CNC Darren's worklog

[CNC Darren]

With the help of you guys i'm finally getting everything together. Was over at a friends house last night and he gave me this computer case, should work like I want and be able to fit everything inside it.

Spent a few Hours today cutting up the MDF at my dads custom woodworking shop. He seemed kinda interested in it and was asking anout building a 4'X4' table if i get mine all set up and working. He runs a small custom woodshop for a hom biz: http://www.albertswoodworking.com/ the site is still pretty new.

Darren

[CNC Darren]

My router is going to built from JGRO's plans, I was going to midify it and make it larger but in the end i decided to go with the original size. Here are most of the parts all cut out and ready to have the holes drilled

[CNC Darren]

I got my driver board and stepper motors I went with the Hobby cnc 3 axis chopper driver kit. It goes together very fast, had it all soldered up in about an hour and a half. It sure went together easier than I thought it would.

[CNC Darren]

ok, ok, I know its a sin to spin the motors before the machine is done, but I have wanted to do a project like this for so long I couldnt resist I tried a few DXF files I drew up in Turbocad and imported them into KellyCam. I have Mach 2 also but havent tried it yet, still learning this part.

[CNC Darren]

While this doesnt aply to my project, thought you guys might like to see it. This is what happens when your boss tell you to go play with a 3000 watt Trumpf laser. This was a freebie program that was on the machine, the larger eagle is cut from a full 4x8 sheet of .125 aluminum and the smaller one is cut from 410 stainless and is about .030 thick. After the general manager saw the smaller eagle from then on any customer that came thru the plant got one, MAN did we get tired of putting thoes together!! Sadly I no longer work there as the plant was shutdown, I could really use access to that laser again.

Darren

[CNC Darren]

Well, busy day today! Its kinda nice to see the pile of parts going together then all of the sudden it starts to look like something. Next I need to get my pipe, I will be pipe with a brushed nickel finish from the celing fan department at Menards as I like the looks much betterand feels smother. I have to get bearings too, i'll take a look around localy or go to ebay where I see them all the time. I have to say tho that that gantry feels heavy and its hard to belive that the pipe will support it but I have an idea to counter the weight.

Darren

[CNC Darren]

one more, it actually looks like something

JGRO if ya see this, thanks for the free plans they are great

Darren

[jgro]

WOW! That looks familiar

jgro

[CNCadmin]

Looking good, keep it up. What kinda things to you plan on cutting and making with you're router?

[CNC Darren]

Mostly model airplane parts, I hate cutting out wing ribs. I would like to do some 3D carved signs but I havent looked into how to go about the 3D stuff yet, just the 2.5D cutting. Since my dad operates a woorworking biz he was asking about cnc carved drawer pulls again a 3D thing.

[CNC Darren]

the latest update, all the wood work is done. Most of it is primed. I went ahead and put a 1/4" radius on all of the gantry parts to make it look nice. Just have to get the gas pipe and some screws. The bearings I got for free(not in the pics) my brother works for a copier repair company and it seems that the 8X22X7mm bearings are quite common in SHARP copiers. They may be in other brands to but not sure. We went over to his work last night and they had 25 copiers that were leased units ready to go to the dumpster so we stripped them. Tons of computer fans, all 24v tho and around 20 bearings of the size I wanted we quit pulling them out when we had 75 of them lol. Lots of timing belts and pullies too. If you have any copier repair places around they may be willing to let you come in and pull off what you want, just less that goes in the landfills. On to the pics..........

[buscht]

CNC Darren,
Thanks for the pictures, looks great!
Making the CNC carved drawer pulls is a great application for your machine.
It's a little different doing 3Dwork, but not that bad once you get into it.
Here's how I do it.
1. Make a real life actual size model, either clay or handcarved.
2. Scan it, or pay someone to scan in the model into 3D. I have payed people to scan my models, $25 to $100. But know I have my own Roland 3D scanner, so I do my own.
3. Run the model through MESHCAM to get the CNC program.
4. Cut on your router using a 1/8" ball nose end mill. You need this small size to get decent detail.

Things to consider; are that you can't do undercuts very well with a vertical router bit. Usually that's not a problem if you take that into account when designing the part.

You need to do 2 steps in routing to cut the design, then cut the back. Actually, cutting the back first would probably be best. Then make a holding fixture and cut the design on the front of the part.

If you have good CAD skills you can design the part entirely in CAD and skip the scanning steps. But I never had any luck other than simple designs.

The down side to the whole thing is that an elaborate 3D drawer pull will take about 2 to 3 hours of router cutting time. This is at about 30" per minute with a very small stepover .008". You won't be able to make thousands, but a kitchen or two is very feasible.
Good luck and have fun.
Trent