New Member and Recommendations.

[Twoods196]

Hello all, new here but have been interested in building my own cnc router table for quite sometime now. I have built numerous 3d printers an would like to move up to wood and metal cnc. I'm a computer programmer with 20 years of experience so if I can help anyone in that respect don't hesitate to ask.

To my questions, first off is there a Particular build that most would recommend as a great first build? Also I would love to build something that can handle wood and metal as I will eventually build something for metal also and if I can. Limit that to one device which maybe a tool change between the two materials would be awesome.

As for size, I really need to be able to do small and big. For the wood I will be using it alot to carve out retroarcade cabinets and of course for metal would be used to produce other parts for various projects.

Also how far fetched is a DIY VMC? Even going the DIY route will the cost still be fairly substantial? Thanks for any advice and sorry for the super newbie questions but wanna make sure I have a solid plan and it will do what I want before starting this build.

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[ger21]

First, specify what "metals" you plan on cutting. If you are considering any type of steel, forget it.

Exactly how big are you looking at? And what is your budget?

Cost is roughly proportional to the performance you'll get. Inexpensive machines will cut slower, at shallower depths, and with a poorer cut quality.

There aren't really many good plans available. Most scratch builders just study other's builds, and come up with their own designs. A CNC router isn't really all that complicated, so all machines are somewhat similar to one another.

I highly recommend you spend at least a few months reading everything you can, and asking lots of questions if needed, before you spend ANY money. Too many people start buying what they thing are good deals right from the start, and end up replacing the "good deals" with the proper components later.

[fretman_2]

That's what I did...study other builds. I picked what I thought was the best of each and consolidated that into my design. I've had it now a couple of years and it's served me well...has done exactly what I needed it to do.

First, specify what "metals" you plan on cutting. If you are considering any type of steel, forget it.

Exactly how big are you looking at? And what is your budget?

Cost is roughly proportional to the performance you'll get. Inexpensive machines will cut slower, at shallower depths, and with a poorer cut quality.

There aren't really many good plans available. Most scratch builders just study other's builds, and come up with their own designs. A CNC router isn't really all that complicated, so all machines are somewhat similar to one another.

I highly recommend you spend at least a few months reading everything you can, and asking lots of questions if needed, before you spend ANY money. Too many people start buying what they thing are good deals right from the start, and end up replacing the "good deals" with the proper components later.

[wizard]

The first thing we need to do is to establish what you want to be able to even remotely say if it is feasible. Your expectations are huge here also as is your intended budget.

You can easily spend $2000 on a machine or $20,000 to get what you want or need.

So we need to know your intended machines size and what you mean by cutting metal. Hear is the thing it is easy to make a small machine that can machine aluminium to rather high quality and do a credible job on other materials. A large homebuilt machine might not handle aluminium well much less other metals. The mass of the machine can actually end up rather difficult to work with in a home shop if made large to do sheet goods and at the same time stiff enough to do high quality work in an assortment of metals.

Hello all, new here but have been interested in building my own cnc router table for quite sometime now. I have built numerous 3d printers an would like to move up to wood and metal cnc. I'm a computer programmer with 20 years of experience so if I can help anyone in that respect don't hesitate to ask.

To my questions, first off is there a Particular build that most would recommend as a great first build? Also I would love to build something that can handle wood and metal as I will eventually build something for metal also and if I can. Limit that to one device which maybe a tool change between the two materials would be awesome.

If you ask me there are a limited number of good designs out there, each with its limitations of course. A couple are actually developments from people that post here. A great many designs on the net though are junk in my opinion and not worth the price of the plans. The really difficult part is the balancing of ones budget with the ability of a design to meet all of your needs. High expectations can lead ot an expensive machine.

On the flip side there are lots of DIY sites on the internet that may not have plans but at least demonstrate the huge variety of ways to build a machine that accomplishes the same thing. The basic concept of a CNC router is baked and in a can. it is the implementations that really vary a lot.

As for size, I really need to be able to do small and big. For the wood I will be using it alot to carve out retroarcade cabinets and of course for metal would be used to produce other parts for various projects.

The bigger the router the less likely it will do your metal machining well for a given cost point. More so you need to define metal and what you are expecting to do in these metals. I honestly believe that some machining would be a waste of time on a router. Other attempts are far more likely to work out well if the machine is stiff enough, for example cutting shape out of sheet aluminium. It is critical to know what you mean by machining of metals because some techniques would be a waste of time on a router designed for wood working. Also for anything more than trivial trinkets, in a non production manner, you need to be able to use coolants and lubricants to extend tool life. There is a reason today's CNC machines have enclosures, in part it is the stuff flying around inside the machine that needs to be contained.

So even if you can do your metals machining on a router you have to consider the wisdom of doing it there at all.

Also how far fetched is a DIY VMC? Even going the DIY route will the cost still be fairly substantial? Thanks for any advice and sorry for the super newbie questions but wanna make sure I have a solid plan and it will do what I want before starting this build.

DIY VMC are very doable but it really makes a difference if you have access to a machine shop to build it in the first place. There are two generally low cost avenues ot consider. The first is to grab a really cheap manual mill from one fo the Chinese importers of machine tools or a used mill. Take that mill and upgrade as needed to do CNC. This is viable because the iron is cheap and the reality is the CNC components do not cost any more than what is required to do a router. The second way to go about this is to use structural square tubing to build the column and maybe the base of a VMC You still have to come up with a spindle assembly of some sort and do a lot of machining to put all the parts together as a mill. There is however a surprising amount of hardware on the market to help with such a build.

Now just because I say there are two ways to go about a VMC build understand that there are actually a lot more ways but the two above are viable with easy access to the required components and the availability of local machine shops. Other options include Epoxy Granite builds, cast Iron / cast steel frames, cast aluminium frames, composite material builds and others I've likely have missed.

In any event there are VMC builds described in some of the other forums. These builds can vary from hobby level machine to fairly substantial machines with a few conversions thrown in. Don't forget used machines with crapped out controllers which can often be had for a song. There are many ways to skin the VMC cat.

[Twoods196]

Thanks for all the replies. The main metal I would be using would be aluminum. With that said from the responses it seems to make more sense to build a larger machine for my wood needs and a much smaller machine for the aluminum. As the parts I will be making with the aluminum will be fairly small. With that said I think I will do quite a bit of studying on it before jumping into anything.

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[wizard]

In your case a larger machine to handle sheet goods makes sense as cabinet making seems to be a high priority. Usually you want a full sheet capable machine but those are pretty large. So part of your research should include where you will put the machine. This issue of size can be a big deal in a small shop. A half sheet sized machine might not work well depending upon how big those cabinets are.

If yiu want to conteplate size through a 4x8 sheet on the floor in your shop and then draw a border of at least two feet around that sheet. This gives you a rough approximation of how the machine will impact your work space. In the end a lot of valuable square footage goes to a sheet sized router. Mind you this is just clearance around the router and does not consider space for sheet goods handling, people traffic, dust handling or other space needs.

The difference in space requirements vs a small DIY VMC solution is dramatic. Even a small comercial VMC from the likes of Tormach takes up significantly less room.

In anty event more stuff to think about.