Erk's CNC router build

[erk]

When I designed my stand and baffles of my sump, I had to contract out the work to someone with a CNC router. It got me thinking about building my own. Not something large enough for 4x8 sheet plywood, but for machining smaller projects. When I started looking for someone to route the parts for my CARX, I realized I could build a CNC router for a little more than it would cost to have the parts contracted out. So I pulled the trigger and went searching for a CNC router that I liked. I settled on the OX CNC router since it is scalable, cheap, and fairly robust.

So far I've built the gantry plates and the Z-axis. Since the machine will be 1000mm x 1000mm, I stopped because of the weight. I am converting my 4'x4' woodworking table into the CNC router cart.

First step was clean off all the stuff on the table and then drill some holes for the shop vac access and an arm above the table to support the shop vac hose.

Next need to sand the table top since it is covered in dry glue, chip outs, etc.

I plan to add an electrical cabinet and drawers for various tool storage.

Here are some images taken today after getting the first part done.







And another project on hold until the CNC router is built. This will be my 20 long sea grass, or macro algae if the grass dies. I want to keep mangroves on one side as well.

 

[Ranjib]

Super cool!
How much the kit cost? I have always pondered about getting a nomad or shapeoke , but dont have enough room in my aparment

 

[ihavecrabs]

Following along for this!

 

[erk]

Super cool!
How much the kit cost? I have always pondered about getting a nomad or shapeoke , but dont have enough room in my aparment

Unfortunately there was no kit available for the router size I wanted except for the gantry and Z-axis plates. What I had to do was put together the bill of materials and order the parts individually from the Open Builds part store. Below is the link to the build thread for the OX CNC machine. Even though you are in an apartment, you could build one of these routers. The best part about them is they are scalable and modifiable. Therefore you can start with a small 250x250 and scale up once you have the room.

https://openbuilds.com/builds/openbuilds-ox-cnc-machine.341/

Total cost for all the materials to build the CNC router has come to ~$600. I bought the parts during their annual black friday sale. That was an enormous help. I could've gone cheaper if I bought the plastic/composite gantry and Z plates, but I want to be able to machine soft metals as well. For the size of this router, $600 isn't too bad.

I forgot to mention the controller I plan to use in the original post. Since the last time I built a CNC machine, things have progressed a lot. I originally used a Xylotex 3-axis controller, but that only uses a 25 pin parallel port. Now I can use either an RPi or Arduino with appropriate shield to control the router. This limits the size of the motors, but I'm not worried about that. I don't plan to machine steel or move a giant 2 hp water cooled spindle.

I decided to go with an Arduino with GRBL CNC shield. It uses 4 Polulu stepper drivers. I can't believe how compact this combo is compared to my original Xylotex board. And the shield actually has everything marked out and labelled. Something the Xylotex severely lacks. As for the spindle, I'm considering using a small router first then upgrading to an actual spindle in the future. Need to be able to control the spindle speed if I machine metals. Might be able to get away with machining certain types of aluminum, but anything else would be difficult.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Very cool. Following along...

 

[Ranjib]

Unfortunately there was no kit available for the router size I wanted except for the gantry and Z-axis plates. What I had to do was put together the bill of materials and order the parts individually from the Open Builds part store. Below is the link to the build thread for the OX CNC machine. Even though you are in an apartment, you could build one of these routers. The best part about them is they are scalable and modifiable. Therefore you can start with a small 250x250 and scale up once you have the room.

https://openbuilds.com/builds/openbuilds-ox-cnc-machine.341/

Total cost for all the materials to build the CNC router has come to ~$600. I bought the parts during their annual black friday sale. That was an enormous help. I could've gone cheaper if I bought the plastic/composite gantry and Z plates, but I want to be able to machine soft metals as well. For the size of this router, $600 isn't too bad.

I forgot to mention the controller I plan to use in the original post. Since the last time I built a CNC machine, things have progressed a lot. I originally used a Xylotex 3-axis controller, but that only uses a 25 pin parallel port. Now I can use either an RPi or Arduino with appropriate shield to control the router. This limits the size of the motors, but I'm not worried about that. I don't plan to machine steel or move a giant 2 hp water cooled spindle.

I decided to go with an Arduino with GRBL CNC shield. It uses 4 Polulu stepper drivers. I can't believe how compact this combo is compared to my original Xylotex board. And the shield actually has everything marked out and labelled. Something the Xylotex severely lacks. As for the spindle, I'm considering using a small router first then upgrading to an actual spindle in the future. Need to be able to control the spindle speed if I machine metals. Might be able to get away with machining certain types of aluminum, but anything else would be difficult.

thank you for sharing, very informative

 

[erky]

posting here just to confuse people of our usernames!

 

[erk]

Made some progress today. Wish I could work on this more during the week, but work and graduate school suck away all my time.

I started enclosing the storage cabinet area under the table. One side will have a door and house the electrical equipment. The other side will be drawers for collets, endmills, hold downs, drill bits, etc.

I also started assembling the frame together. Had to order some 20x40 mm frame to hold the entire frame up. Originally thought a 20x20 would work, but I was wrong. I also need to order some slip-in t-nuts for cable management and removable items.

Now for some pictures.

 

[erk]

Hopefully the remaining parts arrive soon. I'm really itching to get this thing built and running soon.

 

[Ranjib]

Curious, what is the spec for those stepper motors ? They look beefier than nema17, the ones used in 3d printer

 

[erk]

Curious, what is the spec for those stepper motors ? They look beefier than nema17, the ones used in 3d printer

The steppers used for X and Y transmission are Nema 23. The Z is Nema 17. I may need to replace the Nema 17 if it isn't enough to move the spindle up and down.

 

[Okinawa_reefer]

I can only wish I was this skilled lol

 

[coseal]

this a belt driven machine? what kind of accuracy are you expecting? what will you use for machine control? very neat project! love digital fabrication!

 

[erk]

this a belt driven machine? what kind of accuracy are you expecting? what will you use for machine control? very neat project! love digital fabrication!

It is a belt driven machine with the belts tensioned on either end of the rails. I will probably come up with some type of auto tensioning device in the future to deal with belt stretch. As far as accuracy goes, the motors are 1.8 degree steppers. The pulleys are about 0.75-1 inch in diameter. The controller will allow me to microstep, so I can get that down to 1/16 or .1125 degree per step. This will affect torque, so probably only useful on soft materials or if I plan to machine very slowly. The best I can hope to achieve by microstepping is about 1mm or .04in precision. I don't plan to build anything that requires tight tolerances or high precision. Mostly will be used for wood working, plastics, and maybe simple PCB designs. For the PCBs, looking at large pads, vias, and wide traces. Machine control will use an Arduino with 4 axis grbl shield.

 

[coseal]

Machine control will use an Arduino with 4 axis grbl shield.

machine control meaning control software i.e. mach3, linux cnc, etc...?

 

[erk]

machine control meaning control software i.e. mach3, linux cnc, etc...?

Ah, I apologize. I was thinking more of the hardware than software. I'm leaning towards the open source control software recommended for use with the GRBL Arduino image. Something that can run on Linux reliably. The first machine I made a long time ago used an open source Linux based CNC software. I don't remember what it was, but I liked it very much. Simple interface and easily implementation.

My biggest issue is figuring out a good software for G-code generation. If anyone has a recommendation, please share.

 

[coseal]

it was probably EMC2? or atleast thats what turned into Linux cnc.. very easy interface and pretty stable imo. check out fusion360, can model and create toolpaths, export g-code with one software. most fishtank stuff is really done in 2d. using AI,inkscape,corel, etc.. and imported as a vector based file into a cad program.

 

[erk]

it was probably EMC2? or atleast thats what turned into Linux cnc.. very easy interface and pretty stable imo. check out fusion360, can model and create toolpaths, export g-code with one software. most fishtank stuff is really done in 2d. using AI,inkscape,corel, etc.. and imported as a vector based file into a cad program.

I have and primarily use Wildfire 4 and Creo 3. EMC2 sounds very familiar. I'll take a look at Linux CNC. Good to know about Fusion360. That would help to import the models from Creo and then export the G-code.

 

[erk]

The frame is complete. Didn't take any images because no big changes. Just added the base bracing to really stiffen the frame. Next up is wiring. Need to order some 4 pin locking connectors so I can remove the steppers if I ever need to. Probably will also get some 2 pin locking as well for limit stops.

 

[coseal]

if your planning on using that shop-vac for dust collection get shielded cables! i have seen steppers do some weird stuff because of static. maybe even splurge for a low/no static hose for it. cant wait to see your first projects! more and more hobby based machines hitting the market making cnc accessible to those who want to use it.;Bookworm