My Newest Desktop machine


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  1. #1
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    Default My Newest Desktop machine

    Hi All,

    Some pictures of my latest small desktop sized machine...

    Painted & almost finished...







    It has a small cutting area of about 9 x 8 with 3" Z travel.



    All set up & ready for a first cut with a driver kit from Probotix....




    Bosch trim router with tool holder from http://www.mcpii.com/Nicknacks.html




    Cutting bits for fine work from http://www.cnctoybox.org/store/page27.html




    Small vise bolted to the expendable replaceable MDF table...




    My wifes design as a first test cut....




    Perfect cut...













    Like I mentioned, this is a pretty small design that I plan to use
    for small molds & die-sets for jewelry designs mostly. It'd work
    great for pcb work as well.

    It's carefully built to have no backlash or "play" in it. It's such a solid,
    little simple design that I'm even considering making more of them
    to sell. It should be a fairly cheap machine to reproduce....


    John

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    Congrats. That looks great. Only question I have is that you have the y axis so far back that aren't you wasting lots of cutting area?



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    Thanks!...

    No wasted cutting area, but there's a bit of a trade off involved.

    The overhang of the router brings it very close to dead center. But the
    Z axis plate is drilled for several different tool holders....including all
    that are offered from Probotix, and many of the K2CNC tool holders.

    Those were the the places that offered the most choices in tool holders,
    so there's a pretty wide range of routers that will fit correctly. The overhang
    of them will vary a tiny bit.

    The table is done so that another layer can be bolted to it. That extra
    layer could be shifted forward or backward and it'd also extend over the
    ends of the machine. Basically meaning it'd accommodate a very long piece
    of stock....though cutting it would still be limited to the 8" or so of max front/back
    travel.

    I did put a 1.75 Hp Milwaukee on it, but I think that's near the limits of reasonable
    weight. Trim routers will handle most everything just fine.


    John



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    A couple of videos if anyone is interested....

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/BBot1.wmv

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/BBot2.wmv

    Something is all-of-a-sudden weird with my camera, so the
    quality isn't what I wish it was....

    John



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    Adding T-Nuts to fixture layers....

    Multiple cheap, expendable layers are easy-easy to make.

    Just do a 3 step drilling using a 1/8" bit first. Drill from the front.

    From the back, drill down about 1/8" into the MDF using a 7/8"
    spade type wood bit.....to make the t-nut countersunk into the surface.

    From the back....for 1/4-20 t-nuts....drill a 5/16" hole on through.

    Pull the t-nuts into place. Don't hammer them.

    As shown in the pictures...













    links....

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot024.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot026.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot027.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot028.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot030.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot037.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot039.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot041.jpg

    http://www.microcarve.com/zonesmall/bot042.jpg

    Nice clean easily replaced fixtures/jigs....

    Cheap too!





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    Default congrats & a few questions...

    Dear John (microcarve):

    Congratulations on a beautiful, well built machine...

    Would you be willing to disclose a little more about this router:

    .size of the guiding rods
    .type of linear bearings
    .size and type of the screws and nuts
    .anti-backlash measures used
    .material used for the frame - it looks like .75" thick MDF, but
    your beautiful paint job makes me not sure...

    Thanks a lot for your attention

    Nelson



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    Hi Nelson,

    Thank You...

    I think it's a pretty good design. It's a very rugged and durable little
    machine. I've always liked the fixed bridge design for the extra rigidity
    it provides. The only thing is has against it, is the small cutting area. But
    this one was intended to be a small machine anyway. Not everyone has
    space for larger machines. It's very portable and easily enclosed for use
    in places like apartments where many people live....

    The rails are 5/8" Thomson linear shafting. They're very nice precision
    rails that don't flex at the relatively short lengths....14" for the bridge/gantry,
    and 16" for the front to back axis....

    (depending on how it's set up in software and positioned in an enclosure,
    someone may call either axis X or Y...)

    It uses common inexpensive Oilite bearings. The fact that they're
    "cheap" is really just a plus, as they're ideal for these sort of small
    machines. I've used them for many years in many sizes of machines,
    including MDF , plastic and all metal machines. They will push dust
    and debris away and act as self cleaning bearings. Easily cleaned
    if need ever be.

    The lead-screws are 3/8-12 Acme, with Delrin nuts. With the Probotix
    driver setup shown, at 1/4 stepping, the machine will move at 80IPM,
    though it's really intended to go around 30-40IPM max for tiny, precise
    carving work.

    It is an MDF frame. It's designed so the MDF frame holds the working
    parts in place. At these small sizes, the MDF thickness...at 3/4" is
    enough to provide very strong and reliable rigidity. The rails are held
    in place using 3/4" black HDPE and cast urethane blocks. They won't
    flex at all, and the combination of materials practically cancels any
    transfer of vibration and resonances. Meaning it'll do very precise
    and highly accurate work.

    The painting is several layers of Rustoleum Hammertone paint.
    It's taken a lot of trial & error to finally figure out that the easiest
    way to get a good durable and inexpensive finish, is to be very patient
    and let it dry for several days.

    The hammertone type paints give it a thicker, but stickier coating
    pretty easily without too much "running" of the paint between coats.
    The extra thickness makes a glossy heavier coating, but the stuff
    has to dry a lot longer than the Krylon paints I normally use.
    So I have to give it 3-4 days to completely dry. It's well worth the
    extra waiting, because the finish ends up very durable and similar
    to powder coating.

    I didn't even bother sealing it like I normally do, because the extra
    thickness of those hammertone paints sealed the edges well enough
    on their own.

    It's a very nice little desktop machine. I think it's probably capable
    of some very fine PCB work...though I don't do pcb's myself.
    It's strong and rigid enough that it may do some light aluminum milling
    too.

    The key thing is that all the parts are very, very strong and rigid at these
    relatively small sizes.
    The only hard part to building it is that all the holes must be bored
    and drilled in *exact* right places to be as smooth and accurate
    as it is. There's no 'slop' at all in the machine.

    It has some nice weight to it at around 40 lbs. It should fit well on
    most workbenches...it's 19" high, 19" wide and 24" deep with these
    smaller nema 23 motors attached.

    These motors don't have the extra shaft on the outside...which I
    wish they did. I like to put handles on them for hand positioning
    everything sometimes.


    John



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    Pictures of the machine before it was painted....









    Pictures of the first prototype for the design.....








    The green one was the original to test the concept. It's a little
    small at about a 6" x 7" cutting area. The designed looked to be
    good for scaling up a bit, and 9" x 8"....though still a bit small, is
    a very useful cutting area, Especially so with the rigidity and
    smoothness of the machine.

    I think it could even go a few inches bigger, but I'll try that
    a little later. This is a "just right" size for a desktop machine.

    The green paint was a PITA to do and chips a little too easily.
    It was carefully sanded and sealed with Zinsser shellac. It's
    a white sealer that seals really well, dries fast, and is easy to
    apply. But when the green enamal top coating is bumped...
    and it'll get bumped.....it chips, and the white undercoat shows.
    Very irritating after all that work....

    The hammertones are thick are durable.

    So far, anyway.....


    John



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    It's on of those designs that follows the rule "if it looks right it is right". And it does look right.

    My milling machine is different in every way. But it has it's front-to-back stepper motor round at the back, rather than at the front. This is really nice, as it's easier to sheild from debris and you can get at the working table more easily. Have you thought of mounting yours at the back?



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    Thanks Very Much!



    I have mounted the motors at the rear before on other designs. The
    problem with doing it on this one is that the motor can get easily damaged
    if the machine gets bumped into a wall. This one will likely sit on a workbench
    due to the design of it.

    I have done that damage before on a different design. It gave the choice of
    mounting either in the front or rear. So, this one was intentionally designed
    to only go together one way. It could be easily shipped and assembled by
    anyone with minimal tools.

    Most of my motors I normally use have the dual shafts at both ends of the motor.
    I like those because I can put these little knobs on them....


    http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102830

    ...to allow for very fine positioning by hand. Easier than trying to jog a few
    thousandths....

    But I accidentally bumped a machine with motors at the rear once and
    cracked off the knob and slightly bent the shaft. The motor was still
    Ok, but I was amazed at how easily damaged it was just by an accidental
    shifting into the wall. It didn't take much.....

    Another thing I like about this design is that it's so easy to lift up and vaccum
    completely underneath it. I had one design that had a bottom "pan" in it and there
    were places that were hard to get cleaned. All the debris is really easy to clean
    up with this one.

    Thanks for the compliment!


    John



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    Here's a couple of pictures of just how much abuse the Oilite
    bearing and Thomson shafting combination will tolerate....

    Cutting Z axis parts from urethane castings.....





    A huge MDF machine that made many-many parts for a few years.
    36" x 36" cutting area. Fixed bridge design mainly to see how well it could
    work. 6 foot long, 1.5" Thomson precision shafting.

    It worked great with 1/2-10 (supported) Acme and 300 oz motors.
    Gecko G203V's at 60 VDC.

    I replaced it with a different gantry design when I got a deal on
    some Hiwin rails. Just to save space really, though. This one worked
    fine.....but I wouldn't recommend the huge design.





    Oilites have been really reliable and stable...and easily maintained.
    Though very rarely necessary.

    Cheap too...


    John



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    You really need to invest in some dust collection.

    Gerry

    UCCNC 2017 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]

    Mach3 2010 Screenset
    [URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]

    JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
    [URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


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    Ain't it the truth...

    But, there's really a point behind the outright near criminal abuse.....

    If one is going to be broken, I'd like to be the guy that does it first...

    The thing just kept on working and I did really mean to get around
    to cleaning it. But it just kept going....and going....


    John



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    microcarve

    It looks great,one suck with the vac will clear up the mess/chips though, the machine most likly won't break,but if you get a static build up with all the chips you could hurt your control if it zaps it

    Mactec54


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    Thanks!...

    Yep, I was pushing my luck there for awhile. I really got concerned about
    the flammable MDF dust in the air. One little spark and....BOOM!

    Oddly enough, the flakes from the urethane carving are pretty much
    static free. I was surprised at that.

    I did get a dedicated shop vac though, and use it always.

    Here's the machine I replaced the Huge MDF one with....







    Made mostly from something called "stair treads". Hard to find at
    Lowes....it's in some odd section of the store.....but it's 1-1/8"
    thick, 11" wide, and 48" long. Very nice stuff to build a big MDF
    machine with. About $6-7 each. Rigid and straight....

    This one was supposed to be a "first of three" prototype.
    (Usually takes me 3 times to get a design like I want it....
    1...get it to work. 2...refine the design...and, 3...make it look good)

    But it worked very well on the first attempt and I use it a lot.

    I DO keep it a lot cleaner though...


    John



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    Speaking of the "stair treads"....

    Here's one made from them....
















    This is a bulldozer of an MDF machine. Ebay usually has shorter
    linear rails available for good prices. Odd sizes don't seem to sell
    really well, so I got some of them for cheap....brand new too...

    I think there's less than $250 in this entire machine. Made as a
    prototype for doing stuff like computer cases and control boxes.
    The vise naturally comes off, but raises work up to the router.
    I milled some 6061 flat with it for more Z axis's.

    Hopefully, I'll refine this design a little later. It could be a good looking
    machine that performs great once that's done. A Very strong machine.


    John



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    Small aluminum desktop machine made from common sizes of
    aluminum....
















    Rails at these sizes are pretty reasonable. From Automation Overstock.

    Easy cuts on common strips of aluminum. Lots of bolts and tapping though,
    but it's worth the time & trouble....


    John



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    The original "crazy big MDF machine".....








    Like I mentioned before....it worked Great and made LOTS of stuff.
    Fixed bridge design meant no possible skewing, so the parts were
    very accurately and precisely cut. It made lots of other MDF machines.

    It took up too much space in my router room, though.
    But it sure payed it's way for a couple years....

    John



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    Test cut of a flower found on the internet.

    Using microcarve software to convert image to g-code.

    1" width x .75" high.

    .005 stepover and .028 depth of cut.

    Added border around image of .10"

    It'd have been best to use a bit with .005" tip, but I used a homemade
    one with about .013....otherwise detail would have been much better....

    Last image is near actual size of the carving. It took about 10 minutes
    at 24ipm.























    This is good, but it'd be better with the right bit. The important thing
    is there's zero indication of any tool marks or stepover. Even under
    magnification....

    Gotta order some finer bits....


    John



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    BTW....The flower image was chosen, Not because it's a beautiful
    picture. But because it has extremes of contrast that would be very hard to
    carve in any detail...and especially so at only 1"....

    It's a "stress test" of the machine, in a way.

    I'm pretty pleased with what I'm seeing...


    John



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