small CNC PCB drill

[ikalafat]

Hi everyone..
I'm total n00b in CNC stuff but i am interested in making an CNC drill..
Anyway, I was searching this forum these days and i like the projects u done but im unhappy because i couldnt find a free and suitable project for my interests (CNC drill for making PCB, 3 axis + 1 axis as control for the drill).
I would need a CNC no bigger than 0.50*0.50m, i would mostly make PCB projects and maybe printing something (instead of drill i will use marker or something), all projects i found here are very big and not suitable for my needs.. since im in east europe its hard to work with US components, so I managed to find some stepper motors from matrix printers (and/or scanners) which I will use, the electronic part I will build from pminmo (http://pminmo.com/4axis/4axisinterface.htm with http://pminmo.com/discrete/discrete.htm).. anyway, I would ask you if someone could provide me an open source project for making a small CNC (what software i would need for this? XYZ controls, drilling, some sensor support to recognize places for holes).
Id like the CNC to be made of metal parts if possible.. (PS JGRO is too big for me..)

Plz guys help me..

Thx!!

[afh]

what? Please be more specific with your question.
A DIY CNC is everything YOU want it to be!

What is your budget?
How will you begin to design it?
Nobody stops you to design a DIY-CNC from the beginning.
Many does actually make CNC from the parts they already have.

I am building a DIY CNC, of aluminium and steel, based of some pictures I have seen and my brain. I want fluidcooling, so I need to take care of it.
Now I am wondering if I shall use two motors and two leadscrews.
Or 2 leadscrew and belt and one big motor? Decisions, decisions!
Well, I know that I do not want to use one leadscrew.

Just read and collect information at cnczone.com and google, it is really a lot of information.

I am just drawing the parts at paper and see if it seems nice enought, fitting with my vision and goal. (No, I can't use CAD)

Get your parts first. Motors, drivers, shafts/ballscrews, linear bearing and such stuff.

Maybe your motors are too small? It can be helped with belts (gearing down).
Or more voltage/amp?

I does not live in US, and it is easy to get parts to my CNC.
From ebay, your local supplier, old thrash. Be creative!

I got rails from old printers. I got steppers from old printers.
I want bigger motors, so I am looking around after BIG printers.
I got a old washingmachine pump. (A temporary solution to test fluidcooling).

Tomorrow I'll check a local supplier for ballscrews.
I do not expect that this will be cheap, so I need to look around and be careful.

Soon, I must find a good spindle/router that is good enought.

My biggest difficultity is to get straight parts, who are accurate enought, as I have
limited access to metalworking.

[Coogrrr]

What AFH said is true you can be creative and invent your own if you dont want to go with the jgro soultion or joe2000's or the www.solsylva.com pay plans.

I personally bought the solsylva plans and recommend them to anyone doing a CNC even if they turn right around and build a jgro plan instead! WHY you ask? Well David has taken alot of time to compile 4 great plans. He goes through why the belt driven unit uses pulleys why the large leadscrew unit uses 1 motor a belt and 2 leadscrews. His knowledge on this info is very very good.


I am working on a thread with CNCAdmin that will be about the concepts/theory of a multi-axis machine. This will go over why we do different drive systems or rails or whatever it will not have any plans but will help you undestand why any of these plans work so great.

You will have to stay tuned for more on that but in the mean time look at those plans like jgro etc and adapt them to your needs like afh and others do here. Your limitation is your imagination really.

Welcome to the zone, good luck on the build, and I will answer and share anything I can.

Coog

[Tejaswi]

Can any body giv me links to the Articles on echanical Theory of a Project on CNC PCB drillind machine using microcontrollers