my 5 axis CNC Router

[AJGrupp]

I am a student of University of technology from Estonia.
Our family has a small furniture workshop. When we decided to start manufacturing more complicated furniture, we understood that we need 5-axis CNC Router.
We had a look at the models of other companies, asked about the price and decided that it is better to make 5-axis CNC Router by our selves.
This is what came out of it.

http://www.5-axis-cnc.com

[mcphill]

Very nice!

What CAM package do you plan to use to create the GCode?

[AJGrupp]

At first I will choose among MasterCam, Powermill or AlphaCam.
At the moment I do not yet know the pricerange of them.
The thing I need for my CNC is advanced 5-axis machining.

[jsheerin]

Mastercam router pro was about $13000 when I asked for a quote about a year ago. I believe that's the package you'd need to do 5 axis movement.

I've been thinking about making a 5 axis machine as well, but the CAM is the sticking point. For me the point would be to machine the outside surface of my parts in one setup. That would cut the time I spend making a particular part by about half which would let me charge much less for my product and sell more of them. Machine time would be longer, but I don't really care about that. A nice side benefit would be that it would let me do more advanced 3D shapes without increasing the amount of time I need to spend setting up parts for machining, creating jigs, etc. I guess that's what separates the hobbiest from the pro - if I did this full time I could easily justify the purchase of a more advanced cam program. As is I will probably pay off my machine and software in about a year.

[AJGrupp]

As a variant for begining You can try soft CNC-Tools, it should be for free, and it should support 5 axis cnc machining.
The other variant is to design the CAD model and fixtures by Yourself, and then order the CAM service from annother company, and get the ready NC.
I think it woult not be expensive.

[AJGrupp]

Uploaded video on Youtube - 5 axis CNC router at action.
Trial sculpture machining of solid birch wood.

YouTube- 5 axis CNC router - wooden sculpture

YouTube- 5 axis CNC router - wooden sculpture

[mcphill]

What did you end up using to generate the G-Code? Looks fantastic! Any chance you can share some of the design (like the 4th and 5th axis mechanisms.)?

[AJGrupp]

For G-code was used Mastercam.

At the moment I design third variant of rotary axis.
Looking for pictures of first variant, do not remember if I made them... if I did then will show.

[AJGrupp]

Uploaded new video
5 axis CNC machining of Biedermeier sofas and armchairs frame prototype, made of solid wood.
YouTube- 5 axis CNC Machining - Biedermeier armchair prototype

[Jesse B]

That looks great. Nicely done

[eloid]

Originally Posted by AJGrupp Uploaded new video 5 axis CNC machining of Biedermeier sofas and armchairs frame prototype, made of solid wood. YouTube- 5 axis CNC Machining - Biedermeier armchair prototype

nice job....

what size of stepper or servo did you use on the axis?

looks like you need chinse spindle 3.3kw to increase threw put...
what was your feed rate.... is your machine dual drive ???slave drive on the y axis?

[AJGrupp]

6,4 Nm stepper motors are used on this cnc machine.
We plan to put 7,5 KW spindle. At the moment we are designing a new 2 rotary axis head. Spindle on the video is for testing operations (we try to make everything at a time... design, learning, training and working )
This machine has no slave axis.