Building My Second Router

[snazzyguy]

Hey:

Well I'm rather new to this community and went through the process of building my first router without the wealth of knoweledge available hear and boy would it have been a lot easier had I known.

I'm not sure build is the proper word to use in describing the process I've gone through as I'm coming at this process a little bit backwards. You see I have access to a rather industrial CNC router table (a Camtec 4'x8' machine with 5hp router). However my interests lie in smaller endeavours (machineing wax for mold making and circuit board production) so a smaller machine is neccesary.

And so I found myself a number of months ago. I made all the drawings (foolishly relying on a 10"x10" footprint for the machine and making no real assesment of what my available cutting window would be). and made a rather nice (the cad drawing is attached at the bottom) machine however the cutting window trurned out to be along the lines of 3"x3"x1" a tad too small for even my aims). Now buoyed by the relative success of my first machine I have made some changes. Most notably in the size, as well as in the interlocking of pieces.

I'm hoping to finish appending the drawings today and shall chronicle the building as it progresses here.

Off to bury myself in Corel Draw (I know, I know but you can save in DXF and I have yet to learn the intricacies of AutoCad)

Aaron

(I fear I didn't take any photo's of my first machine but hope to chronicle this build a bit more pictoriallya s I have aquired a digital cameras in the in term)

[snazzyguy]

Hey:

Suspicously absent from my first post are any real details as to my new machine. Here's what I'm thinking along more technical lines.

Cutting Window:
10" X 10" Y 3" Z

Material:
1/2" MDF

Bearings:
Skate Bearings running along 1/2" rod (mounted on the axles from rollerblades not angled but hoping it'll be alright for the light work I intend to do)

Drive:
1/4" Threaded Rod and Coupling nuts (hoping to upgrade to acme maybe 1/2" for improved speed depending on how all turns out)

Motors and Contollers:
NEMA 23 (I believe 80 oz/in) and controller from HobbyCNC (from my first machine)

Cutting Tool:
Currently a dremel flexrod attachment (the little pens that run to your dremel) but have plans to later direct mount a dremel or maybe sometnhing more powerful

Any thoughts or helpful hints would always be appreciated

Aaron

[ger21]

Instead of starting with 1/4" threaded rod, and upgrading later, start with something like 3/8-12 acme. Under $15 http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT...PMPXNO=4454577

[snazzyguy]

Well it's taken most of a holiday monday but I've managed to come up with the drawings, it's looking like I'll be able to squeeze the 35 pieces onto a 2'X 5' sheet of MDF.

Hopefully I'll be able to find time this week to swing to Home Depot and pick up my MDF and manage to have a bit of a lul at work in which I can get to cutting. I'm including a jpg of the pieces, sadly it doesn't look like much on a flat medium but if you imagine them interlocking and the like a machine can be seen to form. Or maybe not I should be able to find time to extrude it in AutoCad as well, probably a good idea to "dry-fit" the pieces anyway before I cut them as well.

I guess it's off to AutoCad for me ahh the joys of skillfully squandering a full day at the start of a project .

Aaron

[snazzyguy]

Hey:

Well the AutoCad extruded build up hasn't revealed any glaring errors in the plans (ie. no beams interecting where there really should be nothing). And it also has produced a very pretty picture (well at least in my eyes and if I spent some time lighting and rendering perhaps to others as well (it's attached at the bottom if you care to see how it is supposed to look once finished).

Well with this minor success and and my workload this week looking like I'll find time to cut before the weekend my mind has turned to the parts. The little things such as bolts and screws I have left over from my previous machine (although I'm hoping I can pick up some confirmat screws to try out as the machine screws I used last time really didn't perform all that well). But what gave me quite a bit of trouble last time was finding nice wire to use. I finally settled upon chopping up an extension cord and running two pieces to each motor, while this prooved both cheap and relativly functional I'm left thinking there must be a better answer. If anyone has had success in their own projects or knows a good source for wire, prefferably both flexible and with 5 conductors (will be running 1 amp steppers but may wish to upgrade later), please let me know.

Yet a little closer
Aaron

[esmiller]

But what gave me quite a bit of trouble last time was finding nice wire to use. I finally settled upon chopping up an extension cord and running two pieces to each motor, while this prooved both cheap and relativly functional I'm left thinking there must be a better answer. If anyone has had success in their own projects or knows a good source for wire, prefferably both flexible and with 5 conductors (will be running 1 amp steppers but may wish to upgrade later), please let me know.

Yet a little closer
Aaron

Well, not sure about the 5 conductor wire, but if you decide to go with 4 wire BiPolar motors, I strongly recommend Trailer Wiring. I bought some at wal-mart cheap in sporting goods dept.. 15ft for $5 if I recall correctly. several different ones available, so i just bought the cheapest..

Eddie

[mxtras]

Snazzy -

If you post the details for the cable (sounds like pretty small diameter - 20 ga? - need voltage spec.), I might be able to hook you up - you pay shipping and it's yours. I have a lot of shielded cable and control wiring that has been scrounged from new machines over the years. No guarantees that I will have what you need, but it's worth a shot - I can look through my bundles. Most of what I have is 18ga or larger but I do have some smaller stuff. Don't get your hopes up...

I don't know of a source for small quantities but you may have an electronics surplus store in your area - that's worth a shot. You may also pick up a spool from Radio Shack (gag) and heat shrink them or wire loom them together. Just a thought.

Have you glanced through Ebay? Sometimes there are leftovers on there for next to nothing. Just another thought...

Scott

[snazzyguy]

Hey All:

Well as many of you have probably expierienced a day can turn into months sometimes atthe drop of a hat. Well I shan't bore you with how those month's were spent but this recent week has granted me the luxury of working on my router once more (and more importantly having a chance to take a couple photos). Well it has performed relativly well (ie it can cut and the like) I have started to notice many of it's failings and have decided to build a yet larger machine (oh function creep).

Actually as I type it's cutting on the router and I shall hopefully post more on it's design later but until then some photos, (with dremel pen unmounted)

Aaron

[snazzyguy]

Hello All:

Well a long time has passed since I last updated and since then my machine has morphed (well been rebuilt) in a completly different form, having grown much larger now easily a six foot (y) by two and a half foot (x)range. and most notably having switched from half inch MDF as the material upto 3/4 inch MDF. Well I'll comment soon on results but rather excited at the moment and thought I'd take the opportunity to post some pics of the all but finished machine.

Aaron

P.S. A comment on the photos I have yet to purchase the full length rails.

[jmytyk]

It's funny to see how the time scale on builds go. I have the same problem, i wanted to get my machine done in 1 month, and now 7 months later, still no machine- but progress. Keep motivated, you're almost there...

A note of something i noticed in your design, there is nothing hold that gantry down other than it's own weight- this should be ok for very light cutting, but be aware if you try to cut into mdf or ply wood- the whole thing will tilt. (please ignore if you have already seen this and designed around it with rails that aren't there yet)

[snazzyguy]

Hey:

Too true on the time scale thing though. In regards to the gantry, I'm running a belt drive sysetem so the tension on the belts (on both side of the gantry) serve to help add some downwards motivation. Although I do have plans to invest in some ballast if this does not proove sufficient.

Aaron