Scroll Saw

I've gotten tired of always having to use a hand hacksaw to cut material and I thought about getting a little scroll saw to cut small stuff. This little machine was on sale and I thought it would make a good little christmas present for only $70. It can cut up to 2 inch thick material, variable speed, and the table tilts up to 45° for angled cuts.

I'm thinking about making a guide/miter gauge setup so that I can keep cuts square when I need to. I've been thinking about ways to do this easily at minimal cost and materials thats still accurate as well as how to mount it to the machine.

End Mills

Went exploring the Harbor Freight store in Sacramento and saw these spiral bits hanging on the wall. They were only $6 for a 3-pack so I thought I'd give them a try and see how they work. Probably wont get around to using them until my new machine is up and running but that's okay. I'm working on modeling the new build in Solidworks and I think I'll post some pictures on here when I finish working on it. The plan for the new machine is 1.5" square steel tubing with a cutting area of 2' x 3' again using the angle iron and skate bearings for linear motion. It will have a moving gantry to maximize cutting area as well as a redesigned z-axis.

Control Box

Despite the short Thanksgiving break, I've found time to work on the CNC. I've built a box to hold the driver board and power supply as well as four fans for cooling. My power supply is 24 volts so I wasnt able to use normal 12 volt computer fans for cooling. Luckily there's Ebay. I found a lot of 24 - 24 volt fans for $35 shipped. That comes out to ~$1.50 per fan which is incredibly cheap. Not sure what I'll do with the extra 20 fans that I now have but they work on 12 volts so Im sure they'll eventually get used for projects. Yesterday I cut holes for the fans, power cord, and computer cable and mounted the fans and power supply. I'm still not sure on what connectors I want to use for the stepper motor wires. Here are some pictures of the progress. The top of the box slides open. I used the router with a round bevel bit to shape the fan openings after cutting the circles out with the jigsaw. The four fans push and pull a lot of air through the box so there should be more than enough airflow to cool the driver board.

Computer Enclosure

Finally getting around to having time to work on the CNC. I have been drawing up plans for CNC #2 and that is coming along well. More on this to come... For now though, I have started to build an enclosure to hold the dedicated shop computer for the CNC machine. The tower lays sideways in the box and the monitor has holding tabs and is strapped with a tie down. The keyboard and mouse sit on the front panel. Also there is a power strip mounted to the inside of the box.

Plans are to make a stand with rolling wheels to elevate the computer and be able to move it around. Not sure when I'll get around to this though. Ive just got to find some wheels and I'll probably just use 2x4's to build a sturdy rolling base.

Router Holder Update

I have finally gotten around to drilling the holes and cutting the reliefs on the plastic router mounts that I made a few weeks ago. The two plastic mounts are now on the machine and holding the router. I was able to find some 1/4" wing nuts in the bin of miscellaneous nuts and bolts, which work really well. Being away for school means I hardly get to come home and work on the CNC. Although I am already planning my next CNC build which I hope to work on over Thanksgiving break.

3D Puzzle

   Today I milled out some parts for a simple little puzzle. Ill post a video, its sped up to keep it a little interesting. Its made up of only three pieces, I cut them out of 1/2" plastic. If you want to build one of these, I have posted plans over on http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1008

Plastic Router Pieces

   Today I milled out some plastic pieces that are to replace the current MDF router clamps. The plastic I think is HDPE and is 1/2" thick. My passes were .12" deep for a total depth of .6" to make sure I cut though all of the way. The parts turned out very nice. Better than I expected. This is the first time trying to machine plastic on the CNC and surprisingly the router cut through the stuff very well, better than MDF. The video is sped up so its not too boring. My feed rate was 10 ipm; I wasn't quite sure how it was going to cut. These settings were conservative. Next time I now know I can bump up the speed.

Z Update Completed

   So now the Z axis is almost 100%. And I do have to say, I love the look of the copper rails. The build went together almost flawlessly. Amazing what spending some time in a CAD program can do to save headaches instead of realizing halfway through building that something isn't going to fit. As you can see from the slideshow, I used the CNC to cut out the pockets for the bolted connections. This design is far stronger than using screws in MDF wood. You can torque down the bolts to adjust the Y axis bearing slides. I used 1/4" by 1.5" long bolts and nylon nuts so they don't back out. Im really happy with taking the time to rebuild the Z axis; it was a mess earlier due to the heavy router. Im sort of burnt out right now with the CNC machine. Ive been spending the past two weeks working on it non stop it seems. At least its up and running well. Just have to start cutting some stuff out.

Z Axis Update Deisgn

The Z axis slash Y axis setup is falling apart due to using screws in the MDF wood (or i should say sawdust glued together). Instead of going and buying cross dowels, Im going to just use 1/4" nuts, bolts and washers instead. Notice on the attached picture, I plan to cut out square pockets where the nuts and bolts will hold the joints together. This should be pretty easy to make, and Im planning on using the CNC to cut out the pockets instead of using a 3/4" drill bit so that the nut can be up against a flush surface.

Router Mounted and Cutting

It took me a while to rebuild the Z axis to support the weight of the router. I couldn't decide which design would be best but ended up with a similar design thats used on the Joe's CNC 2006. Its working well for now; Im hoping to have it cut parts out to improve the machine itself. Im debating on whether to rebuild the Z axis or to just use my CNC to make parts for a second machine. But for now, I want to explore the software side while my machine is working. First piece it has cut out completely is a gear shown in the picture.

Die Grinder Spindle

Since I dont have a router yet, I decided to mount an air die grinder my dad has to my CNC machine. I used a 1/2" straight plunge router bit I found and used that to test. The air works well, but is time limited due to the air compressor. It just cannot run continuously; it over heats and shuts off. Plans are I'm going to re-design the Z axis when I get a router. Check out the video of the die grinder pocketing a small square.

Caution: Loud Audio

24v power supply

I ended up ordering a 24v power supply from probotix to replace my atx power supply I was using for testing. I plan to make a mounting base for the driver board and new power supply so everything looks clean and organized.

Modified ATX Power Supply

This power supply was made to power small projects on the workbench while building or testing. It is very versitile and has a few different output voltages. The project was based off of this instructable while I came up with my own display top design using some plexiglas and photoshop.

DIY Benchtop CNC

This project has been a few weeks in the making. Powered by EMC2 running on Ubuntu, my CNC has a cutting area of 12" by 12" by 5". Currently my dremel is serving as the cutting tool but hopes of replacing with a hand router for more cutting power. Plans are already starting to float around for version 2.0 which will be a new frame build while transferring over the electronics from the original working build. All of the hardware for the mechanical structure was purchased at local hardware stores such as Home Depot and Ace Hardware. The price tag so far is around $200 not including various parts and pieces I already had. The design I synthesized from many other internet DIY builds. Click image for build slideshow; updates are on the way..