Portable, homemade CNC machine WIP

[robm]

Alright. Haven't updated in a while, mainly because time's kinda tight here this past week or two, but... here's the gantry mostly built:

Not quite done with the right side, mainly because my youngest went down for a nap so I couldn't fire up the saw But, I'll cut that last piece out once he wakes up here in a few hours.

Next part after this is to attach the drive nut assembly, thus giving me range of motion. Once THAT'S done... on to the hardest part, which is building the tool holder.

 

[bud]

Looks great

 

[samjc3]

Excellent.

 

[jleemero]

Lookin' awesome, very excited.

 

[robm]

Ended up having to do a re-design of the gantry, which is the reason for the delay - will be working a good solid block of 4 hours or so on it tonight, will post pics after I'm done.

 

[robm]

Alright, made some great strides in getting this together today. Redesigned the gantry assembly, mounted the y-axis drive nut assembly, mounted the x-axis stepper motor, and the x-axis lead screw's installed (though not shown in these pics, did that after these were taken.)

 

[Hermaphroditus]

It's looking quite sexy. I am very excited for everything to be ready and to see the work you will do with it.

 

[robm]

Thanks, Herm!

Work has been slow on this the past couple weeks, been kinda busy with other things. BUT, cutting table mounted:

At this point, I need to just get over it and build the tool holder; after that, it's just about a hundred dollars more worth of electronics and this is basically done.

Pics... NOW.

 

[Basement_Modder]

EXACTLY 6 MONTH BUMP!!!

Please tell me you've done something with this since May.

 

[robm]

Actually, I have.

Mechanically, it's all done. All I have left to do is buy the power supply and control board and it's good to go, outside of getting all that flax set up.

Soon, wabbit, soon. Probably have to wait until my tax return in February, but soon.

 

[robm]

So this project is finally moving forward again.

Due to the fact that discretionary funds are somewhat limited for me, this had been put on hold for a while. Now that fundage is starting to be easier for me to run across, I've dug this back out of the workroom to finish it up.

Some thoughts from looking at it again:

The tool holder I had made previously was terrible, and wasn't going to work well at all, so I needed to fab a new one. I am not a woodworker, so I had to try about three times before I finally got one that will work.

Once I finish the replacement Z axis cage, I am seriously just down to the electronics, which will be ordered this month. Once those come in, it's wiring and set-up work from there. I am excite.

PHOTO:

 

[βeta]

Between now and when you started, I have worked with stepper motors a ton. Which ones are you using?

 

[robm]

Just itty-bitty Nema 23's.

That's what they were advertised as when I bought them, anyway, but I've since begun wondering if they're actually 17's. Not sure how to tell though.

Edit: Just figured out how to tell. They're 17's.

 

[robm]

Z-axis assembled, for the most part. Bearing assembly needs installed to ride on the gantry.

 

[βeta]

I just picked up some NEMA 34s for a project at work, they weigh 10lbs each, draw 5.5A, and put out 1000in-oz of torque. Awesome. I recommend these Pololu stepper drivers. They are very easy to work with.

 

[robm]

Beta - sorry, didn't see your post until now. I picked up one of the cheapish controllers off of eBay, just arrived this evening. Hooked it up so I could make sure it fired up ok, it was a bit dinged up from it's journey from China.

It's aliiiive....

There's not a whole lot left of the mechanical side of things to be done. I need to get the steppers wired up to the board, and at that point it's set up and calibration. I need to find a good cable management system; I like the chain guide method, and may end up with that eventually. Right now I'll probably stick with plastic cable guides until I spring for the chain management system (which isn't really that expensive anyway.)

Oh yeah, I also need to install Linux on this spare old-ass laptop so I can actually drive the thing, since computers don't have parallel ports these days.

SO CLOSE.

 

[samjc3]

ass-laptop

*Can'tSayThisOnTV*in XKCD. Gets me every time now.

In any case, this appears to be coming along nicely. When you get it built, you should mill me a lightning link.

 

[robm]

The stepper motor controller test:



Edit:

And the x-axis actually moving on the machine:

 

[robm]

Double-posting, don't care - it writes stuff now!!



Needs a lot of hardware upgrading and it's still a work in progress, but yeah... it draws stuff now.

 

[Ashen]

This project is awesome.