$600 all in cost - 2x2 first CNC

[junior2016]

I have an extra harbor freight plunge router laying around which i picked up on craigslist for 25 bucks. I am going to use it as my initial router. I removed the base and handles from it. The original weighed in at 7.5 lbs and is now 5 lbs. Next I worked on the router mount. I created a rough trace of the profile on paper. Then transferred it to foam. Then cut it out in 1/4 plywood and finally on to 3/4 wood.

[wizard]

She's not very useful with the hobby, but she is nice to look at. We'll keep her. Glad to see at least someone is reading the thread with a sense of humor.

After working these 12 hour days about all I have left is a tiny bit of humor!!! This weekend I had a CNC controller giving me hell with spurious faults all day long. Eventually I replaced what I believe was a faulty cable but it was brain wracking for a couple of days. For some reason though I find helping people on these forums calming (most of the time). Right now there is no easy path for me to a machine of my own so it is fun to help out. Hey at least we don't get dirty on the web.

By the way your machine is looking nice.

[junior2016]

After a 1 year hiatus, I started working on this machine again. Recent progress:

* mounted the Ballscrew and motor to the Z axis
* mounted the Ballsrew and motor to the Y axis

I will attach some pics later today.

[junior2016]

Last weekend I about to install the x axis ball screw and noticed it has a pretty bad wobble. The 1 m long screw was bent. I ended up ordering another one and got it installed.

Today I wired up the motors and fired up the machine for the first time.. Its finally coming along!

[junior2016]

All 3 axis are moving! At the end you'll notice I need limit switches

[junior2016]

Attached is the breakdown of the total cost so far. $540.

[Biggs427]

Last weekend I about to install the x axis ball screw and noticed it has a pretty bad wobble. The 1 m long screw was bent. I ended up ordering another one and got it installed.

Today I wired up the motors and fired up the machine for the first time.. Its finally coming along!

The moment where it moves for the first time is always fun

My Y axis was bent when I got it and was able to make it straight using a dial indicator 2 V blocks and lot of patience.

[junior2016]

My Y axis was bent when I got it and was able to make it straight using a dial indicator 2 V blocks and lot of patience.

it's seems like it's against my objective of keeping the cost down, but patiences costs time and time costs money. I rolled the dice and ordered the same ballscrew from the same vendor (banggood) and luckily it was straight. Surprisingly it was only $32 for 1000mm sfu1605 shipped to my door from Cali and arrived in 3 days.

[junior2016]

Anyone have GRBL's Jogging mode working with a gamepad on linux? I've been reading up on using antimicro for interfacing the gamepad with a UI. No search hits on cnczone.

[wizard]

Nice looking machine. That feeling of the machine being alive is one of the benefits i get for working in automation maintenance. It is a great relief at times too.

By the way i like your unique take on machine design.

[junior2016]

Thanks Wizard! Agreed - there's nothing like starting up a machine you built from scratch for the first time. The credit for the design goes to Don who created it as well as generated awesome plans on his website.

I couldn't sleep cause I was too excited to play with the machine. Woke up at 5:45, grabbed a cup of coffee and installed antimicro on my Linux Mint machine. Got the gamepad moving the machine now!

Next step - leveling the gantry to the bed and screwing it on the supports.

[junior2016]

I'm in the processing of clearing up the wiring and am concerned about elecritical noise. Any tips on which type of wires (shield /shielded/stranded/unstranded), guage, and connectors to use for the final install ? In partciular which type of wires/connectors do I use in each of the following cases:

1. connecting Arduino to the TB6560 Drivers
2. Driver to power supply
3. Driver to stepper motor
4. Arduino to the limit switches

If someone can post pictures of a good example setup, that would be helpful.

[Biggs427]

1. connecting Arduino to the TB6560 Drivers
2. Driver to power supply
3. Driver to stepper motor
4. Arduino to the limit switches

On my machine I'm using:

1- 22awg solid
2- 14awg stranded. Could be solid as it doesn't move
3- 18awg stranded shielded (biggest stepper is a Nema 23 311oz)
4- 20awg stranded shielded (24v limit switches)

[wizard]

I'm in the processing of clearing up the wiring and am concerned about elecritical noise.

Electrical noise mitigation is tricky because it is as much about how you install the wire as it is the wire itself.

Any tips on which type of wires (shield /shielded/stranded/unstranded), guage, and connectors to use for the final install ? In partciular which type of wires/connectors do I use in each of the following cases:

Before we go there i should point out that wiring should be sized according to the short circuit capacity of the cicuit it is installed in. In other wirds if you have a power supply with a fused secondary at ten amps then minimally the wire must handle ten amps. It is basic electrical safety.

Also mechanical ease of installation is or can be very important. It is far easier to find proper wire strippers for 20 or 18 gage wire than it is for 24 or 30 gage. On the flip side some terminals might not accept larger wires. V

1. connecting Arduino to the TB6560 Drivers
2. Driver to power supply
3. Driver to stepper motor
4. Arduino to the limit switches
   

So:

1. shielded twisted pair straded wire, probably 20 ga.
2. 14 ga stranded minimal as a twisted pair. We usually would twist the pairs ourselves with an electric drill back in the day. Maintain a color code on the pair with negative normally black.
3. this depends upon the steeper being driven. In most cases 18 ga is more than enough. If you note the motors lead wires they are not heavy gage wires and the current demands realtively low, you can certainly get by with 20 gage but 18 offers some mechanical advantage. In any event shiekded twisted pairs.
4. 20 gage stranded wire in a shielded twisted pair configuration.

Note the above are ideal but you can get away with solid wire in someplaces like limit switches if those wires never flex. However solid wire in controls is generally considered bad.

On the flip side the type of stranded wire impacts life spans in drag chains and other moving applications. Buying wire specifically for drag chains can get to be a bit expensive too. In any event stranded wire with fine strands are beter in high flex operations.

If someone can post pictures of a good example setup, that would be helpful.

The place that you most likely will run into problems is any wire subject to high flex. As an example at work they implemented a barcod scanner with a lead that routed through a drag chain. The original implementation ran for years. When a recent scanner replacement had to be done we were lucky to get a week out of the cable. Im not even sure what the cable difference was but it wasnt suitable for a drag chain. By the way the cycle time on that axis was like every 15 minutes, even a home built machine would have killed the cable in a day.

So realize that you may have to buy drag chain specced cable if your sekected cable fails.

It is hard to get into specifics, not knowing what you can buy locally for control cable. Due to cables not liking to be flexed there is a lot to be said for designs that minimize the number of cables running in a drag chain. That is easier to accomplish in 3D printer vs a router. paying attention to radius of bends can also impact cable life.

[junior2016]

Thanks for the input on the wiring!

router options:

The original plan was to go el cheapo and use a Harbor Freight router I picked up from craigslist for 25 bucks The problem is that it has an odd shape and I don't want to make the router mount for it as it wont be secure. I am thinking of running over to the HD and picking up the Makita rt0701c. Reading though the forums, it seems like the best route for my purpose. (not looking to spend $300+ for a spindle ).

[junior2016]

Bought the Makita..router mount in progress..

[Goemon]

Build the frame first, before buying any stepper motors or drivers. In the meantime, read up on the electronic components and what's required for a system that works well. The control system you're outlining has nothing to be said for it but cheapness. But you're not saving money if you have to buy components twice, because the original ones just didn't work.

X2

I wish I would have listened this advice early on....

The thing about diy projects, espiecially first diy projects, is that you don't know what you don't know. It really bothers me that, because I bought my electronics first, I am now having to specify my moving parts based on the limitations of the motors instead of building the best set-up I can and then buying motors to match the requirement.

I am literally going to end up building 2 machines instead of one. One that is how I want it (mainly) and a second using all the inferior parts I bought in error and ended up not using. The good news is that I was able to repurpose almost everything I bought except for the plates and brackets I bought from Open Builds which have no value to me, so they went in the trash (where they belong).

[junior2016]

Got my first test cut!

[fretman_2]

Congrats on your first cut. I also use the Makita Trim Router and have been very, very happy with it. The only issue I have with it is that cooling air from the router blows down on the work piece with lots of force blowing chips and dust everywhere. I haven't yet come up with a dust shoe for my machine.

Got my first test cut!

[Biggs427]

Congrats!

I too can vouch for this router. It is very quiet. When I had it on my machine, it was cutting a 0.5 plywood sheet in two passes using a 0.25 straight cutter.

You might want to play with the acceleration of your machine. It looks like that yours are set to default. 25mm/sec^2 if my memory serves me right. GRBL params are $101, $121 and $122.