My First CNC Machine :-)

[AussieJester]

The Objective

I shall be fabricating a fixed gantry cnc milling machine over
coming weeks along with a blast furnace, i have done a bit of
reading here on CNCZone so i thought i would also do a worklog
here too :-)

The plan is to construct a milling machine that will shape construction
foam, this foam will be used in 'lost foam metal casting' For those
unfamiliar with this metal casting technique and are curious as to
how it works my mate Frank has an excellent write up on his web site

TheWorkshopCA

Frank has kindly sent me 3 stepper motors (still in transit) and the
controller board to run the motors free of charge. I am also loosely
basing my mill design on one of Franks first mills

OK..so you know what is being made and why, now the how...

MDF and Plexi, 15mm solid steel rod, 1/2in threaded rod ~40
sealed bearings and few hundred screws and bolts 3 stepper
motors and PC PSU will be used to construct the mill.

I have also decided this mill will be used not only to shape the
foam for metal casting but to mill solid billet aluminum THUS
this mill will be reinforced ALOT more than mill used solely
for foam/wood/plastic....etc milling jobs.

The Start-->

I purchased a 1200x1100 sheet of 18mm MDF from Bunnings for
~$32 on the weekend, along with a few hundred screws and MDF
glue. The first part of the construction will be the base. The base
will support the gantry and house the slides for the 'X' axis table.
he Gantry will have the 'Y' and 'Z' axis.
I have decided on a 650 watt Ozito router for the 'engine' of this
machine.



(threaded rods in pic WILL NOT be the ones used in the mill)

I have started 'doubling up' the mdf to make a 36mm thick sides
for the base.Here's a few pics of the beginnings of this mill-->



The MDF was cut to length, MDF glue is spread on the pieces
before they are screwed together to form a solid side-->




Once all 4 sides have been constructed i cut MDF to size for a base-->





As this mill will be used for aluminum it will need to be
very sturdy, i have started adding supports to the base,
there will be 6 more to be added to the sides along with
the 8 already installed-->






The base measures 800mm x 730mm... The table will slide
enough for me to pop in a PC case side to cut windows
and also 'etch' a design on the plex, this was actually
my main reason for making it this large, initially i was
going to make it ~600x400mm.

Once the construction of the base and gantry are complete i
will seal the entire unit with shellac prior to coating it with
Silver Hammer tone paint. The table housing for 'z' axis will
be constructed entirely of acrylic plexi/aluminium I also intend having a dust extraction unit attached to the head of the mill to remove foam when foam
is being shaped.

progress on this project should be quite regular as i have the
majority of the parts to construct the mill. Things i still need
are bearings...the slides for the 'x' 'y' and 'z' axis require 12
sealed bearings each.

Next...

The days objective of completing the gantry for the mill was achieved, here's a few pics of the days work-->

The Gantry side 'pillars'





I cut these to size prior to drilling/gluing and screwing









Side pillars complete (these will NOT be fastened to the lower base till all axis are complete so as i can move gantry to exact position to center tool bit)

Top panels were cut/drilled/glued/screwed





Sort of taking shape...to someone who knows whats being built...and has a vivid imagination ahaha

Front View




Bearings & linear carriages

I went for 16mm OD 8mmID 5mm wide
bearings which i came across on EBay. Here's the lot i bought today

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....m=350211719372

With luck they will be here mid next week as they are
in Australia and i was able to do a bank transfer, if i bought
the bulk lot skate bearings it would have taken 5-7 days
just to organize the $$$ into my PayPal account (i have no CC)
then another 2 weeks wait for them to ship from USA :-S

My original idea for the linear carriages was to utilize
angle iron positioned in a 'V' orientation with bearings
attached to the sides, the bearings would run on round
bar which i have a heap of here...NOW, i have
changed this plan seeing the OD of the bearings i will
be using is smaller than the skate bearings, the smaller
bearing wooould work, but using bolts to fasten
them wouldnt be an option, i would have to use threaded
rod and weld the rod directly to the angle instead of
popping a bolt through a hole, its just a lot of farting
about, the new carriage i can cut all parts on the table
saw and bolt everything together neatly and quickly with
off the shelf fasteners.....i quickly sketched up a new
Linear Carriage design that will run on a square
rail, I can pick up 25mmx25mm square tube with 3.2
wall thickness for 50 bucks for 6m length this will do
niiicely for the mill rails so this will be the direction i
shall roll in...

Linear Carriage Design



Apologies no flash AutoCAD here just pen and paper for now LoL

After i had finished the sketch i thought the design
could be improved further by adding additional bearings
where the adjustment nuts are. I will use white acrylic
perspex (same stuff you see the cutting boards
made of...), for the carriages and this material
would indeed slide fine on the rails without bearings, but i guess over time
it would wear also and cause some slop...so bearings will
be popped in to address this issue :-)

Rain kept up all day (still raining now) so i stayed in and
got no further with the mill, hopefully better weather
tomorrow and i shall venture out for some supplies
(bondo and another can of Hammertone paint)
so i can continue on with mill fab.

I can actually understand what you're doing.. The other CNC thread focused on the control electronics too much and was completely beyond me.

There wont be a whole heap of electronics talk R3D man simply due to the fact
i have no idea when it comes to anything more complicated than changing batteries in my keyboard hehe...

Update


I wasn't able to get anything done over the weekend i
was away at my brothers helping panel beat/sand his car
Saturday and out with mates Sunday. I did manage
to pick up a $10.00 tub of body filler from SuperCheap Autos
though and today got a start on filling the countersunk
screw holes-->



I Had finished sanding the sides and the bottom of the base
before running out of sanding pads, thought i would splash
on a coat of Hammertone Paint on the base, i need another
tin thats all i had left from another project...I like the durability
of this stuff its freaking tuff as nails, the finish is neat too IMO.

Will be off to Bunnings(harware store here in Australia) tomorrow for more supplies, will also hit up the Scrap Metal Merchants and see if i can scrounge some suitable box tube for the rails IF NOT...i can purchase a length
(6m) for $50ish new from Metal Corp...either way though i may
have issues getting it home this week as my buddy with the ute is
house sitting the other side of town and I wont be paying 60 bucks
for delivery :-S ...I'll see if i can get the length cut to 1.5m and have a
wheelchair taxi pickz me up will fit the steel in no worries hehee..
they are hard to get hold of on short notice at times though...
seez how we go.(i usually take normal sedan/wagon taxi my
wheelchair is foldup sports job)

Back with more soon fellas..

KiM

[diymexxo]

Hi,
very nice work. I hoe to see more of your work ;-) I love many pictures, go on like this.

mexxo

[Spiv]

Love the hammer finish, and love the hand drawings. CAD is overrated sometimes

[AussieJester]

Thanks fellas i appreciate the positive feedback :-) Shall endevour
to photograph each step too diymexxo I also like
worklogs with lots of pictures so i try to do this with my own
also gives a good record of the steps when i look back
at the worklog...Spiv My AutoCAD abilities are
near non existent i'm afraid something i will have to learn
in the near future, for now a quick sketch takes 5 minutes
if i tackled it in AutoCAD i would be there for days LoL

Update

I managed to get almost all the items i went out for today
forgetting only the sandpaper DOH! I also had a win as far
as the "Rectangular Hollow Section" i purchased for the
rails. I was able to get a 4meter length (usually tubing
comes in either 6 or 8 meter lengths and they wont sell less...)

So for $AU35.86 I picked up 4 meters (they cut it for free in
4x1meter lengths for me) ALSO i spied a few off cuts in the
bin and the fella cutting the steel said i could help
myself to what i wanted, the smaller rectangular
pieces in picture will be used for the 'Z axis' the LARGER
sections i will cut up to make end plate mounts to weld on the rails,
this will be a job tackled tomorrow...



I also went against my previous plan of waiting to all else was
done before permanently fastening gantry assembly to the
base, now i have the rail size sorted i was able to make a
accurate calculation of the room i will need to fit everything
in so the tool will be centered so, the gantry is now
one with the base....

Tomorrow i shall duck up to the local hardware and pick up
some 80grit sandpaper for the sander and level all the body
filler off...OH...Hammertone Paint...the Bunnings i went too
had every colour of the stuff EXCEPT the silver AAAGH
...i wasn't about to have the TAXI take me 15km to the next
store so i made the decision to go with "Graphite" colour i shall
have some of it on the mill tomorrow so you can make your
own minds up about it ..

Total dollars spent today (for mill items)
was $75 bucks...taking the grand total THUS
far to $AU245.00 give or take a few bucks...

More tomorrow fellas :-)

KiM

[AussieJester]

Update

I have had a gut full of sanding let me tellz you fellas sheesh...
I spent many hours today sanding/filling/sanding/filling/sanding...
to get the MDF ready for some paint, 4.30PM i finally was able
to splash dome charcoal Hammerton paint on the mill..

In hindsight i should of undercoat the MDF as it soaks up the paint
at a great rate, never the less, the first coat is on
and half a tin of paint used. One more coat will see it niiiicely
coated with thick protective film of paint :-)

Few pics-->




I chamfered the side edges to remove the 'sharp' edges of the mdf
the paint will stick better to this rather than the square edge i feel
PLUS i prefer the look too :-)

As the sanding toook the majority of my day i wasn't able to get
to making the end plates and cutting the rails to size, i shall get onto this
tomorrow definitely...first up however will be a second coat of paint
should look nice i think, i prefer this darker colour to the Hammertone
silver too...A stroke of luck they were out of the silver after all haha


More soon fellas

KiM

[BackyardWorkshop]

Hey that looks really great! Good job - that thing should really be beefy!

fwiw - I've got some stuff up on my site on my two CNC machines and also some stuff on my home made aluminum foundry as well - if you're interested http://www.backyard-workshop.com

[AussieJester]

Thanks mate :-)

I checked out your website you have some neat projects. In regards to the metal casting i have made a furnace in the past and tried both propane and charcoal, my next will DEFINITELY be charcoal ...i checked your homemade burner, you need to get some forced air input into it buddy, checkout Backyard Metalcasting website for designs.. all good burners have forced air NOT just propane I have a neat blower with 5 speeds for my furnace it was originally from a bubble bath kit that went into your standard household bath, something you might find at your local hardware etc would be those devices used to blow up air mattress or inflatable boat etc...they are cheap and put out heap of air would be perfect for the furnace application ;-) If you want some good info onl lost foam Metalcasting my mate Frank at theworkshop.ca has been doing it for yeeeeears and has a wealth of info on his site...

KiM

[BackyardWorkshop]

Hey thanks for checking out the site - but it seems you missed page two and three of my burner post because on page two I add the blower

There's a "Next" at the bottom and a table of contents for the article on the right I think but I still find that many people miss the other pages for some reason so I need to reorganize or something

hehe

But thanks for the advise anyway

JC

[AussieJester]

OOPz my bad apologies there buddy...i totally missed it, that puppy should do the trick oober fast melts now

KiM

[AussieJester]

Update

I managed to get 4 rails completed today and a very
light coat of matt black to stop rust... The rails are a VERY firm fit and required me sanding the paint a little slide them into place
very pleased with the result anywayz...



Was wet and cold again here today so again no more
paint was put on the mill. I shall drill mounting holes for
the rails tomorrow and hopefully with luck the weater will
be warmer and dry and i can put on the final coat of
Hammertone on the mill...

Back soon fellas

KiM

[AussieJester]

Apologies for lack of updates the last week,
i have had PC problems leading to a format...
I have also decided to "resurrect" my old
website, well...more like COMPLETELY
redo it, it is very basic that is all im capable of
when it comes to webdesgin I thought it would
be neat to have a place to display all my projects
again rather than scattered over half dozen different
forums :-S...i have the layout organized i need
to complete all the pages as far as information goes
and organize a domain for it...You can have a peak here if interested ...


Update

While i haven't updated any pages i HAVE been
working on the mill and have some news to report
as far as progress goes.

Friday i picked up all the fasteners needed to complete
the mill also picked up a sheet of polyethylene for the
linear carriages and one of the bed layers...I priced up
some 500x500mmx10mm aluminum plate was quoited
$100 bucks, this will be used for the top layer of the
mills bed, cut and bolted to the polyethylene to form
channels a bolt head will slide into, this will be the
'clamping solution' to fix the job to the bed...more on
that later, here is a pic of the 'supplies' i got on Friday -->



I have cut 20 aluminum spaces for the bearing/bolt setup
on the last spacer my pipe cutter shat itself so i need to
purchase another tomorrow, i have another 40 or so to cut,
took me the best part of watching TOP GEAR to cut the
first 20 hahaa...

I have put together one complete side of a carriage so you
can see better how they will run along the rails-->



I sooooo wanted the black polyethylene but they only had
it in 20mm thickness and 500x500mm sheet was $425 !!!!
nice but too price unfortunately, combination of the white
polyethylene and 10mm alumnium will do nicely, this
polyethylene is sooooo easy to work with and taps beauuuutifully...

I hope to finiah all the linear carriages tomorrow, i do
have to go to Bunnings for pipe cutter AND have promised
a mate i would come down and do some welding at his
newly purchased house for him so not sure if i will succeed
in my goal IF NOT will be a Thursday job...

More MUCH sooner than the wait for this update...

KiM

[AussieJester]

I finished another carriage today can see better now how it will run on the rail-->



Was out all yesterday welding at a mates place was a bit tired today so got a late start shall hopefully finish the other two tomorrow and have the bed mounted...

Back Soon

KiM