As the plans for my (upcoming) MBLC required a lot of CNC work doing, I thought to myself… Why not build one?
So… several hours of internet browsing later, and jaw-dropping of the prices of kits, I started out to design my own to the size i wanted.
The design spec was simple - to be able to rout a panel the size of a 6u rack panel.
The process of sourcing parts began, from various sources, Ebay being the most prominent, and the design started.
Being on a tight budget, the most expensive parts - lead screws and ballnuts were replaced with standard threaded bar and a clever arrangement of wood block and threaded inserts to reduce backlash.
It’s a steady process having to cut and drill each piece accurately, and believe it or not… I’ve only had to re-make 1 piece!!
The advantage of a kit is that 90% of the hard work has been done, it only has to be assembled. The disadvantage is that there’s limited options on what size machine you can build, I’ve built mine to fit the space I have.
Mine has cost me somewhere in the region of £250-300 so far, and there’s still some bits to buy… e.g. drag chains to keep the cabling tidy, and channel for it to lay into. I’m expecting the total cost to be about £300.
btw, I used to live in Sheffield… went to University there.
Rob
@ rosch.. cheers, if this turns out to be accurate enough, I may be able to do the odd midiboxer a favour or 2.
yeah.. I was originally looking at something similar, but it’s far too small for what I want, and kits for the size machine I’m building were looking at being £800-1000+
I wish lumenlabs was still around, they had one with a 19"x19" cutting deck for under a thousand…
I really don’t like the idea of a CNC router that uses wood for the frame. I think extruded aluminum (like 80/20) would be much more accurate and long-lasting
Yes, you are right that aluminium would be more long lasting, but I’ve done a LOT of online research into this and most DIY CNC kits and plans use wooden frames, so it’s not an un-viable option.
I don’t see any reason why a wooden-framed CNC should be less accurate than an aluminium framed one. Built correctly, a wooden frame can be perfectly stiff enough to satisfy the needs of lightweight CNC work.
The other reason I decided on a wood frame was cost - as I don’t have the tools to machine the sort of size pieces needed, I would have had to get them custom made, which would more than double the price tag.
Well.. after a busy period at work, and looking for a ‘new’ car, I find myself back on leave, and time to do some more work on this.
Now that I’ve dry fit the pieces of the base section, it’s time to drill and bolt everything down.
Also at this time I’ve drilled a grid on the table and fitted T-nuts to the underside for screw-in clamps. Note also the 2 braces on the underside of the table to reduce any flexing.
These additions to the original design, fortunately were possible without interfering with the bottom brace of the gantry
EDIT
Also showing detail of the thrust bearings used on all of the lead screws.
Now that I have the microswitches, and the E Stop switch, it’s time, with a little help from my daughter, to fit those.
The X and Y axes were an easy fit, One set screwed directly to the structure, and the other needed just a simple L-bracket to fit.
The Z axis, however was a bit more challenging. Although I got subminiature microswitches, they were too wide for direct actuation as the other axes are arranged, so a little inventive thinking was called for.
As I had roller actuators, I decided to cut chamfers on the Z-slider, and mount them inline. This also meant that i had to file a notch in the side wall so they wouldn’t interfere with the tool mount (when fitted) as it passed over.
