Planning CNC router, laser cutter, or something?

I'm looking at the deepgroove.

 

You could buy some nice plans of the net and just send them to a cnc machine shop for them to cut all the panels out of wood or something else.

Then all you will have to do is bolt it all together. It shouldnt cost to much either.

My cnc machine came in at around £350 in total. Which is alot less than you have.

Before anyone guns my machine down for running on a dremel, look at the end pages, I have finally got the machine to the stage where it can cut perspex really well.

I cut this out for a friend a couple of days ago



Seb

 

What kind of bit are you using for that? I know most dremel bits are not made for plunge cutting. The only thing I see working here would be the 1/8" drill bit.

 

I use a 1/8" sprial upcut bits

 

very nice work on that router. Makes me want to do something similar myself with all the mdf i have laying around and the g540 i have laying around...

 

Ah, I am an idiot. I assumed because you were using a dremel, that you were also using the crap bits.

@Teyber- I'm having similar plans. I can use the deepgrove to make a router assembly, and the control box can do double-duty.

 

Damn, that is exactly what I want to do

Mind if I pick your brain when I get the cash together to work on that project?

 

part way through my own cnc build

some pics from my started cnc build, a gantry I can fit at least pc side pannels in I have all the electronics and the ballscrews, ballnuts and rails that I got from china ebay about half the price of the same stuff from UK.

sketchup of mill


PC with CNC electronics installed








and the Z axis ballscrew 300mm


still to get the hardware for build, going to be using delrin and aluminium extrusion, but at least all the electrics works

 

Would a good wood router be able to cut aluminum and mild steel (computer case sides)


or would a dremel be good enough? (maybe with multiple passes)

 

cutting steel is hard as it chatters so much, you really need a cnc plasma but that said im not sure if it would just leave a rough-ish edge you could sand or what.

cheapskate- good idea

 

At my high school they have 2 small CNCs with what seamed like heavy duty Dremels (still used 1/8 sized shanks) and I cut 3/8" steel plate into a 3D star shape (it had 4 levels increasing in size as you went down). I didn't CNC it myself because it would have taken 3 class period so my teacher did it, so I didn't see how well/ fast the CNC performed



Has anyone tried CNCing paper? like for window decals

 

co2/laser cutter for that

 

or you could mount a very sharp conical point, and cut the power to the router motor, keep the Z axis at a constant, so X and Y will just act like a printer, but it would cause problems if you rastered.



The worst material i have ever turned was brass, its a complete b*tch, it can go hard. soft then hard again as you turn it down. So it starts off cutting nicely then it will chatter and cause bad vibes, really have to be on the ball inorder to back off the pressure.

Parting off brass is a unknown every time, last piece i did was really hard, but the core was soft, so when i was parting off a bit to much heat built up causing the core to soften, it ten started to whip and sheared off the stock material bouncing off both the guards which incase the working area, but it carried enough energy to still hit me in te knee with a nice crack. The lump of brass was about the size of a 35mm film roll, solid cylinder. That hurt alot!


None of this relates to CNC work. All i can add about steel, is to add a lube feed and run as many passes as possible keeping the tool and material cool. The best bed for CNC'ing metals is a metal bed, to conduct any heat build up away . I prefer an Iron bed, it dampens vibes, its nice and heavy so it keeps the machine nice and stable and it acts like a heatsink.

 

Or replace the router with one of these. The company I work for now makes cnc tables that use x-acto blades to cut cardboard, or card stock for the packaging industry. A couple of the places you can get those stickers to cover your phone/laptop/mp3 player also use them to cut the vinyl stickers.

 

Plasma are not good for cutting panels - SNiiPE used one in a build which left a horrible edge, AFAIK.

 

Are DC routers possible, and could you PWM them? What about using an electronically controlled dimmer on an AC router. I don't think either solution would be hard from an electronics standpoint.

Drysofar, are you having the parts for your setup made? That's my major sticking point.

 

Very cool Barry


could anyone else give insight to the problem
Would a good wood router be able to cut aluminum and mild steel (computer case sides) or would a dremel be good enough? (maybe with multiple passes)

 

I dont think a dremel would really be strong enough but a good wood router with the right attachment and enough cooling fluid going around it should manage. but you must have a strong setup to stand all the pressure that will be put on the frame

 

And use a slow cutting rate with shallow cuts - too fast and the bit will chatter (jump) over the cutting surface.

 

On my CNC router I'm using a Kress Spindle (Not a dremel clone, its a grinding spindle). Cuts through aluminium like butter!

Theres a few videos on this site of a machine using a Kress, cutting steel, aluminium, brass etc.

And heres where you can pick one up Linky

The most important things when cutting metals is having a rock solid machine, getting the feed speeds correct, the depth of cut right and having the right bit.

My machine is built from Aluminium profiles from KJN (UK). They cut to size! Bolts together like huge mechano!

Hope thats helpful to someone