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anybody made a homemade cnc??
I have seen a lot of videos recently with regards to homemade cnc’s and they look pretty good to me. For an 8’x4′ I know they can range up to 30k+. and the homemade ones will simply cost about 600-1000 to make! If you go to youtube and type in black toe cnc they look pretty amazing. I just wanted to know if they would also be useful in the workshop, easy to make, whether anybodies made one and most importantly how they compare with the professional machines which cost around 30k and what the differences are.
Thanks in advance!
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38 Replies
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I’m in the process of making a Rockwell Flying Gantry. Still got a long way to go, can’t find much spare time when your trying to make money to live on. Got most of the bits together except electronics at the moment.
As for quality, like always you get what you pay for, that’s the risk you run. Don’t think you can make an 8’x4′ for your first project unless you are really clued up. Do lots of searching on the net to get as much info as you can.
I am building a 3’x2′ which will be more than big enough for my needs. -
thanks for your reply Mike.
whats the difference though with regards to the quality of the actual machine comparison to a ready made machine. e.g power, speed e.t.c
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i actually want to retrofit my own CNC with new processor setup… someone steered me off one system but I would like to convert my cnc into a board cutter.
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The electronics side of things will probably be very similar. The performance comes with build quality. Depends what you want to cut. I only need to cut dibond/perspex letters so maximum strength from steels and aluminium wont be needed, so I am building from mdf and plywood, but if I was cutting steels or aluminium then I would be looking at building from nylon or aluminium. As I said do your homework first.
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love the idea but my worry would be making it dead square and getting all the slack out of the mech. would prefer it to use servo motors,
chris -
Some pics
It has gone further than this but time flies when your having fun. 🙄
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Not a CNC machine but a flatbed plotter, currently 4′ x 4′ but currently making it 6′ x 4′. This is an early build photo. I could mount a Dremel for engraving but I use it for artwork, plots straight on a mounted canvas.
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they look pretty cool Mike and David, it is something I have looked at in the past but thought the same as Chris. Didi you follow some specific plans, do you have a link?
Cheers
Dave
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My electronics and help came from http://www.routoutcnc.com Good site to browse. He has ready built machines now.
Electronics and software (Mach3) for less than £200. Aluminium framing and slide rails and bearings approx £300.
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ohh nice pics..
Mike, I cant workout the use of the wood with bearings? confused.
David F, Mach3 was the one I was told to steer clear of, but I need something that can be ‘adjustable’ and ‘flexible’. Oh that alluminium profile looks good, where can I get that?
Chris, Our big machine is stepper and I dont see that servos’ going to make much difference, I understand you can get more speed out of stepper.
What i am also looking for is an oscillating saw (for foamex cutting without mess)
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Hi Dave
I downloaded demos of all the popular CNC software. Mach3 seemed the best for my purpose (simple G Code etc), reasonable cost and none of those silly copy protection dongles etc, so I could experiment on a couple of PC’s. I have just built an i5 PC and looked everywhere for a motherboard that had a Parallel Port 😀 (USB -> Parallel adapters don’t work well with Mach3.) On Mach3 you can easily program your own screens to just have the buttons and windows you need.
Just Google ‘aluminium t slot extrusion’. Loads of places stock it and cut it to size. Got mine ages ago and can’t remember exactly where it came from.
The most expensive bits were the rails and carriages. Got them from
http://www.marchantdice.com down your way… Devon?Cheers
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yeah hes not far from me, about 10miles…
my thoughts are to make a lighter gantry, something that i can get moving fast with just a simple cutter. I also wonder where are electric bill goes!fascinating the USB issues, think i can work out why, I guess they using the Parallel as 8 lines of switching data.
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I can see a UKSB Robot Wars team in the making here 😉
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I looked into it a little but decided it would end up as an unfinished project, I think it is a great idea though if your technically minded and don’t want to fork out a lot of dollar on a factory built machine. This site has videos of each step of the build, may help you a little.
http://buildyourcnc.com -
quote Dave Rowland:ohh nice pics..
Mike, I cant workout the use of the wood with bearings? confused.
Dave the square one fits behind the cutting tool and is the y axis that will run along the gantry.
The two similar sized ones are the gantry x axis that will fit at the bottom of the gantry sides.
The remaining one is the z axis.
The photos only show the main structure held together by fresh air and is only to give you an overall feel for the project. I now have the steel rails let into their beds that the bearings run on. I may have another pic hiding on the puter somewhere which will give you a better idea how things will fit together. -
Despite taking care when cutting all the blanks to size, you can see there is a fitting "issue" of the top rail. I have taken it all apart and each piece is correct in size so a bit of fettling is in order.
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I started making a cnc table (8×4) last year, table is built and bought the electronics from routoutcnc as controller boards and motherboard.
It has ended up as an unfinished project, maybe i should offer the electronics for sale…
I will post some pics if anyone is interested?
cheers
stephen -
Hi stephan,
yes i may be interested. please post pics!
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Hi Stephen, as it is the routout stuff I am also interested to build another machine. Phillip has first refusal obviously 😀
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quote Mike Grant:Despite taking care when cutting all the blanks to size, you can see there is a fitting “issue” of the top rail. I have taken it all apart and each piece is correct in size so a bit of fettling is in order.
My own personal thought is that wood doesn’t make for a good precision material. The use of extruded aluminium section with all the accessories it offers would be a wiser choice.
I have used profile for years to produce conveyors, support frame work and pick n place 3 axis units. Take a look at http://www.maytec-uk.co.uk/ . These guys really know their stuff. -
Hi guys thanks for the replies.
I will post some pics next week when i get into the office. Is it just the electronics you may be interested?
cheers
stephen -
Looking forward to the pictures Stephen. Depends how far you got with your project? Have you got stepper motors and linear rails?
Cheers
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im looking for examples of an oscillating knife action, want to know how to replicate this or work out who makes this machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW6JQ8D-780
ah.. polish..http://mill.pl
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Hi guys sorry about the delay….
hope these make sense?
cheers
stephen
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Hi Stephen,
How much do you want for this? do you have an email i can contact you on?
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Hi Phill, my email is mod-edit please read board rules
Not sure how much i want for it to be honest, i may have to see what we paid, maybe you could make an offer?
cheers
stephen -
Hi Stepen
Thanks!
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Hi Stephen
Me too!
Thanks 😀
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Hi all, forgot to mention i also have 4x3m lengths of T slot aluminum profile….
cheers
stephen
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quote Stephen Ingham:Hi all, forgot to mention i also have 4x3m lengths of T slot aluminum profile….cheers
stephenStepehen, I have been trying to source T slot in the UK, where did you purchase your from, and is it called by a different name, as all searches for t slot seems to throw up lots of usa suppliers but none fromt he Uk, cheers
Graham Shand -
Hi Graham, as far as i know it is called T slot profile and if i recall we bought it from RS Components, try this link:
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/sear … ot&x=0&y=0
Hope that helps?
Cheers
stephen -
Stephen, Thank you for the info. regards Graham
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this guy only few miles from me, he is also ebay trader, I never met him tho
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quote Dave Rowland:this guy only few miles from me, he is also ebay trader, I never met him tho
Cheers Dave, seems to be just what I am looking for, managed to get 3d software, looking forward to the learning curve, or should that be v curve, regards Graham
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I googled T slot aluminium extrusion and got a few UK suppliers, mostly building type supply companies. Same sort of stuff as Dave’s link but I’m not sure if thats the right stuff for a router bed.
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i think they got bed slats on there too…. tbh our AXYZ has many slats that connect together to make a t-slot bed, then has a routered foamx to make a suction bed. Originally it was MDF but we changed it to foam-x, best move we ever made as suction is amazing
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Nice to see fellow builders
A great site for helping with everything home built
http://www.cnczone.com/
about the best there is for any info needed for a build.
Started me off and never looked back.
a few pics Not the best shot or latest of my build but you get the idea.
& also the latest thing I’ve made on it.http://www.kjnltd.co.uk/ another good link for T slot aluminum
Hope the build goes well & good luck
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Never built from scratch but rebuilt and rewired an old router to work from Vectric and Mach3 which I find are both superb software when you get your head round them, Great site for info on diy build is http://buildyourcnc.com and great site and help for electrics is http://www.cnc4pc.com. here is a link to my rebuilt router in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq-UrAC5 … re=related
Doug
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