CNC Router build

[mwood3]

I have just started my CNC router build and am designing as i go with inspiration from other threads and web pages. my design is based mostly off the 7th souljourn from crankorgan.com website with some modifications. my main question is concerning the selection of the stepper motors and drives etc... i am leaning towards a kit that includes the drives, stepper motors, power supply, breakout board and cabling such as one of the kits on probotix.com, xylotel or kielig. i would not be opposed to buying individual componets if someone could make a good suggestion. the machine will have travel of about 12"Y x 24"X x 6"Z im using 1/2" 10 tpi ACME leadscrews the linear rails will be the black gaspipe/skate bearing design and i will be using some sort of trim router, rotozip etc. my main purpose of this machine is geared towards light aluminum cutting as well as MDF, Nylon, Delrin, etc... the construction materials are a combination of MDF and a material called Corian (sp). corian has similar properties of delrin only a bit more rigid. this material is most comonly used for counter tops to look like granite. So again back to my main purpose for this thread, if anyone has any advice on the electronics side of this build please feel free to add your opinion.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by mwood3 Corian has similar properties of delrin only a bit more rigid.

Imo, their properties are very different. Corian is very brittle, and the dust id gritty. Delrin is not brittle at all, and is very slippery. The only thing they may have in common might be thermal expansion.

[mwood3]

i think the corian will hold up for the aplication im using it for, i have put it to many stress tests and am satisified with the results this far, time may prove me wrong but so far i think its acceptable. the main structure is still made from MDF. i am using the corian for the top layer of the table and also the adjustment blocks for the rails.

thanks for the input it is much appreciated.
(you are right the dust is much more gritty.)

[mwood3]

i will post some pictures of my progress this weekend, then maybe someone can give me an educated guess on which kit i should use, or if its better to order all the componets individual. at this point im trying to decide between one of the keilig kits or the Probotics kit. im leaning towards probotix but it sounds as if thier power supply is on the weak side.

[wwendorf]

Good luck on your build. I just wanted to put in a few cents worth on your planned use of corian.

I had the same idea and used corian for a prototype machine I was building (not a cnc machine, but still dealing with vibration). I figured that it machined nice and fast and was pretty rigid. I was right on both counts. The problem is that it is so rigid that vibration or bumps will pretty much take out the part very quickly. I finally wound up re-machining the parts in aluminum. It was a MUCH better choice. Every part that I have made in Corian shattered at some point in time.

Take care,
Wade

[xcayba]

When it came time for me to purchase the electronics for my machine, I went with the Xylotex complete 4 axis kit. I wanted a good price and to eliminate the human error factor as much as possible, especially since this was my first dive into this. I'm only using 3 of the 4 axis at this point, but that gives me a spare for later in case I blow up a driver chip or want to add on an indexer. I've had good performance from my setup for the few months I've had it running and no problems to speak of. It comes completely wired up with plugs on the motors and on the box, so there is no chance to hook it up backwards. It was plug-n-play for me. The only concern I've had about it is the lack of resiliency built into the board. If one of the wires breaks while under load or you decide to hook it up wrong, it won't just stop working, it releases the magic smoke. So just be extra careful and do your best to keep all the electrons flowing and flowing where they need to be flowing. I've read other reviews that say some controllers have safetys built into them to account for error conditions without blowing up. Gecko comes to mind, but you'll probably spend a lot more for a setup like that. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably still go the same route.

[mwood3]

Wade,

thanks for your insight into corian, my intention is to improve the machine using itself once it is up and running. since you say this about the corian shattering this may be the first target. im hoping to get the machine running and make a few bucks with it to fund a bigger project. a Grizzly X3 build!!

xcayba,

thanks for the feed back on xylotex. i have looked at thier stuff but for some reason i like the looks of kielig and probotix better, perhaps its the more user friendly website...(bad reason i know). if i had the money i would buy geckos for sure, however i do not like the fact that the supposed cheap drives that were supposed to be around $30.00 now are double the price unless you buy them in bulk. dont get me wrong it still looks like an incredible deal but it just seems the whole thread was misleading when they said they were shooting for a $30.00 target range for the bare bones drive. maybe when they get ahead on inventory they will be able to provide the drives at the $30.00 price.