembly even quicker, winter is coming!

Enjoy the photos!

No matter what collet size you start with, it takes "something" to get the size you need.

For some setups, there are complete collet sets to hold each and every size of bit / end mill you need. I have a friend that made his own, but I don't have the time or equipment.

For my project, I am toying with the idea of making a permanent adapter for each bit. The idea is to start with a cylinder of brass slightly larger than the collet size. Drill it out just under size for the desired bit shank, and heat shrink it on.

Final centering would be done at a friends house using a lathe to trim the brass adapter to the exact collet size.

I am not sure if this will work or not, esp for a 2 hp router, but it is all I could think of so far.

One other idea, is to use end mills with bottom cutting setups. My brother often uses these as drill bits in his mill. Very stiff and that way he avoids having to manually switch out his mill holding for a drill chuck.

harryn just triggered a memory. Here is the solution to your problem. Get some 1/4" round brass stock. Drill a hole in the center with your desired bit. Now turn the bit around and solder the dull end into newly made 1/4" collet adapter.
Obviously you will have to do this in a lathe to get it centered properly. I would also chuck it in a slow speed drill and run it first to make sure it is all straight and true before you put it in the spindle, or in the lathe.
We used to do this with bits for a Terry drill. This is a right angle drill for close quarters work. You needed to be able to change bits, but keep the lenght of it all under 2-3 inches.
Here is a link.

http://www.terrytools.com/accessories.html

Hmmm Interesting, I think your ideas are pretty good, but I'm going to have to go pick up a whooooole bunch of brass and a whooole bunch of drill bits lol. I guess that's something that I'll just have to do... I agree that the chuck isn't the safest idea. Unfortunately it means having to go in to the machine shop at school and lathe out some brass... By the way, do the 1/4" hex bits I posted earlier fit in a 1/4" collet? I was wondering if this would be a good way to save a bit of time, I doubt they're as good as an actual cylindrical adapter for drill bits though.

What are the terry drill chucks for though? I'm kind of confused. Do these fit on 1/4" collets?

Thanks for your suggestions so far! Keep them coming :D

CarveOne and everyone weighing in on dust collection....the simple and quite solution is your everyday beat up dryer. IF you can get a dryer that doesn't dry anymore but still runs, you have hit a home run. Take the motor and the exhaust fan unit from the dryer. Mount them on your wall, a platform or whatever. A standard cotton clothes bag wtih a drawstring to go over the exhaust port and a hose to collect the dust on the intake will provide more than you need to pull dust and it is very quiet. It's low pressure but high volume. You can even make it with a small dryer vent hose and attach the hose to a lap work table for sanding, manual carving or whatever. All of this for the low low price of FREE.

I was thinking about doing the whole dust collection thing but with a 160CFM fan and a filter, or something like that...

Princess Auto has some Metal Brakes on sale, I'm thinking about going to pick one up this weekend. Looks really useful (18" only though).

Today I've been mostly (90% of the time) reading CNCZone postings on HobbyCNC, as well as on the HobbyCNC Yahoo Groups. Pretty interesting... I will probably build my own box instead of forking over the $30 to get a Pactec DM-4, then another friggin $30 or some $%^& to get it delivered to Canada, and then duty yet too (reminds me of buying a transformer from Allied Electronics...). Aiyah. I was looking at diarmaid's build, and in that build a plastic container was used. Looked ok, might want to make mine out of Polycarbonate or something though. I think I will just go over to Rona and pick up a polycarbonate board, cut a bunch of pieces from that, silicone and screw them together, then use whatever's left for windows on the dust enclosure/"bullet shield" that I will likely make. I figure as long as the case for the electronics isn't made of metal, and is the same dimensions as the pactec one, it should be ok.

I emailed Dave about using another type of case other than the Pactec, he said they only support the Pactec one, but right now I'm kinda feeling poor from the intensive spending to get this project up and going lol. The Pactec looked nice...but it's from the states so I can't afford to get it here (no local suppliers either).

So anxious....

My girlfriend also was asking when we were going to work on the CNC again (so touched!!...) and I think it will be this Friday/Saturday, or maybe Friday/Sunday. Can't wait.

I think I have the dust collection covered with a HF 1hp portable dust collector I already have on hand. It has a 4" round inlet for a plastic duct hose on the squirrel cage and a cloth bag on the outlet.

I also have a squirrel cage blower unit that was salvaged from an electric wall furnace from a mobile home that might be useable for a homebuilt under table dust collector.

If they don't do the job well enough I'll look for better options.


CarveOne

Looking forward to more updates! :)

CarveOne and everyone weighing in on dust collection....the simple and quite solution is your everyday beat up dryer. IF you can get a dryer that doesn't dry anymore but still runs, you have hit a home run. Take the motor and the exhaust fan unit from the dryer. Mount them on your wall, a platform or whatever. A standard cotton clothes bag wtih a drawstring to go over the exhaust port and a hose to collect the dust on the intake will provide more than you need to pull dust and it is very quiet. It's low pressure but high volume. You can even make it with a small dryer vent hose and attach the hose to a lap work table for sanding, manual carving or whatever. All of this for the low low price of FREE.

OK, just so I understand - you put the cloth bag on the outlet of the blower fan ? Just curious, as this would seem like a good way to clog up the fan with chips and dust. Maybe it isn't that big of a problem with a high volume, open clearance setup like that. Seems like a good idea, certainly a lot quieter than the wet / dry vac I own.

I've been using a cheap old Penn Industries dust collector (same as Grizzly G8027 ) for the last year, which is basically the same as described with the dryer blower, or the same one Carve in using. I tried it for a while with a 1.5" hose attached to the side of the router, with adequate pickup. I noticed a big pickup increase one day when I detached the small hose, so I ran the 4" hose to the router, and the pickup increased dramatically. Now it is not only quiet, but very effective. I would think the dryer blower would have the same results, as long as you keep the hose large enough. I originally used the smaller hose to get a little more Y travel, but the slight loss of travel with the larger hose is made up for by the increase in effeiciency of debris pickup, plus nothing gets stuck in the smaller hose as before.

Don
www.eurekaaircraft.com

Alternative way is having the fan on the opposite side of the bag, with the bag covering the hole for the fan in a barrel or something. I guess this is essentially just re-creating a dust collector though....
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=30282&cat=1,42401
That looks pretty good.

Going to work on the CNC today with my girlfriend. Should be good.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=31810

This is the portable dust collector I have. It goes on sale for $89 sometimes.

If the 4" pickup hose has a small diameter nozzle on it the intake suction is higher than the 4" hose without a nozzle. If the hose is 2" diameter with no nozzle, that is connected to the blower intake through a 2" to 4" adapter you probably get less suction than either of the first two examples and the blower is louder because of the long choke section of the 2" hose. It all has to do with the Bernouli principle, about which I know almost nothing.

Solid chunks of wood will damage a squirrel cage blower, but maybe the wood swarf coming off our routers will pass through ok until the density gets high enough to clog the cage. A dust collector usually has a more robust cage than a small shop vacuum.

An old 6 gallon Shop-Vac metal can I have self destructed one day and I was surprised to find that the cage was only about 5" in diameter and about 5/8" thick. The motor was probably 3,450 rpm. The cage looked to be made from sheet aluminum that was not much thicker than aluminum roof flashing. The bearings had dried up, locked everything together and melted the plastic bearing mount. Oh well, the can with caster wheels is serving out its life as a waste paper repository next to my computer desk. Works very quietly now. :banana:

CarveOne

pumelloman,
The Terry drill was just a close quarters right angle drill adapter. It has a drive shaft at the long end that you can chuck in a drill, then you have a right angle drill.
The idea was to adapter their soldered in drill bits. I don't think the 1/4" hex will fit a collet, never tried it though.
My thought was just use the 1/4" brass to adapt your bits to the 1/4" collet.
Hope it works for you.

Disaster struck.
When I was tightening the 2.5" carriage bolt on the weekend, it broke the endplate... My girlfriend and I whipped up another one pretty quick though, it's really nice working with someone else, things get done so much faster than by yourself haha.

I also realized that I was missing an X axis rod coupler assembly (which I also had to re-tap, then I took the rod coupler out of my Z axis and tapped that too for good measure...). So smooth after re-tapping, I strongly recommend re-tapping rod couplers if you have the tools and the time, it makes things a lot smoother and less "bindy".

The bearing assemblies were a little tricky. I constrained one side and have the other one semi-loose so that it follows instead of getting stuck on the EMT (due to the curved 2x4). Now it slides pretty nicely, very little play/slop.

Worked on my HobbyCNC board too (just soldering parts on now), turns out it's the HCNC Pro board, which I'm happy about, saves some power and seems like it's more protected from screw ups (which I will inevitably make) than the last version.

Enjoy the photos!

Having this much of it assembled now makes you feel like you're really getting somewhere doesn't it? What are you going to do if your girlfriend wants to build a second bigger, better, faster, fancier cnc router machine? Just go along with it and help her build it???? :)


CarveOne

What are you going to do if your girlfriend wants to build a second bigger, better, faster, fancier cnc router machine? Just go along with it and help her build it???? :)
CarveOne
LOL....Like that'll ever happen..... :D You know a second machine will be built though anyway! :rolleyes:

Having this much of it assembled now makes you feel like you're really getting somewhere doesn't it? What are you going to do if your girlfriend wants to build a second bigger, better, faster, fancier cnc router machine? Just go along with it and help her build it???? :)

CarveOne

Yeah... it does feel really good to have it start coming together. I can't wait to start making my first cuts on it haha. If my girlfriend wants to build a bigger, better, faster and fancier router......I think I'd say "ok...I GUESS we could....JUST MAYBE...." hahahaha. I think thkoutsidthebox hit the nail on the head, I'm already looking at joe's plans and getting some ideas maybe to start designing my own. The first thing I will do after messing around with this machine to figure out how to work it, is rebuild this machine. I'm not really happy with the quality of my work, and I think it could be done a lot better. So I'll get some more "exotic materials" and use this router to cut them. Maybe thin plate aluminum, or polycarbonate? Either way I don't like the hardboard, nor the pine, but as long as it cuts semi-accurately for now it's ok. I really hope this machine can cut aluminum............. :S

Planning to do a bit more soldering when I get home today. Gotta get that board up and running! I also got all the software I need installed on my free computer from my Uncle (AMD Athlon 1600+), it's a pretty good computer. Hopefully it will be sufficient to run Mach3 fast enough.

I have been considering building another one of these machines but make it out of steel box tube construction and change it to a 50" x 50" cutting area so that I can load 1/2 sheets of plywood/MDF/other materials in it. It would use steel channel for supporting a better grade of steel pipe rails and use the same hardware otherwise. Maybe I could sell the oak frame to someone who doesn't want to do the wood working part of building one.

CarveOne

Have you figured out what you're going to cut with your machine yet? I have no idea what I'm going to do with mine...

Yes, the first uses will be at my work location for cutting lite ply and birch ply parts for the wind tunnel models and remotely piloted vehicles that my boss and I make.

For my own uses it will be used for wood signs, small molds and wood parts for R/C scale model airplane projects for my boss and I, and I will try making exotic wood grips for 1911A Colt type pistols that will eventually be for sale. These machines can carve house numbers, family name, and decorative carvings into solid wood entrance doors, make detailing for houses (replicate the carved blocks found in the the older houses) and many other things. Your imagination is the only limit.

I'll get my machine back when the boss buys one or has me build one for him. Maybe he'll buy mine and I'll build that new one for myself. :)

CarveOne

Ah yeah, I remember this discussion before (not smart enough to read over your or my forum...sigh) but that does sound pretty cool. I'd really like to see the results from that.

I have no idea what I'm going to make with mine.... honestly no idea. I was just thinking of making my own case today for my HobbyCNC board, since I just bought a metal brake http://www.princessauto.com/moreinfo.cfm?TAG=93316&SCAN=CAN as featured by Princess Auto (similar to Harbor Freight).

I'd really like to start a small eBay business or something, or just a small business in general. I'm really not sure what I should do though (imagination, as you said, is the only limit, but my imagination is really limited!!!!!! Really big problem). I was thinking of doing some work for local electricians, milling custom PCB board with EagleCAM, or maybe doing some custom machining of moulds for plastics (or resins) for other University students working on projects. I don't know though, I'm pretty hopeless at business haha.


Mostly I guess I want to build another machine, I don't know what I'd do what that either lol. Maybe one made of steel, like a mechmate, or the one that Haydn made (I like that one), but more than anything probably just my own design made of a lot of cheap steel. That's not much of a business though haha.

I'll probably figure something out, hopefully.

More CNC work to be done tomorrow, it's coming along slowly :D

Worked on the Table yesterday, and got quite a bit done. (no pictures though! will have to post twice as many next time)

I installed the crappy (and yes, they were crappy, details following) 5/16"-18 leadscrews from Home Despot. One of them was pretty good, (relatively) very little drag when running the rod coupler over it. The other one got stuck.

I retapped the rod coupler (2nd tapping), but to no avail. My girlfriend and I ended up using the 5/16"-18 die and re-threading the entire 51" of leadscrew. I will never use this leadscrew again, I have learned my lesson (the hard way).

Other than the crap leadscrew experience, the bearing mounts went on pretty easily (left the drill at home, so we were putting drywall screws in my hand until I realized my Uncle had another drill...). We finished putting on the pulleys, and attaching the rod couplers to the gantry. I even tested the idler/pulleys by hand to make sure everything worked ok, and it was pretty sweet :D! I was pretty excited, but it was around 7-8 degrees C outside (45-46F) so my girlfriend was not as excited as I was...hahaha. Harryn's advice to get a heater (...2?) months ago seems pretty good right about now, I know my uncle has one I just have to find it.

Next objective is to find solder that's a little smaller in diameter so i won't make a mess of my HobbyCNC board, and to install that Z axis and the steppers. Exciting times!

Yesterday I went and picked up another soldering iron (pencil tip, instead of chisel...which I had before), so I should be able to carry on soldering now. Also used my $1.88 (CAN) side cutters from Princess Auto. They worked better than what I was using before, that's about all I can say haha.

I also picked up some sheet aluminum (I think 0.050"? it was from a junkyard so it's hard to say) for really cheap, to bend with my new metal brake. I was going to use this to make a case for my HobbyCNC electronics. I'll probably use a piece of polycarbonate for the front, and top. Dave, from HobbyCNC said they only recommend the Pactec case, but I don't think I can afford spending $70 on a case, including shipping/duty/etc. (sadly, and also I'm stingy), and I've seen some other people make their own cases too (Diarmaid I think used a Rubbermaid container...?). I am kind of concerned about using a metal case to put electronics in, but I'll put some non-conductive/non-static-charging material in the bottom first and fasten everything to that.

I've attached some previews of what my case will look like. I think I will use threaded insert to fasten the polycarbonate to the metal, and also caulk the sides to make sure air doesn't flow in from leaks on the sides of the front (not the top, otherwise I will never be able to open it...I might put a bit of caulk on and let it dry to act like a gasket). I will also attach a filter on the intake to filter out any dust that might be in the air, which according to thkoutsidthebox, is very likely. I figure the filter should be changeable/washable, so I'll design something for that. Would be pretty funny if I could get a cheap dust filter like a car intake or something, and slap that on the front hahahaha. Racing HobbyCNC board. I should paint racing stripes on it too...

Let me know what you think of my case design so far... is it kinda sketchy?

CarveOne,

A while ago, you mentioned to me that Rockcliff to start on would be a good idea. I've since researched, read, and decided on the large 24 x 36 model. I'm hoping you or someone has some experience with it. I want to focus on cabinet doors and signs. Perhaps even some military award plaques with some of the more "Hooah" emblems.

I've searched here in CNCZone and have found nothing...or my search skills are really non-existant.

armyliferarmy,

I like the Rockcliff for its simple construction and lower cost to build. (You can make it as expensive as you want to though. :)) My build is approaching $1k way too fast and I haven't bought software yet.

The fixed gantry with moving table design should work pretty well. If I were building one I think I would look for a way to use supported rails on the table and gantry to eliminate flexing of the rails under load. If you can justify more expensive slides versus low cost bushings that will turn it into a more accurate machine for what you need it to do.

If you start one of the Rockcliff builds let me know and I'll follow it. I still drop into that forum from time to time.

CarveOne

Hi again, Sounds like your nearly there! Woohoo!! :) I wouldn't worry too much about the filter for the case if you were only working with wood, because the dry dust doesn't (In my limited experience! :o) really affect the electronics. Its moisture and/or metal which will kill them. In your case this is kinda relevant since those aluminium dust particles will bridge your leads on your PCB and kill it pretty quick! :eek: Keep plugging away, your nearly there. Remember, with the girlfriend around there are other ways to generate heat than your uncles heater.......lol I mean building stuff like cnc machines in case anyone had other ideas :rolleyes:

Hey everyone, long time no post.

So I have some more photos, now you can see my Z axis carriage on the gantry, and the leadscrews are in with the bearing mounts.

One problem though, the block that holds the leadnut is not drilled correctly, so the holes are out of tolerance and are causing some serious binding in the threaded rod so it does not attach to the bottom plate of the carriage from the top.

Other than that, things are going along ok. The aluminum on the table is the beginnings of the HobbyCNC case. I discovered that polycarbonate is far too expensive, so I'm going to just cut some more aluminum and screw that on to the top of the case (or something like that...) and on the front.

It takes a really long time to measure everything out precisely to cut the sheet aluminum... I'm really looking forward to routing it with the CNC.

Other than that, progress lately has been slow, haven't been able to spend much time on the CNC as I would like, and I don't think I'll have any time this weekend. If the case turns out really nice I'll post the drawings, but I think if you can build a CNC, you probably don't need drawings to make a case out of sheet aluminum.... hahaha.

Ok CarveOne, you got me hooked....where would one buy the better rails and slides?

armyliferarmy

Something like the type B at this link http://www.smi4motion.com/lmstage-2.htm will be expensive but notice that the reciprocating bearing housing is open on one side so that the supported rail does not interfere with the bearings. Precision shafts and closed housing reciprocating linear bearings can be found at this link: http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/CTGY/25mmLinearMotionSystems

Check the banners on this site for more places to look, and in the other forums on CNC Zone.

The conduit and aluminum channel rails of mine and Pulmelloman's router tables are considered non-precision cheapie supported rails, but they work fine until you need close precision and/or the ability to cut metal.

An unsupported rail (shaft) will work ok if it is fairly short, like less than three feet. Use a larger shaft for additional stiffness. I have three 2 foot long x 5/8" diameter chromed shafts with closed bearing housings that I'll use on something in the future. They came from a friend who found them on Ebay.

CarveOne

pumelloman,

Your router is looking good. Keep making some progress as you are able. That's all I'm doing. I get more done on the weekends, but working late during the week making somewhat of a living takes up too much of my fun time.

Stain that lumber with a light color stain and clear coat it instead of hiding the wood streaking with regular paint.

CarveOne

pumelloman,

BTW, I cut 1/2" and thinner 6061 T6 aluminum on my wood cutting band saw. Use a 4 or 6 tooth per inch blade and it cuts like wood. You'll need to clean off the rubber tires of the wheels afterwards so that the aluminum particles don't embed too thickly. I use a single edge razor blade or Exacto knife as a scraper (with light pressure) while rotating the wheel by hand. The blade should be held about 90 degrees to the tire surface. You just want to knock the build-up off the tire surface. DO NOT DO THIS UNDER POWER!!!

The coarse blade acts like a nibbler and doesn't heat the metal like a finer TPI blade will.

CarveOne

Hey CarveOne,

Long time since I posted last. Lately I've been pretty busy (girlfriend...not only my girlfriend...but mostly...) so I haven't had a lot of time to get stuff done. Yesterday it was raining outside so I couldn't use the miter saw, and ended up studying all day instead. I need to recut that piece of wood on the back of the Z carriage, the one that the lead nut hooks up to. My holes are not the same distance apart as the two threaded-rods are.

I'm up to the point where I need to test my CNC electronics, to make sure I didn't bugger them up. So I'm going to need a 12V supply to test them...

Still waiting on that case too, I changed the design from polycarbonate front and back panels, to aluminum (cheaper! at least, cheaper than Rona's polycarbonate). Considering looking into plastic from Industrial Plastics (http://ippnet.com), there's a retailer in Richmond that I could get plastics from. I just called them now, and a 4'x4'x 1/4"THK sheet is $200 CAN... pretty expensive...so I guess I'll stick with the Aluminum.

I'll post some pictures when I get the box built :D

Hey pumelloman,

Good to hear from you again. I also want to run my electronics soon. The local Lowes building supply center had the 1/4" polycarbonate in various size smaller pieces. An 18" x 24" piece was about $17usd as I recall. Maybe you can find it locally as well.

I'm going to do something with a homebuilt box but I'm not sure what yet. I'm considering making an oak base plate with 1/4" crystal clear polycarbonate box (top and sides) and 1/4" purple heart end plates with a fan in each end plate of the box. (Ha! I just want to see where all the smoke is escaping from, and contain most of the sparking ...)

Unfortunately, there is too much work needed in the yard this weekend to spend much time on it. With any luck I'll start construction of the foundation and slab of a 30' x 40' workshop if the building permit arrives in the mail Monday. Hope to complete it before any hard freezing starts down here in east N. Carolina. This is my answer to a dust cover for my cnc router? :)

You can play catch-up while I do other things this weekend. Please do post photo(s) of your box.

CarveOne

Well, I worked on the box a bit with my ghetto skills.
Overall I'm pretty content with it, but there's a bit yet to be done.

As you can see in the picture, bending boxes without a proper "box & pan brake" is not really that easy (or at least, not as easy as I thought it would be). Later on I kinda hand-bent it a little better, so now it actually looks like a box, and not a box that's falling apart :P I'm planning on riveting it together (solder does not work unless you have flux, and I don't have flux) and sealing it with some silicone.

Right now I feel kinda (really) lost on what needs to be done yet. So I'm trying to plan that out as we speak. Will let you know how the rest of my planning goes ^^

Less Planning More Doing!! :D lol Keep up the good work. ;)

That is pretty good for a hand bent box. My sheet metal work barely looks that good with a brake.

Thanks harryn, but it's only the beginning I think...eventually I think I'll make my own box & pan brake. I figure it'd be interesting, but I always say "I'll do this..." and "then maybe I'll do that..." and in the end I just sit at home and do nothing...this CNC is no exception, it's taken a lot longer than I had expected. Oh I also told myself that I'd make a plastic injection machine too, and a CNC lathe. A windmill is definitely on that list as well, and an upgraded CNC that can cut aluminum (probably made of epoxied steel, or a Joe 4x4 Hybrid) is on there too. Some people say I'm not realistic and have too many dreams. I don't know what they're talking about (obviously).

I ended up buying a lot of electronics stuff within the last few days. Too much electronics stuff.
I bought a Safety Charge Pump from CNC4PC.com, and also a Relay switch, to turn on and off my Router/Spindle. Arturo was really helpful and pretty nice, helped me figure out what I needed for my proposed circuit. Then I bought an Emergency Stop button (expensive....like $30 for the button, and another $7 for an additional switch block?) and 6 roller limit switches (10A) on Digikey.ca. It's been another harsh day on my wallet.

I am also buying some milling bits off of eBay, 1x 2 flute ball endmill and 1x 2 flute straight endmill. Used, but they look ok. I was thinking about getting a 1/8" bit too, but I dunno, I figured it was a little bit short, only ~1.5" long.

Today I'm going to go back to my shed and drill some holes in my HobbyCNC case, and rivet it together. When (if?) I finish that, I'll probably cut the Y axis (X axis? the only one I don't get confused is "Z", anyways the one that goes on the gantry) block for the leadnut, since it's actually SUNNY outside today. I know, I was shocked too, for a moment I wasn't sure if I was still in Vancouver or what.

My CNC is going to warp so badly...

Not sure how I'm going to cut the big hole on the back of the aluminum case though (for the fan). I don't think I have a hole saw that size...maybe my uncle's rotozip with circle cutting attachment...? Might work...

I also discovered Mach3 has a lot more functions that I had thought. Like it can change the orientation of the cutter, like a knife, for use in something like a vinyl cutting machine, or a fabric cutter. Can you imagine CNC clothing??? Maybe half the clothes I wear are CNC'ed already and I had no idea.
I found the "ModBus" interesting too.

Projects lined up to be completed after CNC is working:
- Remake Z-axis carriage
- Remake HobbyCNC box
- Make some wooden signs
- Mill PCB's (I tried out the free version of EagleCAM, SO CONFUSING. Going to need a lot of help there, especially since I'm not in Electrical Engineering)
- Route some sheet metal boxes to aid organization in my "shed" or for other purposes.

pumelloman,

At least you are making some progress on your router. Keep at it and it will be worth it. If you haven't done so, paint the woodwork so it doesn't start warping.

With really nice fall weather here I have my router build on hold for a little while longer so I can build a 125 foot walkway (finished that an hour ago) and a crew will be here on Friday to start work on my new workshop foundation. I just haven't had time for the cnc stuff lately.

CarveOne

Yeah I already coated most of the wood with Polyurethane Clearcoat. Hopefully that should prevent part of the warping... we'll see though.

I worked on the machine last night, making some serious progress too. I mounted the Leadscrew, and Leadnut, as well as Leadnut block. As per usual, disaster likes to sneak up on me. So while I was "redrilling the hole" for the Z carriage threaded rod (holes were not aligned, fancy that...), I almost busted the bottom plate :eek: It now has cracked wood on the side of the hole, where the edge of the 2x6 is... oh my god. I'm just hoping that it will hold itself together while I remake the carriage. Any suggestions for new materials? I don't want to make it out of hardboard (I now hate hardboard), or any type of wood. What are some good materials to look at? HDPE? UHMW? I was reading and it appears that HDPE has a slightly higher (15%) Young's Modulus than UHMW, making it a lot more stiff and less likely to deform. But I guess it will really come down to cost? Which one is less expensive I guess.

I had a picture of it, but file corruption got in the way of me posting it, I had 4 pictures but only 1 made it out unmangled. Unfortunately it's the picture from the less revealing side, so you can't see what I've done :( sad. But I guess you can use your imagination ;)

Although, it turns out that my stepper motor mounts were not quite done correctly so the hole placements are not quite what they're supposed to be (or the Z carriage is not drilled accurately so the carriage bolts are not in the right locations). I'll have to test out my motor, see if it fits on ok. Also have to buy more hose clamps for the Y-axis coupler.

So far, including the cost of (half of) my shed, and all my tools etc that I've bought, I've spent over $1800 on this project. I'm starting to get a little worried haha. But I think it's just various bits and pieces left (and HDPE or UHMW...), so spending should be done....until I rebuilt this machine! That's on hold though for now, until I get more work. If it can pay for itself...great! but otherwise I'm not so sure.

Enjoy the photo!

Your workspace is more crowded than mine for sure, but your machine is coming along pretty well now.

I hope by spring I will have lots more space available in the new workshop.

CarveOne

Hey, dont lose heart. I remember when I built my first machine (Solsylva) it seemed to be taking soooo long by the end, but your machine looks really great. Much better than mine did! :o Just keep tipping away with it as you have time and it'll get done. Its so worth it when it starts moving the first time. I remember the first time I controlled my motors from my computer, I was jumping up and down (Dont tell anyone! :o)....and the motors were on the floor, not even the machine! haha :D Cnc is so cool! :) I have a video of that first life somewhere, I think I posted it at some stage aswell. Anyway, my point is, its worth it. :D
Keep up the good 'work' [fun]. :D Your shed looks so clean... I KNOW you dont have any idea how dusty its gonna get! :p lol ;)

Thanks for the support guys, I ended up cleaning my shed last weekend, so it looks a lot better than it did before hahaha, but it doesn't help the "too much stuff, not enough space" problem that much.

Yesterday was a harsh experience for my wallet. It got totally owned by my car repair bill ($500). Oh god. So the CNC fund has taken a hit as well. I'm going to need to get this thing running ASAP so I can use it to make some money >_<

On a happier note, the parts came in from CNC4PC! They're SO SMALL! I had no idea... I bought a relay switch to turn on and off my Router, and I also bought a Safety Charge Pump to disable my HobbyCNC board in the even of computer freezing (AMD computer...dusty environment... never know...)

The remaining things I have being shipped in are: Digikey - Emergency Stop and Limit switches (waiting for Emergency stop extra breaker thing, prolly until Dec. 12), and 1/4" Milling bits (2 flute ball end, and 2 flute end mill) from Ebay, about $5 a bit.

I've attached a photo of my case, it's finished now other than the top cover, I just needed it so I could put all of my electronics inside and get started. Overall I was pretty impressed with it ^^ the back part though could use some work, I basically just grabbed whatever aluminum strip I had and bent it, I know it should be shorter piece...but was like "whatever!! just want to get something done!" at the moment. Kinda regret that now, but I did get it finished, and that counts for something.

I cut the big hole in the back for the fan using my Uncle's Rotozip and a circle cutting adapter (I drilled the center hole too big though, that's why it looks so non-circular at parts). It basically just ate through the metal like nothing. I was like "whoa!" so I figure my machine should be able to take aluminum off in at least 0.050" passes, my porter cable laminate trimmer has more horsepower as well.

Yeah...I know it will generate a lot of dust...I just hope it's not TOO much. I might have to make some cabinet doors or something for the bottom of my table so my uncle's tools don't get full of dust, but then my monitor/computer will get full of dust...so really the best plan is to make that dust enclosure for the CNC, or just a vacuum adapter for the router and hope that it works. Either way though I have pretty close to 0 money available, so it might be made out of scrap/(stolen? just kidding...but a few houses might be missing Eavestroughs around Richmond and Vancouver...haha...) metal and some flexible tubing or something.

Alright, work calls (as you can tell, my job is mostly slack though :P).

Enjoy the photo (since this is at home, I used my SLR camera, not crap 2.1mpixel camera, so it's clear this time hahaha, notice the rice cooker in the background...)

oh my god I just realized now that I spelled Solsylva wrong in my thread name.... now I feel so retarded...

Nice work pumelloman,

Be sure to put a clear cover on it so you can see where it's burning inside. :)

Just kidding of course. Unless you mount all of the LEDs on the front panel you will need to see the LEDs on the individual boards. Looks like you have enough holes to mount them already planned out.


CarveOne

Nice work pumelloman,

Be sure to put a clear cover on it so you can see where it's burning inside. :)

CarveOne

Crap! Scared me man, I'm already worried about the box... going to go attempt it after supper lol....hope no loose wires touch the side of the box....

Just finished soldering my HobbyCNC board! Next step is to clean off the board with rubbing alcohol or something, then make my power supply!!!

I am so, so anxious...

As long as your wires are insulated you won't have a problem. For double protection you can cut some manilla folder material to fit the walls of your box, lightly spray one side with contact cement like 3M77, wave it around in the air a few times to dry it a little, and stick the pieces in place. Poster paper or thin sheet plastic will work also. Spray just the paper, not the box, and you can remove it later like a Post-it note. Smaller pieces placed where the wires lay against the metal is probably a better idea, as there is not as much flammable material in the box that way.


CarveOne

As long as your wires are insulated you won't have a problem. For double protection you can cut some manilla folder material to fit the walls of your box, lightly spray one side with contact cement like 3M77, wave it around in the air a few times to dry it a little, and stick the pieces in place. Poster paper or thin sheet plastic will work also. Spray just the paper, not the box, and you can remove it later like a Post-it note. Smaller pieces placed where the wires lay against the metal is probably a better idea, as there is not as much flammable material in the box that way.


CarveOne

What would I do without you CarveOne, that's a pretty good idea hahaha. I was about to go try to cut a piece of hardboard or the rest of my cutting board and somehow try to stick it in or something like that...but that only covers the bottom (I might still try to do that so I can screw the transformer etc into something), and doesn't cover the walls, which are more likely to be a problem.

Will have to try that tomorrow, don't think I have enough time tonight.

Soooo exciting...

I'll try to not let you go any more wrong than I do myself, how about that? :)

If it's not too late, you can put heat shrink tubing on the wires that you might leave close to the chassis while you are wiring up everything. Once the wiring is completed, then slide the tubing to the place(s) of interest and shrink the tubing in place on the wire. This also provides double insulation where the wire may rub the chassis.

The thin sheet plastic that I mentioned can be something like viewgraph material.

I'm finding that a gcode file that works fine with Mach3 does not work with EMC2 after just renaming the filename extension. The two programs seem to support some different non-standard G and M commands. I/We have a lot to learn about gcode. (Geewhizcode?)

CarveOne

So my roommate had some suggestions for me as well. He said that maybe I should cut some dowels, and use those as insulators for things that are sitting on the base of the case. I think it's a pretty good idea too.

So what I think I will do, is cut some dowels to the same thickness, then epoxy a bolt to each dowel, place the bolts in the mounting holes for the PCB boards and Transformer (hopefully these bolts will be straight, otherwise I'll never get what I'm mounting off of the bolt :D), then epoxy these to the aluminum case. I will still put some plastic/paper down on the sides with the spray glue, and possibly under the HobbyCNC board, but maybe not over all of the bottom.

Hmmm maybe I can use the File-A-Wax I bought to make a mould for the epoxy/bolt so that it will be flat on the mounting surface as well??? :O genius...!!! Going to try that today after work.

For those who are reading this thread and not CarveOne's, I guess you missed out on the fact that I went back to Saskatchewan this winter holiday, and got horribly, horribly sick. Actually I came down with