My ~3x4 table build

[mattjw76]

About a year ago my buddy and I went in together and setup a CNC plasma/router table. He bought a Torchmate 2x2(during their introductory pricing) with router and Z axis attachment and I bought a Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 82. I then built a water table and supplied the PC. It took us a bit to get over the learning curve but in a few weeks we were up and running. I've since become addicted to the convenience of the setup and he has now purchased a house with a detached shop so the 2x2 is getting moved to his new shop. Knowing that I didn't want to go without a CNC table I decided to build my own. I started doing some research and gathering information. I've used a lot of ideas from here and I have ordered all of my parts diycnc.

Now for my build...

I used an old PC case to house all of my electronics. I went with a 4-axis electronics kit. I am driving the x-axis with chain and a motor on either side. y will be driven with a single motor and a lead screw and z-will probably start off with a single motor and a piece of 1/2" all-thread. My main goal here is to keep this as CHEAP as possible but I want it to be functional. Accuracy is not a huge concern as I don't plan to do anything super detailed like circuit boards...







As for the table I am building it out of steel and aluminum. The basic frame is made from recycled 2"x5" metal stock that started its life as palette racking. I decided to go with v-groove roller bearings riding on aluminum angle for my linear mechanisms. The gantry sides are made out of 1/4" aluminum and the rest of the gantry will also be built from aluminum.





My next step is to start building the gantry. I've built the machine such that it will fit perfectly on top of the water table that I had built for the 2x2. I had built the table bigger than the 2x2 so that we could re-index for larger parts. Here is the water table with the 2x2 on it:





As far as the software goes I will be using Mach3 to control the machine and I think I've settled on SheetCam for the CAM software.

To finish up my first post here is a vid of my gantry sides in action. I will update this thread as I make progress...

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xebSuCn-EwE"]YouTube - X Axis First Run.wmv[/nomedia]


-Matt

[Boogiemanz1]

You will be cutting parts in no time. Slick machine........jb

[mattjw76]

I made some progress on the Gantry yesterday..







My buddy is going to turn me some 1/4" to 1/2" motor to lead screw couplers for the Y and Z axis on a lathe. Once I get that part from him I think X and Y will be done.

The gantry isn't complete yet. It still gets once more piece of C channel then It will get boxed in with some light(maybe 1/16") alum.. I think its going to look pretty cool once its all done.

[Kentuckyfarmer]

Looks good I like the al for the gantry light and strong, I may have to reinforce mine, dont know till I get it cutting
Mike

[mattjw76]

X and Y axis are alive!!

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y29K4A9ctAo"]YouTube - X and Y working[/nomedia]

[mattjw76]

I think I have the Z axis done. I didn't have enough wire left to try it out though..

[mattjw76]

Here is the back of my Z axis. That coupler is two coupling nuts welded together then drilled and tapped with set screws. The threaded rod is just 1/2-13 all thread. The collars are just 1/2" nuts drilled and tapped with set screws.



I am having a bit of a problem with the motor(or maybe driver or breakout board) that I am using for the Z axis. When I finished setting up my electronics I bench tested all 4 motors. I noticed that the one motor would vibrate and eventually stop spinning and just hum. Kinda like it was fighting itself. What was weird is when I held it tightly in my hand it spun just fine. So I figured that the problem probably wouldn't occur when it was bolted to the machine.. wrong... Can anyone tell me why this happens and how to fix it? I made of quick vid of what I am talking about:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3yePcwt7_M"]YouTube - Motor Binding Up[/nomedia]

[Arthurmetal]

It is a sort of stalling related to speed and acceleration. You might try to reducing any or both of these. Applying some resistance or load to the motor shaft might help too.
regards, Arthur