Modding Project: DIY CNC - V3 Reinforced Z Axis

Wow. Hard core modding. I'm impressed. So do you have both v2 and v3 up and running? Or did v2 get disassembled? Great job on these projects! incredible...

 

and thats all i can say after reading through 19 pages WOW

 

Hats off to you. Taken me a about 5 days (not constant!) to get through the 19 pages. I've considered it a learning experience and it's been like watching a craftsman at work.

I was a click away from purchasing a cheap chinese CNC a couple of weeks ago, I now think a home build would be a more rewarding experience give a better understanding, leading to better use of said machine.

Great work and great work log. Thanks

 

Thanks to everyone, ur nice guys, there are still some big modifications to do which will start very soon...

for now, just an appetiser

A new Toy

Proper metal saw



And another new toy a Lathe:

lets get startet...

Formatting the rough 40mm dural pieces



Beveling



Drilling



Moar drilling



erm i just realised i didnt really take enough pics

so... a quick jump

Finished Product :



So whats this :

before cheap item profile hack



Now uber awesome edge fences



With my new Vaku pods ( driven by a normal vakuum shop cleaner )



If the workpiece is in place i can remove the top part of the fences to format the workpiece !



to be continued

 

Cool toys. How long before you go 5 axis?

http://www.cnc-toolkit.com/ -Haven't had the time to look into this yet...It sounds promising.

 

It is on the list, ittl be the step after the next

 

I really start to like aluminium





theres a vid aswell but i have to edit and upload it first...

 

Heh, I don't think I've ever seen someone use a drill press vise on a cnc before. Cool idea!

 

Unfortunately... i dont have a better one ( yet )

 

I never thought this will work that good...

The aluminium is used as stock is AlZnMgCu1,5 which is one of the hardest aluminiums one can get ( 500nm )

These are the cutting feeds i used:

2 Flute 6mm straight bit 15000rpm 1mm depth 2000mm/m and i used the minimal cooling unit to make a very fine mist to cool the workpiece and bit, the stock didnt get warm at all, the bit got "lukewarm" not more





After doing the first part i realised all the spindles came loose on the machine so i had to re tighten everything and level the machine again, it wasnt noticeable in wood at all, afterwards pure cutting bliss

 

man that must be so fun to use. wish i had some like to use at the weekends as a hobby

 

It certainly is a lot of fun, only drawback is that if u make a mistake u can kill 10000€ in less than a second

 

I went trough this thread do many times Epic journey... from old table mounted rails, to high precision machining device. Every time I feel unsure about my own cnc project, this thread puts me back on track.
So... thanks for sharing

... this is my Z axis in making

 

Looks good even though i think ur baseplate and the linear rails are to short

im gonna do some more updates on mine aswell i got a new side channel blower for vakuum clamping but i didnt install it just yet, i hope it works well, one other thing is the conversion of the long spindles to 'Powered' ball bearings, its a different type of drive concept where the ball bearings are rotated and not the spindle ( thus eliminating vibrations and allowing much higher speeds )

 

short... yes, but it depends on requirements I would say. all I need from Z is 100mm, base plate is 300mm and rails 250mm long. That will do I believe.

hmm, interesting... I was looking into alternatives to steppers as well. Found linear motors and something like ''powered'' linear rails, based on electromagnetism I think. Never heard about powered ballscews. Do you know any suppliers? (link maybe?)

 

Have a look here http://www.cnc-shop.mobasi.com/popup_image.php?pID=464&imgID=0

but i think with a z depth of only 100m ur build will be rather small averall ? they are only really better if u have quiet long spindles ( ~above 1m )

I meant to short in relation to ur ballscrew, it would support atleast 100mm more travel.

 

Thanks

Well, yes it's small on that one axis, and I could make it bigger, but I didn't see a point adding extra mass, if I simply don't need to. But it's much larger on the other axis. 1000mm rails on X and 800mm on Y.

... talking about speed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhcZBr38Kmc&feature=related

next upgrade 1million rpm spindle

 

oh lord thats quick, i dont think u would achieve similar speeds in an full build because the spindle etc make it a lot heavier but it is really quick nonetheless.

I think sevos are too expensive though and they dont have any large advantages for a diy build.

 

this is awesome! I'd love to do this myself some day too. How much have you spent so far?

 

way too much