$1000 Microcarve 3 inspired Build in 2 weeks

[taiden]

No real updates today. Spent a lot of time today struggling with building my Y axis. I learned how to do it accurately and repeatably now, but I ran out of steam before I had a chance to finish it up.

I do have this picture for you though. I make a 5/8" center punch, which has proven to be extremely useful. My harbor freight center punch kit did not go that large. The lathe was more than willing to produce this for me.


cnc-9 by lukepighetti, on Flickr

[taiden]

I'm actually almost done. This post will be like light speed. I stopped taking pictures because, well, because I did.

I decided to build the Y axis and X axis as separate standalone units, to be tied together at the end by the gantry.


cnc-10 by lukepighetti, on Flickr

Underside of my x axis. Not proud of this one. Hard to get the precision required to do a fantastic job down here, so I didn't bother. ended up working just fine. I'll redo this in version 2


cnc-11 by lukepighetti, on Flickr

Here are pictures of some round shim stock I found in the basement. I have a coffee can full of them and they are fantastic for setting the rods into the holes made by my 5/8" forstner bit. They also allow you to align them properly by moving the carriage as close to the end as possible and use the shim stocks to feel where the largest gap in the inside diameter is, then you punch them in with a hammer and it sets perfectly. Worked AWESOME


cnc-12 by lukepighetti, on Flickr

Just getting the gantry mocked up


cnc-13 by lukepighetti, on Flickr

All bolted together. It's incredibly solid except for forces axial to the Y axis at the top of the unit. There is quite a bit of deformation of the frame with these loads. I don't see it being an issue, but I will be solving this problem tomorrow with gussets.

[louieatienza]

Looks great! And cool work on that center punch....

[taiden]

Looks great! And cool work on that center punch....

The best part about the center punch is I got to teach a friend how to do turning and facing operations on an old lathe. I love that he can operate one now in the future if he needs to.

[datle]

Mine are NC, I can't tell for sure but don't remember them having an NO post. Considering the button's power rating I'd say it's supposed to be NC so you can, for example, wire it between mains and a table saw's input to cut power.

I found a picture I took from the labeled button:

What are the name and size.. of the bearing and the coupling in your picture? Could you tell me where you bought them?