Dreaming of 3 axes cnc that cuts foam

[karabas7777]

Hello mostly Gentelments and maybe Ladies

I'm new to this zone.

A step forward my dream is to get a 3 axes cnc machine.

I will take an advantage of this site and ask for your suggestions, opinion and guidance in designing one I need.

I need a 3 axes cnc machine that cuts foam in 3d shapes.(I will sacrifice the cnc ability to cut wood, if it will make the cnc quiter,lighter,cheaper).

I want cnc to do exactly this on 0:50 sec of video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VUvocnIfek]Torchmate CNC Router cutting 3D image from foam - YouTube

and look like this or uglier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oDnKxQxxLw&feature=related]DIY CNC Mill Update - Y Axis Added, Z Started - YouTube

Let's assume its a light steel,for precision.

I have so many questions that i better ask one first.

Does the material to cut affects the selection of motors.If yes, can u help me selecting the right motor.According to this doll I need 2 x axes,or I can

get away with one, in my "foam" case.

Any help appreciated

[awerby]

Sure, you can power the X axis with just one motor. Usually it will run underneath the table, in the center. For harder materials, it's better to power the machine from two sides, but for foam a center drive screw should work fine.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[karabas7777]

Hello you the productive /creative people

In my browser i look for two things cnc and porn

Lots of cnc..a lot from china...

I'm moving from idea of building a cnc to buying a cnc...

I live in montreal,canada. To buy cnc from china is kinda risky thing to do i think.
and shipping sometimes costs the price of cnc.

I would like to see,touch and kiss cnc before buying it. So the, best location of seller would be in canada, or close to the us border.

I would like to use cnc in appartment, so the noise level i hope will be bearable, desirable travel of cnc xyz 12,12,4-5".(material to cut, foam wood)

i found this kit to assemble
Gantry Router
thinking about it.

please provide any info comments that i will benefit

thank you

[awerby]

It doesn't look like you really get much with that kit. Those motors are really tiny (NEMA 17, a size smaller than the NEMA23s most of us use for small machines). The DRV9911 drives are certainly nothing special, and the power supply for it isn't included. They don't include the leadscrews you need, but suggest you purchase hardware store all-thread, which works poorly at best. All the structural parts they supply are made out of acrylic, which doesn't have the rigidity one wants in a CNC machine. He doesn't even supply the MDF boards that make up most of the machine, but suggests you buy it yourself. And the Dremel tool (with its plastic frame) that's also not included with this kit won't last long, even cutting foam. So one has to ask, are you really better off starting with this stuff than just buying or downloading a parts list and plan that people here have built and used successfully?

I also thought it was deceptive of him to post the parts diagram for the Taig mill, which comes fully assembled (all you need to do is attach the column and mount the motors on supplied mounts) with the comment: "It doesn't matter how well put together the instructions are. Think this looks hard? HERE are assembly instructions for my Taig mill".

That isn't "assembly instructions"; it's an exploded diagram of every part in the mill (which are all included when you purchase one). Since he's not really selling you all the things you need to have a working machine, a well put-together set of instructions would seem quite important, if you're to have any hope of building something that works out of the few things he does supply. But hey, at least they won't come from China (directly)...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[Dylwad]

Looks like a serious waste of money to me....

[karabas7777]

Yeah i like cnc's on your site much mor$ awerby
That was a deep analysis,great info.
Can you suggest the best, reliable, simply "top" . cnc plan and parts list like you say.

[karabas7777]

Looks like a serious waste of money to me....

ok lets talk about your favorite "fireball",
https://www.probotix.com/FireBall_v90_cnc_router_kit/

router is not included? just a tool holder bosh?
do you think it could be replaced by a spindle since i heard its less noisy?
Why are these cnc are so greedy on z axes travel distance...(

[wyl6362708]

hello, karabas. please see our machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gcCVwv1bkk]EPS Mould Engraving For cast iron.wmv - YouTube

[awerby]

Yeah i like cnc's on your site much mor$ awerby
That was a deep analysis,great info.

[Thanks, Karabas. I try to save people money on this stuff, but good tools aren't cheap.]

Can you suggest the best, reliable, simply "top" . cnc plan and parts list like you say.

[Well, unfortunately, you need to adjust your expectations of how much this is going to cost. If all you budget for this project is a few hundred dollars, you end up with incomplete plan/parts kits like the one discussed above, that won't give you a very effective machine at the end. If you want a machine capable of continued performance with some degree of accuracy, even in foam, then you have to get decent components to start with. The plans I've seen that look most promising (although I haven't tried building them) are for the Mechmate http://www.mechmate.com/ . This seems like a more sturdy design than most I've seen. And CNCRP has some kits that look good, although again, I haven't built one: http://www.cncrouterparts.com/crp244...kit-p-164.html But again, you're looking at thousands, not hundreds of dollars to build something like this.

Another approach is to start scrounging for parts, and hope you get lucky. If you're inventive enough, you might find machinery being dumped, scrapped, or given away that with some imagination can be repurposed into the CNC of your dreams...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com