your location & need help :) ????

[mcx101]

I'm a newbie here ...
I've been a cnc machinist for a mold & die shop for the last 19yrs and been a full-time programmer using mastercamx for the last 6yrs and now I'm going to try to build a cnc machine.. I'm hoping to built it rigid and powerful enough to cut alum and maybe steel up to a half " cutter .... I'm not sure if its possible or not. I have the resources to build the whole thing out of steel. To start with the base will be 33" x 33" x 1" flat ground 1018 mild steel and work up from there... I have no clue about what will be needed when it comes to motors and controls but I hope to get some incite here. I'm from Ham Lake MN, Where you guys from ??? Hoping to find a local that has the same interest in diy cnc machines,,, Any advice would be greatly appreciated....
Thanks
Mcx101.....

[jsheerin]

If you're building a milling machine, there's a mill and lathe group under the metal working forum. You may or may not get better feedback there.

[awerby]

Machines that cut steel have to be extremely stiff and massive. There's a reason why most of them are made with heavy cast iron bases and "C" columns. You can attempt to build up the equivalent with steel weldments, but there are problems with that approach, notably the warpage you get when steel gets hot. There are ways a skilled welder can minimize this, but it's always going to be a factor. Of course, with your skills you could probably work up a pattern for a sand-casting foundry to produce big iron castings for you, but that still involves quite a lot of work and money.

Unless you've decided that this is a challenge you were born to overcome, whatever it takes, you might consider the alternative, which is to find some massive CNC mill with an obsolete or dead control and retrofit it with something more modern. It's still plenty of work, but at least you'd have the basic structure of the machine to start with, and, if you were lucky, good motors, slides, ball-screws and a spindle. I've seen mills like that being given away for free, just so a shop can make room for a new machine. And there are plenty of them out there that can be picked up for just slightly more than their scrap value.

Andrew Werby
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