Finished!

The router is done!  Here it is in all its smurf colored glory.  Here is it cutting out an S that Kassie designed.

It's alive!

My cousin came over yesterday to help me get my router set up and everything seems to work great!  It can do 176" per minute rapids which is plenty fast for my needs.  As you can see the machine is not quite done because I wanted to test everything before I finished it in case something didn't work right.  All seems ok so it's time to get it done!

Router is mounted!

When I was figuring out how to mount my Dewalt router to my CNC machine I ran into a little "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Scenario.  I could have hacked together some router mounts but I really wanted some nice and uniform mounts made from UHMW that where beyond my capabilities to make by hand.  So I cheated and went over to my cousins house to use his CNC router to make the mounts =) They came out great, and seeing his machine cut them out really motivated me to get mine done!  The picture above shows the two mounts fresh off the machine.

I wanted the mounts to clamp the router tightly so I machined two pockets into each one so that a bolt and nut could be used to clamp the router in place.  I put a slice down the center of the two pockets and drilled hole in them for the bolt to go.  It is a very solid mount!

In this picture you can see the motor mounts mounted to the Z axis and the router inserted into them.  Even without the two bolts in place to pinch the router it is a very solid and tight fit!

Here is the machine from a distance.  All that is left is installing the motor and ballscrew for the X axis, building and installing the cutting table.  After that it's just a little paint and wiring up the electronics and I'll be able to try it out!

Speaking of the electronics, here is my controller box.  You can see the Breakout board, three stepper drivers, relay board and power supply in the lower half of the box.  The lid contains two fans, the on and off switch, some fuses and a speed controller for the router.

Here is the electronic box with the lid installed.  The white household plug on the lid is used to power the router and the dust remover.  They are each independently controlled by the relay board from the computer to turn each device on and off automatically as needed!

It's coming together

Since I finished the gantry for the machine the next thing I needed to do was build the base.  I didn't have a big enough workbench in my garage to put the machine on so I built this extension on the end of my work bench.  I spent a lot of time making sure it was level and flat so that the machine will sit evenly.

In this picture you can see the base of the machine starting to take shape!  The can of Mt Dew (the official drink of my garage) is sitting in the front corner of the machine to show scale.  This is a pretty large machine! You can also see that I have placed the Gantry in the frame rails so I could see if everything is coming out like it is drawn in the plans.  More to come soon!

Gantry done!

It took a lot of work but my CNC machine Gantry is done!  Here it is standing up on my work bench.

You can see the "Green Monster" motors that run the show.  They are supposed to be able to put out around 400oz/inches of power, not to shabby!

Here you can see the mount that connects the ballnut to the Z axis to move it side to side.  The ballscrew is so efficient you can grab the Z axis and push it side to side and the ballscrew will turn and allow it to move, its pretty cool to watch.  Next up is building the base!

CNC Update!

Here is where most of my projects start, a pile of metal on the floor!  The steel yard I got it from even threw in the rust for free!

Here I am cutting some of the steel parts out on my amazing Black and Decker workmate 300 worbench!  I like it because not only is it a work bench but it also can clamp onto parts like these steel beams so I can cut them with a sawzall.

Here I am starting to center punch the holes to mount the linear rails for the "Y" axis to the 1/4" thick by three inch wide angle iron.  After the holes where center punched I drilled them out and tapped them for M5 bolts to hold the rails to the steel frame.

I thought about using bronze bushings to support the ends of the ballscrews because they are simple to mount but I ended up using some ball bearings to help things run smoother.  They started life as some Team Delta pillow blocks meant for fighting robots to roll around on, but after some work on the bandsaw they where cut down so that I got two smaller bearings from each pillow block.

Here I am drilling the mounting holes in the pillow blocks and the steel frame.  The small 1/2" shaft in the bearing passes through the steel as well and keeps everything lined up while I drill.

Here you can see the Y axis really coming together!  The parts are just laying there right now but you can see the mount for the stepper motor on the front 2" square tubing. You can also see the two linear rails mounted to the steel frame and the ballscrew running down the middle of it all that will move the Z axis left and right.

Here you can see one of those bearing blocks that I made in an earlier picture mounted and holding the ballscrew in place. I had to turn the end of the ballscrew down from 16mm to 1/2" to fit into this bearing and the LoveJoy coupler that connects the ballscrew to the motor.  Turning the hardned steel ballscrew on my Harbor Freight mini lathe was no small feat!  But I was able to do it.   More to come!

CNC Router update!

I have been working on finalizing my cnc router's design for about a week now and I think I finally have it the way I want it.  Most of the router is going to be made from steel either 1/8" thick or 1/4" thick and the cutting table will be made from high density particle board.  This is my final CAD drawing of what the machine should look like.

Here is the machine with the cutting table removed  so you can see the inside.  Now its time to start cutting and welding some steel!