Qwindelzorf.com - CNC Milling Machine

10-18-2008 (Much later...)

box

I have been using the mill for various little projects for a while now. I made this little box and thought it was a reasonable example of the sorts of things one can do with this sort of equipment. The working volume is not that big, so I am limited to small items only. However, for those small items, it does quite well. This box is about 3 inches in each direction and 1.5 inches tall with the lid. I use it to hold various small items on my desk.

At this point, I'm considering this project pretty much done. Unless I decide to add a fourth axis to the machine. I have been hankering for a bit more working volume, so I may well be starting on a larger (4ft x 4ft) router table at some point.

12-2-2006

It's ALIVE!!!!

spiral

I successfully produced my first 2-d drawing a couple days ago. Chuck a pen in, tape down some paper, and run a test pattern. This spiral is supposed to be 3 inches in diameter. It is not. At this point, the machine was not calibrated or adjusted. But it DID move.

vase

Now here's the good one. My first true 3D result. This is a half-profile of a vase. It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but you try to take a better shot of a clear hunk of plastic. It is milled into a block of high-density polyethelene I got a the gorcery store. Of course, that's not what they're sold as. They call them "cutting boards" not knowing just how right they are. In this picture, things are adjusted correctly and the vase is scaled correctly.

11-23-2006

Wow. It's been a lonnnng time since I updated this. The machine has been on hold since the last update, as my garage was broken into and robbed. However, I recently managed to replace the stuff that was stolen. These last few weeks have been rather eventful. I have installed the previously mentioned motor mount kit, and new, more powerful steppers. I also managed, through my own stupidity, to fry the stepper drivers. I have since replaced them with the new HobbyCNC kit. I have also switched from using TurboCNC on Windows 98 SE to using EMC2 on Ubuntu. I must say, it is quite nice.

EMC2

Here's a shot of the assembled machine.

Assembled machine

Don't mind the hex wrenches.

5-26-2006

The new motor mounts came in. I bought them from CNCFusion. Hopefully, they will center the motors nicely on the leadscrews, resulting in fewer side-torque issues. That, combined with some new motors from eBay, should take care of making this thing work. I leave today for vacation though, so no pictures yet. I'll put some up when I get back.

4-21-2006

I spent most of today in the garage, and managed to get almost everything hooked up.

everything running

As can be seen, I have set up the computer, electronics and mill all in one corner of my garage.

computer

The computer and screen are mounted on a TV swing arm I picked up at Home Depot. You can also barely see the wireless adapter in the window behind the monitor. This, combined with VNC allows me to upload files to and control the system from inside my apartment.

electronics

I also built a small shelf under the computer system to hold the electronics for the mill. I then wired up all three steppers and covered up the wires with some split wire loom. The Z axis is still not done, but that can wait till I have the other two axes actually working.

Sadly, after all this, I still don't have a working system. It appears that these wimpy little steppers, while very cheap, are not up to the task. I can tell them to turn, but all they do is stutter. There may be something I can do to make the X and Y ways move a little smoother, but I suspect I will need to purchace some more forcefull motors before this system becomes operable.

4-19-2006

stepper testing

Today, I hooked up the power supply, control electronics, and a stepper all together for the first time. Surprisingly, it all worked. The computer was capable of turning the motor at a given speed or to a given destination. The controller I am using is produced by HobbyCNC. It is very capable, and has options for half, quarter, eigth, and sixteenth stepping. I can happily say it works very well.

The computer controling it all is an old HP Vectra I bought on eBay. It's runing Windows 98, simply because that's the most recent OS that still runs real-time DOS programs, which is required to run virtually all of the CNC software out there.

I have not yet decided what the entire software chain will be. I have to find a suite of software that can be used to draw 3D objects, convert those objects to G-code, and then finally something to control the machine according to the G-code.

4-18-2006

I spent some time trying to get the steppers mounted. I think I have a solution.

mounted steppers

I managed to get both the X and Y motors mounted. It's not pretty, but it should work well enough to use it to make better mounts for itself.

stepper mount detail

Here is a detailed view of the mount system. I just used some aluminum strap to make adapter plates and some threaded rods to hold the motors steady. To link the shafts, I used some stiff rubber hose and pipe clamps. Again, not that great, but hopefully good enough to make it's own replacement parts.

3-25-2006

I got some steppers off of eBay. Not the best, but very cheap. This way, if I blow them up, I'm not out too much cash. And since they have the same mountings as nicer servos, it should be a simple matter to trade them out if I find that they are not up to the task.

I also ordered a stepper controller board, and placed a bid on a power supply to run the steppers. I'm gonna need a power supply capable of supplying 24 volts and more than 20 amps.

3-13-2006

Well, this morning I was looking around online at other people's homemade mills. Many people built theirs from scratch, but I have discovered another community of people who have purchaced regular manually operated mills and retrofitted them to be computer controlled. Since there's nowhere in this town to build the needed parts to build my own machine, I figure this is the route for me.

Looking around online, there's a Harbor Freight in Bakersfield, and they have a mini-mill in stock.

Well, I'm back from Bakersfield, and I have a new mill.

mill

The mill came in a crate, which I neglected to photograph. It looks like it should be pretty easy to modify to use stepper motors to move the X Y table. The Z axis will be a bit more involved, but should be quite do-able.

Drill bits

While I was at Harbor Freight, I also picked up some high-speed carbide drill bits. They should be fine enough to use for circuit board work.

3-12-2006

So, I decided that I should build a CNC milling machine to create PCBs. I have been thinking about it for quite a while now, and I've been looking at other people's designs online. I'm planning to build it with two axes to move the work piece in the X and Y directions, and the third axis moving the milling head up and down. I'm not sure what I will build this system out of though.

I'm planning to use stepper motors to move the three axes. I think I'll make the leadscrews out of All-Thread untill I can come up with some real ones. As for the X and Y sliding mechanisms, I'm not sure yet what I'm gonna do.