One years worth of pics and videos of my 43" x 98" MDF machine FIRST BUILD!!!

[HuntMike79]

Awesome, I've never seen MDF look to good!

Quick question, would it have been possible to make some of the parts of plywood instead of MDF to reduce weight and still have the machine work ok?

[Grunblau]

Awesome, I've never seen MDF look to good!

Quick question, would it have been possible to make some of the parts of plywood instead of MDF to reduce weight and still have the machine work ok?

Thanks,

I imagine it would be possible to make it out of plywood, however I couldn't with my limited tools. Also, it is harder to find a perfectly straight piece of plywood not to mention its cost.

As far as the lighter argument, if you are building anything ~4' X 8' it is going to be heavy. CNC machines only benefit from weight from an accuracy stand point. I realize this negatively impacts the acceleration of the machine, but would you rather have better parts or impress your friends with the jog speed?

My next machine will use MDF and aluminum and will only be about 48" X 30" Mostly just to try out some ideas I have had since finishing my current CNC but also to have the ability to move it without complete dis assembly or calling 6 friends. Maybe this one will also have a shockingly fast jog speed

[rhinoman]

Make a exact copy of this cnc out of mdf or make the plans and resell them.

Personally, I think making the kit and selling it would be great as a x-mas gift to some kid who is really into putting together mechanical things Then if he wanted something, he does not have to buy it where part of his purchace cost goes over seas but stays in the country.

[HuntMike79]

Haha, it seems many people here build a small machine first then build a bigger one after, you appear to have done it the other way around!

As far as the lighter argument, if you are building anything ~4' X 8' it is going to be heavy. CNC machines only benefit from weight from an accuracy stand point. I realize this negatively impacts the acceleration of the machine, but would you rather have better parts or impress your friends with the jog speed?

I was thinking just make parts like the gantry from ply, but I guess MDF is less likely to warp compared to ply so I can see why you went with MDF. I was thinking of building a similar machine and I have loads of Ply but no MDF.

I can see why you went for 8'x4' tho, ideal as you don't have to rip 8x4 sheets into smaller strips before machining... I was tempted to try an build an 8x4 machine also, but I don't have the space plus I'm just getting to grips with the basics so I would be going in at the deep end. I think I might be better off going with a 4'x4' or 4'x3' as I only intend to make things that are smaller than this (mainly speaker boxes).

I also think you would do well if you made plans or sold flatpack kits, I guess this machine can now duplicate itself!

[dciocoiu]

great job

[Grunblau]

I wanted to update this main thread with links to a couple ongoing projects..

DIY Digitizer

2'x4' MDF and 8020

Also, here is a link to our website, here I have a collection of some my projects. In the future, I would like have a section that is more dedicated to DIY projects with downloadable PDFs etc... I hope to start my aluminum foundry soon as well as finish my small CNC. Let me know what you think!

www.grunblau.com

[FandZ]

I just checked out your site. Pretty cool designs. I see a lawsuit in those steamed tiles though. Those could be some real ankle killers...lol But I'm pretty sure they are ment for the wall

That pool, Playa Urbana, are there anymore pictures of it anywhere?

[Grunblau]

Currently putting a couple coats of polyurethane on my new uprights... Finished milling the 2nd one this weekend and hope to install them this week...

As a reminder, I wanted to optimize the weight distribution after realizing that to have the bit in the center of the bearing didn't matter as much as having the weight closer to the center.




Here they are before I started with polyurethane...





Closeup of incorporated motor mount



www.grunblau.com

[Grunblau]

Mounted the new uprights!

Does this mean it can't be considered handmade anymore?

Here is an overall look at the machine with the new uprights...




a look at the motor mount side.




Close image of the finish...




old ribs look a little 2 dimensional to me now..




Let me know what you think!!!

[FandZ]

There's no arguing with it, it's one of the best MDF routers on the zone. Congrats on your labor of love.

I did have a question. I notice on your gantry the acme rod goes into a half inch bearing. Are you *not* useing any sort of locking mechanism behind the bearing on the acme rod to stop any left and right movement? Is it just the motor and it's coupling stopping it from moving?

I put an arrow on the bearing I'm asking about.

[Grunblau]

There's no arguing with it, it's one of the best MDF routers on the zone. Congrats on your labor of love.

I did have a question. I notice on your gantry the acme rod goes into a half inch bearing. Are you *not* useing any sort of locking mechanism behind the bearing on the acme rod to stop any left and right movement? Is it just the motor and it's coupling stopping it from moving?

I put an arrow on the bearing I'm asking about.

Thank you very much!!

There are two things not shown in that picture to stop any back and forth movement...

This bearing has a flange and a collar with two grub screws... the Lovejoy connector sits on the outside of this bearing..




..on the other side I used a collar against the bearing in the upright to keep it in position.



Incidentally, the stack of MDF in the left of the picture was my old motor mount, lol.

BTW... how do you post with a thumbnail?

[pminmo]

Love the machine, I've never seen MDF look so good, what's the finish?

[Northboy]

Now that is a damn nice looking machine!

Cheers!

Northboy

[Grunblau]

Love the machine, I've never seen MDF look so good, what's the finish?

Thank you!

Finish is 2-3 coats of satin polyeurathane, sanding with 220 between coats. Final touch is S100 pure caranuba wax.

[ger21]

Really like the carved pieces. Very inspiring. Now I want to add more curves to the machine I'm designing. Nice job.

BTW... how do you post with a thumbnail?

You upload the pics to the Zone, rather than link to an external site.

[harryn]

Hi - very nice project.

I was looking at the video with the very long router bits for cutting foam. They look longer than 4 inches. Could you tell us where to buy them?

Thanks

HarryN

[Grunblau]

Hi - very nice project.

I was looking at the video with the very long router bits for cutting foam. They look longer than 4 inches. Could you tell us where to buy them?

Thanks

HarryN

You are correct the endmill is a Metal Removal 1/4 x 1/4 x 1-1/2 x 6" Item # 317-4774 at www.use-enco.com. Might be able to find a cheaper one on the site.

[mandaloril]

First off, great looking machine. Second, I'm trying to visualize your rotating nut assembly and exactly what you used in it's construction. Your design seems more elegant in it's simplicity then others that I have seen. Is it possible to get some more detail i.e. pics or dare I ask even a cad drawing.

[degreaser]

That's a work of art. You should submit it to Fine Woodworking Magazine. I'm sure you would get published.

A question on Rhino - what renderer are you using and how did you generate the exploded model of the z axis?

[Grunblau]

That's a work of art. You should submit it to Fine Woodworking Magazine. I'm sure you would get published.

A question on Rhino - what renderer are you using and how did you generate the exploded model of the z axis?

Thank you very much for your comments : )

The renderer is Maxwell Render. This is a really great program/plugin for Rhino. I have only used it on a limited basis for work. If you go to the Maxwell Render website you will see how great the renders can be. I just hand offset the parts for the Z axis image. I actually offset all of the parts for the entire table, but zoomed in on the Z axis.



Some of the inner structure of the table is not shown otherwise most all of the parts are there for the initial design... things changed along the way..