CNC Rebuild

[Jamie Unden]

I have been rebuilding my CNC machine far the past few months and finally have it working. I don't have any great photos of the before, only this one:

I got it as a kit from DynaCNC back in 2006 and it had some problems. The screws were single-start so it moved really slow. One of the precision ground bars on the gantry was too small so the whole thing rocked when I brought the router down, and the clearance under the router was so low that I couldn't get a work piece in that was very thick.

So, first, I added some extrusions to the sides to raise the whole thing up:

And added brackets to hold them in place:

At the other end I made the bracket taller to hold a bearing and support the ground rod:

[Jamie Unden]

Then I made motor mounts. The long axis has two ground rods and each has a screw and motor. In the controller there are two Geckos slaved together to drive that axis so I made two motor mounts. Since I only have a Harbor Freight drill press to work with I went for adjustability over precision:

I used similar construction on the other two axis, but they only have one motor each. Here's a shot of the whole thing:

Then I made a dust shroud that is attached with one 10-32 bolt and uses cheap paint brushes:

Here's a link to a video of the machine in action:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jwiwujslccl8h ... mplate.mp4

[Chuck Tweedy]

Awesome!

[David King]

Jamie,

Have you considered replacing the unsupported rods with the supported ones that have open "C" trucks? The flex on those rods must be significant. Of course now the low profiles ones are probably your cheapest option and they should be even more rugged. If you needed speed you could throw some 4 or 5tpi rolled ballscrews at it but then you're talking about real money. I think in the long run it would be worth it if you are making money with it now.

[Jason Rodgers]

All this CNC talk is beyond me, but I can appreciate the brilliance of the paint brush dust sweep!

[Jamie Unden]

I would love to use those fails but my budget is limited right now. The screws I just put on are 5-start. I think I forgot to mention that.

[Eric Baack]

Looks like the same router that mine uses. It's a nice little unit. Someday I'll make the jump to CNC with mine. It is hand cranks for now but is still extremely useful!