Newbie- Just starting out / Introduction

[GeeksGoneBad]

Hi all! Just starting a thread to keep track of my progress with building my own CNC machine - I'm looking to do small parts (less than 4") in aluminum or hard plastic

I've been reading and reading and there's a lot of info here - so I'm sure I'll be reading for a while

one of the things I read was that I could rob old printers of their parts - and would you know it that right after reading that - our neighbor where I work is a business machine company and he has apparantly cleaned out his closet - because there's a dumpster full of old printers and copiers - cash machines, etc... loads of stuff - power supplies - old computers... the lot looks like a bunch of crap but I bet there's a lot of useful parts in there...

anyway - I went "dumpster diving" yesterday and pulled out about 5 old printers (3 exactly the same) and I was going to do it again today - but I'm not really sure what I should be looking for and grab...

I know it's pretty vague - but if you have any advice on what to grab from the pile - I'll grab it - and if you're in the Clearwater FL area PM me and we can "dumpster dive" together - LOL

[GeeksGoneBad]

Ok so I took apart a few printers and junk I pulled out and here's what I got from them

The motors:

(2) Sanyo Denki "Step Syn" - 103G770-2521 - DC4.1v - 1.1A - 1.8 Deg/Step
(3) AirPax - SK82701S1 - no other markings
(1) Shinano Kenshi - 51F3686
(1) Copal Electronics - SP57B40715064 - 4 (symbol with a line through it) - 100 ohm - 24v - 7.5 deg - (minus)-94

on top of that I kept the power supplies and rods and crap - just in case

anything look usable?

here's the pics...

[Gir]

That biggest motor might work, but aluminum might prove to be too much. You'll have to go at ridiculously slow sleeps, but for 4" parts that might not be so bad. The rails, threads, and gears should all be fine, but I'd still say it's iffy milling aluminum. Plastic yes.

[GeeksGoneBad]

Thanks for the feedback Gir

When you say "big motor" - which one is that? lol

Would I just be better off in the long run buying the whole kit from HobbyCNC with motors and all? I was looking to keeps costs low - but if I'll end up spending more in the long run trying to make garbage work.....

and I'm still undecided on which plans to use... gosh - there's SO much material here to sort though!

JC

[Gir]

When you say "big motor" - which one is that? lol

Well, one motor in that picture isn't like the others.

Take my words with a grain of salt here, because I'm no expert. You may want to wait for a more experienced machinist to comment on what you're doing. My feeling, however, is that most people will suggest getting the 305 oz-in motors from HobbyCNC since they're the best bang for your buck.

[GeeksGoneBad]

Ah - ok - yes I have two of those

I probably will end up getting the 305s eventually - but I do have the board from HobbyCNC ordered and on it's way - I toyed around with the idea of getting plans and making my own pcb, etc - but I figured that'd add a month or so to my project LOL

Got some materials for this today and I'll be starting to work on the bed tonight through this weekend

I'm excited!

Will post progress...

[GeeksGoneBad]

OK I finally made some progress

I tried working with some plywood that I already had - but gave up after about four hours - it just wasn't flat enough in the end...

So I went down to the hardware store and picked up some MDF it's a lot easier to work with!

Here's some shots of the base and supports...

Now I'm off to find the best method to secure thes aluminum angles to the edges

[GeeksGoneBad]

Ok.. We're movin now LOL

I adjusted the supports for the table (made them less tall and added a few)

I figure they're pretty important to the whole scheme of things

I'm still waiting on my cross dowels so I can't really start putting things together yet and on top of that it's raining here (ugh) and I like to do most of my cutting outside - especially with this MDF - the dust is rough!

anyway - here's my progress - any advice / feedback is welcome

[GeeksGoneBad]

A little more progress before calling it quits for today...

[thekm]

Looking forward to seeing the progress, looking sharp so far. I'm going the same way for my rails with the 90 degree aluminium extrusion. With my electronics done I'm up to the build. Happily I'll let you be the canary and let you go first

[GeeksGoneBad]

hehe thanks!

How were you planning on attaching the aluminum angle to the MDF? I was thinking of trying to glue it (score the inside of the aluminum and use Gorilla Glue or something)

[GeeksGoneBad]

A bit more progress tonight as the HobbyCNC Pro board arrived

I soldered on all the parts up to where I need to test it by applying voltage - I'll leave that for the morning