DIY CNC Resources

[xudeen]

Heya fellows,

I'm starting this thread on DIY CNC resources to provide as much info as possible to those of us who wants to, planning to, hoping to, or for the few brave who have already started building their dream DIY CNC machines.

I will list all relevant info & details in the first post (updated as regularly as I can), and I hope everyone interested in pursuing this complicated & expensive hobby chip in as well. Show your stuff here

Lets all make it happen, or at least smell some smoke of it

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Number One online forum with tons of information on the world of CNC & all its arcane magic, must visit:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php

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Below are a list of CNC design plans & kits for sale, buy one or DIY, whatever floats your boat:


Sherline
(you guys know this one)

http://www.sherline.com/

http://shop.sgtooling.com/index.php (SG dealer)

Taig Tools

http://www.taigtools.com/

Lumenlab
(mighty plastic robotic)

http://lumenlab.com/

Solsylva Router Plans
(Fixed & overhead gantry designs)

http://www.solsylva.com/cnc/cnc_plans_home.shtml

Joe's CNC Plans
(Router made from MDF)

http://www.joescnc.com/index.php

Fireball CNC

http://www.fireballcnc.com/

MechMate CNC Router
(Steel framed router)

http://www.mechmate.com/

HobbyCNC Router Plans

http://www.hobbycnc.com/products/cnc-router-plans/

Inshoreboats CNC router
(Big bad steel frame monster)

http://www.inshorepowerboats.com/cnc%20stuff/CNCROUTER.htm

CNCDuDeZ CNC

http://www.cncdudez.co.uk/

Zenbot
(put the Zen into your CNC bot )

http://zenbotcnc.com/merchant2/

Pilot Pro CNC

http://www.pdjinc.com/

Widgitmaster CNC
(where evrything is shiny)

http://widgitmaster.com/

Romaxx CNC

http://www.romaxxcnc.com/

Doughty CNC
(5 axis anyone?)

http://www.doughtydrive.com/products.html

Heiz CNC
(German presicion)

http://www.cnc-router-routers.com/html/preise_cnc_frase_preise_cnc_ro.HTM

DigiRout CNC

http://www.digirout.com/

KDN Tool

http://www.kdntool.com/_sgg/m1_1.htm

K2 CNC

http://www.k2cnc.com/

Modular CNC
(affordable starter kit)

http://www.modularcnc.com/

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Parts & stuff, things you need.

Fineline automation
(affordable linear motion carriage)

http://www.finelineautomation.com/questions/faq

Pminmo

http://pminmo.com/

Online Metals
(international shipping)

http://www.onlinemetals.com

Pacific Bearing
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.pacific-bearing.com/default.aspx

HIWIN
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.hiwin.com/

Superior Bearings
(there's superior sharkfins & there's superior bearings)

http://www.superiorbearing.com/

Rollon
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.rolloncorp.com/index.shtml

Jacob's Chuck

http://www.jacobschuck.com/

VXB
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.vxb.com/

THK
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://thk.com/

Nook Ind.
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.nookindustries.com/

QBC Bearings
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.qbcbearings.com/Default.htm

Igus
(plastic linear bearings)

http://www.igus.com/

LM76
(linear motion rails & stuff)

http://www.lm76.com/

Bearings Direct
(get your balls here)

http://bearingsdirect.com/

Littlemachineshop

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/default.php

Keling Inc.
(lots of parts)

http://www.kelinginc.net/

CNC4PC
(lots of parts)

http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/

CNC Plus
(get your euro stuff here)

http://www.cnc-plus.de/

Maritool

http://www.maritool.com/

Ekstromcarlson

http://www.ekstromcarlson.com/

CNC TOUCH SENSOR

http://www.lb-innovation.dk/CNC%20TOUCH%20SENSOR%20en.htm

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Personal pages, materials specs & stuff you should learn.



All you need to know about CNC on the wiki

http://pminmo.com/PMinMOwiki/index.php5?title=Main_Page

Electromate
(Software Takes Guesswork Out of Motor Sizing)

http://www.electromate.com/technicalsupport/?c=kollmorgansoftware

CAD software FOC

http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cad.htm

Know how to drill!

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/drillfaq.htm

Read & learn

http://www.mechengineer.com/

Know your materials

http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm

http://www.matweb.com/

Engineer's calculator

http://www.engineersedge.com/calculators.htm

Eliminate backlash on your CNC machine

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCBacklash1.htm

Make sure your frame is strong enough!

http://structsource.com/analysis/types/beam.htm

http://tools-programs.com/prog16851.html

5 Bears take you on his CNC journey

http://www.5bears.com/cnc.htm

Increasing Torque For A High Speed Spindle

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/increasing-torque-for-a-high-speed-spindle.aspx

Know your bolts & nuts

http://www.boltscience.com/

What is stepping moters?

http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/

Speed & Feed

http://www.jonathansaada.com/speeds_feeds.php

Milling machine tapers

http://www.timgoldstein.com/cad_cam/tapers.htm#page%20top

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Local suppliers & stuff

DIY store

http://www.homely.com.sg/

DIY store

http://www.motherland.com.sg/catalog/

DIY store

http://singapore.rs-online.com/web/

DIY store

http://sg.farnell.com/

And dun forget your favorite Kelantan Lane!

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Cool stuff CNC

Coolest CNC ever! And driven at the center of gravity.

http://www.moriseiki.co.jp/english/index.html

[genexis]

personal page (sherline + A2ZCNC + RC):

http://simplewords.genexis.net/?page_id=634

[Wongster]

I bought the plan from rockcliffmachine.com and started logging my progress in its forum at rockcliffmachine.com/forum. The forum is new (just shifted from its Yahoo Groups) and so activity level rather low.

Nick of rockcliffmachine has been rather helpful to newbies though my final design looks not like those in the plan. End up also buying Mach3 licience and the motor drive from them.

Bought my stepper motors from Keling Tech Inc. Reasonable price but not so helpful.

To work with my notebook without parallel port, I bought the SmoothStepper (www.warp9td.com). Website says 4 weeks waiting list but a couple of mail to their sales rep, Stephanie, I got mine shipped up within a day. Very nice lady to deal with.

The linear motion stuff was purchased from ebay, a chinese company with ebay ID of linearmotionbearings. Much cheaper than those I spoke to in Singapore, UK, and US. Ship real fast with good communication. Quality is not as desireable though. Should be able to be fixed when my structure is ready (to make adjustments). Got from them the fully supported round shaft (6 pcs at varies length), ballscrews with ballnuts, couplings, 12 pillow blocks with bearings. Glad to say that the bearings were made in Singapore Out of the whole bunch of things, the round shaft and supports are not cut to exact length and its not squarely cut. the supports appear a little twisted.

I'm looking for someone to fabricate the aluminium structure at reasonable cost. I've blown my budget on this project + CNY shopping. My auditor is questioning my spending. While I'm sourcing for parts and waiting for my auditor to approve my expediture, the design kept changing.

Anyone have kangtao to recommend?

Regards,
Wongster

[xudeen]

Hi Wongster, I've look at the Rockcliff CNC plan & it seems to be fairly straight forward moving table design.

What materials will you be cutting? One thing to note is that you have to determine how much deflection the frames will be subjected to when cutting the chosen material. You can use the deflection calulator to help you.

For alum extrusion, I can only find the rexroth deflection calculator. Rexroth alum extrusion is available in SG:

http://www.boschrexroth-us.com/country_units/america/united_states/en/products/brl/product_overview1/mge/deflec_calc/index.jsp;jsessionid=cbaelqarvIFx0-LeN3_8r

Besides alum ext. I would really prefer to do the frame in precision welded stainless steel, as steel is 3 times the modulus elasticity of alum, its gonna be a lot more ridgid. Of course, all of this depends on the cost...

Here's a modulus elasticity chart for your reference:

http://www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_spec/average_properties_structural_materials.htm

You can use BeamBoy to calculate the deflection properties of steel beams, rods or tubings:

https://www.geocities.com/richgetze/

[Wongster]

i would likely go for aluminum plates of 12mm thickness. Am working with an engineer in Mexico. Met him on cnczone.com. My design doesn't look like rockcliff but Nick provided me a good start with his plans. I'm going for the flying gantry type. Checked a few sources for extrusions. Very pricey. Dropped the idea. Now with the purchase of the linear bearing blocks and stuff, difficulty to change to extrusion anymore.

If you use them, you can go for Ahren's bearings and plates. You have his link up in your 1st post.

[xudeen]

I was recommended to these shops:

Teck Cheong Aluminium
Blk 803 King George's Ave
#01-246

Latech Engrg at AMK,
Tel: 64845507

I have not used them before, but you might wanna try them for ur alum source.

How about your spindle, wat are u gonna use?

[Wongster]

For the time being, I'll be using my dremel 400series digital till I learn enough to make an informed purchased.

Some folks at cnczone.com were talking about the spindles from linearmotionbearings on ebay. At the moment, I don't know what's what. So I'll leave it till I get the hang of things.

Have you worked out the design of your router/milling machine? I've done mine up in solidworks but have been changing things while waiting for a good source to cut the parts to the structure.

[xudeen]

I'm looking to do a small milling cnc in welded stainless steel tubings & plates. If too exp. then might just do a simple alum. extrusion design, something like this:





I think the dremel will be fine as long as you dun do hard wood or soft metal.

[uniphyte]

Hi guys, glad you found so many link for CNC reference. How's the progress? The CNC community is still small here. For now, we could only tapped into resources from oversea. Hope one day, we are able to have our strong CNC hobby team is Singapore! Happy CNCing!

[Wongster]

The machine in the 2nd pic looks good; simple and clean. But I think the extrusions cost quite a bit.

I can't look back now since I've spent quite a bit on the bearing stuff. Should have look at more options of mounting the ballscrews and rails before ordering.

Well..... I'll press on. Out of budget liao but still pressing on. I'm still sourcing for a machine shop to do the fabrication of the structure within a price I can swallow. But I can't also force people to take in the small job without making money... headache...

[xudeen]

Are you going to have the fabricators cut the stuff & do the mounting yourself?

Maybe just sub out the whole project of gantry/base + mounting of rails fixtures, that way you may save yourselfs unforeseen headaches & perhaps time savings as well.

Syphonics repiled to my inquiry about alum xtrusions, he had Universal Innovation technology pte ltd build him a structure for his project, you might want to explore that option if its suits you.

Anyway, now times are bad, maybe a few months later pple will rush to do your project, you never know.

[Wongster]

Are you going to have the fabricators cut the stuff & do the mounting yourself?

Maybe just sub out the whole project of gantry/base + mounting of rails fixtures, that way you may save yourselfs unforeseen headaches & perhaps time savings as well.

Syphonics repiled to my inquiry about alum xtrusions, he had Universal Innovation technology pte ltd build him a structure for his project, you might want to explore that option if its suits you.

Anyway, now times are bad, maybe a few months later pple will rush to do your project, you never know.

Did you manage to get a quote? To use extrusion at this stage would mean that I have to redesign the structure based on what I've already bought. But if the cost is not going to tempt me to rob my bank, I may just do it. 3 to 4 hrs a night, 7 days a week for almost 3 months with a busy work schedule is not easy. I started as an alien to the design software I am using. I think I'm still a beginner using it.

I was on rockcliffmachine forum talking about getting machine shop to do the fabrication for me. One member start saying that this is supposed to be a DIY project.... Told him that we don't really have lots of space available at home. I only have half my study available for use... imagine the number of tools I've to buy and th number of raw materials to allow for mistakes... I'm no machinist. Not forgetting the amount of chips! OC will definitely give me a eviction order

Least with the small machine built, I can do up an enclosure to keep the chips in and hopefully the noise down.

That being said, I would still like to have a hand in at least the assembly.

[xudeen]

I'm trying to find time to go down & look up some shops to see if they interested. Unfortunately, work & family takes up most of the time. But I'll keep you updated if there's any lobang.

I dun know how your rockcliff is designed. But I sure with some modification one should be able to adapt it for alum extrusions. Here's a German e.g. that uses 5 pieces of alum extrusions, & is quite straight forward in design. With extrusion, we can minimize drilling & tapping, and dun have to worry if the holes are drilled a cm short, I think it afford higher tolerance to errors & fine tuning.





More pix here: http://www.cnc-router-routers.com/ht...ing_engra.html

Here's the Lumenlab Micro, no extrusions used just some basic parts & HDPE plastic - clean & simple. Something to think about.



Most pple (including myself) dun have the tools to fabricate the frame, so dun worry about looking for some to do the job. I'm sure if we were in the US with those big garages & power tools, we wld have gotton it done liao. But lan lan we live in HDB

[Wongster]

Can't see the 3rd pic but the 1st 2 look nice. Cutting area seems a little small but should do for now. I've seen something like these when I was doing my research for a design to base on. Dropped them due to the requirement for the additional motor and ballscrew (total 4 motors and ballscrews needed). Else the profile of my router can be lower.

Right now I've the ballscrew and rails for the y-axis underneath the table for holding work piece, designing it around the parts that I've already bought. Its easier to design with parts on hand but that takes away the flexibility to make changes.

I've contacted a machine shop recommended by a client of mine. Hopefully I don't get a big price tag.

I'll try post the design of what I've done when I get home tonight

[Wongster]

This is what I based on design on generally but with moving gantry and host of changes due to things I think I can get locally. There is another one which is closer but I can't seem to get the bmp file down to 100k as required for uploading bitmap files. <br> <br>