Newbie to CNC Engraving / Milling machines new help building from scratch

[tera_bit]

Firstly I'm lost Ive got a lot of idea's but no way to use them,

Here's What a want to build:-
A cutting area of (W)39cm x (L)39 cm up to (D)5 cm

I have lots of:
- photocopier
- printer
- computer parts(old 5 1/4" disk drive and old harddrives)

And the experence in using lathes and sheet metal tools welding etc.

so building the thing is no problem but planning it is.
I not asking for someone to do all the work for me but I am good at
reproducing things learning from an example so if I had a complete
set of plans to base my machine on that would be a great help.

So for anyone willing to help I say thanks,

PS. upon completion I will have no problem posting my complete plans also.

[chuckknigh]

There are several sets of "complete plans" available online, including the JGRO plans on this site.

Having said that, your basic goal is to make something which slides/moves in 1 direction only, and has no wiggle in the other direction. It's rather like a properly fitting drawer on a piece of furniture...and in fact, some people use drawer slides as linear ways.

You just stack them at right angles, on top of one another, to make an X-Y table...then a Z axis goes up and down. But, they're all the same basic "modules."

Take a look at some of the machines on this site, and you'll get the idea.

-- Chuck Knight

P.S. Your printer and photocopier will likely turn up useful parts. Look inside for stepper motors (1 per axis) and linear motion components. The stuff that slides side to side, like the printer head, will slide on well fit bushings on a rod. That's what a linear way actually is.

[FPV_GTp]

Originally Posted by tera_bit Firstly I'm lost Ive got a lot of idea's but no way to use them, Here's What a want to build:- A cutting area of (W)39cm x (L)39 cm up to (D)5 cm I have lots of: - photocopier - printer - computer parts(old 5 1/4" disk drive and old harddrives) And the experence in using lathes and sheet metal tools welding etc. so building the thing is no problem but planning it is. I not asking for someone to do all the work for me but I am good at reproducing things learning from an example so if I had a complete set of plans to base my machine on that would be a great help. So for anyone willing to help I say thanks, PS. upon completion I will have no problem posting my complete plans also.

hi tera_bits

what suburb are you from ?

I'm doing something similar to what your doing but i have a huge learning curve in electronics

I'm building a little CNC table that i can carry around from work to home otherwise i spend long hours at work

the small cnc table is just to familarize myself with stepper_motors/drivers/elctronics/cnc_software with plans to build a bigger CNC table

just touching base with a fello aussie

do a search on a guy called stevie my opnion he has some of the best cnc lathes and gantry milling machine on this site to his credit,

there are alot of other guys in here with a wealth of info have fun

cheers

[mwalach]

My plans might help, check out www.bigbearcnc.com

mw