How the CNC community probably saved my life

[dlaps]

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Denis and I live in Quebec, Canada. English is not my first language, so please forgive me if I make typos/grammatical errors!
In 2011 my life was suddenly turned upside down and so began my nightmares. I started to get extremely tired and at some point, I needed between 14 to 20 hours of sleep per day. I had to go on long term sick leave and at the same time I also started to have severe muscular spasm. The spasms could last for hours and all the doctors I consulted couldn’t find the cause. The problem was that it was only affecting one side of my body and that's when you start to brood, alone with dark thoughts, and very quickly it destroyed my morale; so, I totally lost interest in living.

One day, I decided to pay a visit to one of my friend who is a professional woodworker. He had just bought a CNC Router machine to increase his productivity. He didn’t mention the price he paid for, but in my mind, it was quite expensive. I watched him cutting parts and I was surprised by the precision and the beauty of the process.
From that day, I spent all my time researching and this meant I was not spending countless hours brooding, until I stumbled across a web site on DIY CNC. Being a newbie in the domain it took me months to gather all the information I needed to set the kick-off of my new project. I finally decided to construct a CNC made of MDF and I bought the plans from Brian Oltrogge from Grunblau Studio. I bought the plans for only $ 40.00 and they were of high quality and the final product allowed me to make everything I wanted, cutting wood, aluminum and engraving PCBs.

I went to numerous forums, this one being my main source of information and I was able to build my CNC without the need to post one single question. Why asking questions when all the information is already there, just a manner of doing my homework by searching all the current posts. And I insist to say how good and knowledgeable the CNC community is. I only have good words for all of you who are totally dedicated and are spending countless hours helping and answering questions on the forums. This is when my life dramatically changed again, but this time it was for the best. The subject of this post is self-explanatory because I really don’t know where I would be today without this lifeline; I could have gone into drugs, alcohols, the river… who know!
I finally got better and returned to work in November 2012. It didn’t last for long as I lost my mother and father in law, my brother and my mother had to fight two cancers and none the less the extreme fatigue came back again and all of that in just a few years. I couldn’t take more, and I was on sick leave again in November 2014 and finally retired in June 2017 without returning to the office.

My love for CNC work is once again the driver to take me away from the darkness I was in for the last 5 years! I said my first CNC because I am in the process of building a second one made of steel. I decided to build a second one because the first one was not big enough to put a full 4x8 sheet of plywood and for me this was a major show stopper. This time, I conceived the plan for the base and modified other ideas for the rest of the machine.
Enough said, now here are a few pictures of my first MDF CNC followed by the new metal one.

This is my first post, so hopefully I will do things the right way. And hopefully I will get good enough in the future to start helping others with their questions the same way you’ve been doing for years.

It looks like I can only upload 8 pictures at a time, so I will add more in the next post.

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[dlaps]

Other pictures.

[dlaps]

And finally the last 3 pictures of my first CNC

[dlaps]

Oh, I almost forgot a picture of the final product.

[CruxScenica]

Hey man, I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune but I'm glad to hear you're doing better. I've had the same experience of learning just about everything I know from these forums and am now in the process of building my first CNC kit from CRP. This place has been invaluable for my research into all the various options out there and once I have the CRP kit up and running, I'd like to build my own burner table for a plasma cutter.
Thanks for sharing your story.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

[fretman_2]

Great looking machine...clean build!!! The best of luck with your health problems!

[dlaps]

Thank you for the good words.

Thank you also for the good words and good luck for your CNC kit and please share it with the community once built.

[louieatienza]

Great work! Sorry about your past misfortunes. I've had some pretty bad times - and it got really ugly at one point - but I'm at a better place now, and when I'm working on my machines it has become an escape for me, and of course nothing beats the satisfaction of watching something you've created come to life and make stuff for you! Best of luck!

[aarggh]

It's great to hear getting into CNC has made a major change for the better for you!

I absolutely love anytime I go out to complete a job or just potter around on the latest design or project. The things you can accomplish are really limitless!

cheers, Ian

[wizard]

dlaps, thanks for the very inspirational post!! I know from personal experience what it is like to loose a parent, a bit like taking repeated hits to the head that leave no mark. It takes a very long time to feel normal again.

It is great that building things, in this case a CNC, has helped you to refocus on life in a positive way. By the way that machine looks sweet.

[dlaps]

Yes the CNC project really helped me. By taking up new challenges, I can focus on achievements I make and totally forget the rest.

The CNC you see in pictures doesn't exist anymore. I'm in the process of making a new one made totally of metal. I'm not sure if I should post it here or in a new post as it will be a build in process for the next month.

[wizard]

Please do a build thread!!!

The way I look at it the more build threads the better as they highlight the endless ways to accomplish what amounts to the same thing.

Yes the CNC project really helped me. By taking up new challenges, I can focus on achievements I make and totally forget the rest.

The CNC you see in pictures doesn't exist anymore. I'm in the process of making a new one made totally of metal. I'm not sure if I should post it here or in a new post as it will be a build in process for the next month.