I don't ever post on this forum, but I saw this project and I had a nerd-gasm. You guys are going to love this. Lots of people are building their own CNC mills and lathes! It's really not that hard either, although it does take a little time and some electronics skill. Here is the rundown:

Many of them start with milling machines you can get at Harbor Freight. Some of the hardcore guys actually build their own gantries and armatures (that is a major undertaking though). Then you take stepper motors, and mount them on the mill (or lathe) to drive the 3 shaft axes. The motors then require some drive circuitry, which can be either built or purchased from a bunch of different companies. Finally, some simple software controls the mill using common G-code.

The best link I have found so far is CNC Fusion. They make pre-made kits to turn Harbor Freight mills and lathes into motor controlled machines. You still have to buy the motor driver circuits and software, but their kits are the best I have seen and look really clean.

Here are a bunch of links to chew on for your pleasure:

Hardware:
http://www.harborfreight.com
http://www.cncfusion.com/index.html
http://www.hobbycnc.com/
http://www.homeshopcnc.com/
http://www.geckodrive.com/

Software:
http://www.kellyware.com/kcam/index.htm
http://www.dakeng.com/turbo.html

And, most importantly, a general CNC forum I think most people on this board should see:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php





Modified by Silverpike at 7:10 PM 4/15/2006

 

That thing is sweet!

 

wow!

 

Its cool and all. But whats it capable of size wise?
Anything reasonable in size? 1ft x 1ft ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Formula Racing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its cool and all. But whats it capable of size wise?
Anything reasonable in size? 1ft x 1ft ?</TD></TR></TABLE>
That's a good question. It appears to me that the largest HF mills can do something like 12"x12"x12". These aren't for large jobs, but if you can do it piecewise it's still useful.

 

3 axis CNC mill, wow, that's nice!! Good post!

I had a link to a write up where a guy made a CNC router out of an old ink-jet printer. I'll have to dig it up.

 

VERY cool indeed. good find. have an e beer. on me


oh my god, i think i just got a hard on watching those videos. i want to make one right now!! prolly more than i can handle, but thats how you learn haha.

 

http://www.Cnczone.com

^ Forum.

Alot of ppl make machines.

 

Awsome Find Time to read on it.,

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tek_civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">, i think i just got a hard on watching those videos. .</TD></TR></TABLE>

Where do you see a video?

 

anyone made one yet? ... i wanna see what these things can do

 

unless you have no plans of doing anything accurate, stay away from the HF mills.. inaccurate ballscrews, sloppy/slow spindles. will leave you with too much backlash for compensation. better parts arent too much more expensive to start with-

 

you can buy packages that include upgrade ballscrews that are more accurate and consistant.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by synik &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Awsome Find Time to read on it., </TD></TR></TABLE>

the videos can be found on the cnc fusion site. pretty effen sweet. i really did get a chubby watchin it.

 

I guess I just dont see the purpose in buying a cheap mill, and then swapping out every piece until you have something to work with.

its all dependant on your tolerances, and obviously these kits show its very simple to take an ordinary mill and make it much more versatile, without much cost. If you have a HF mill and use it frequently, you're almost a fool not to invest in something along these lines.

but if you look around, there are companies selling very affordable setups with similar travel, but with higher speed spindles with far less runout.

I'm not trying to come off as a pro on the subject or anything, and in fact I have very little knowledge of these specific kits. Ive been looking into building my own cnc machine for a few months now, and so far what ive come across that would best suit my own personal needs is the offerings from sherline IPD (http://www.sherlineipd.com)

 

Hey guys, this is Mike from CNCFusion. I noticed some traffic coming from honda-tech, and thought I would drop in, say hi. Maybe answer a few questions about converting your own machine to CNC.

Thanks for the comments on the web page/videos, I have been working on it for a while.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CNC Jedi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey guys, this is Mike from CNCFusion. I noticed some traffic coming from honda-tech, and thought I would drop in, say hi. Maybe answer a few questions about converting your own machine to CNC.

Thanks for the comments on the web page/videos, I have been working on it for a while.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Hi Mike! Glad you can check out H-T. I'm sorry if H-T was becoming a bandwidth hog, and I can remove the direct pic link if it's a problem.

For the rest of the forum users, I think I should mention that I have no affiliation with CNCFusion. I singled them out purely for discretionary reasons. I think they have a top-notch operation, and clearly Mike cares about his customers.

 

I saw a book in barnes and nobles for a 2d mill for doing like cabinet doors and what not with carpentry. Was going to buy it but it was like 60 bucks.

This isn't that difficult, but i am curious to see how it turns out with those little mills.

I would much rather do it to a bridgeport or a serious verticle mill rather than one of those toys.

 

Even with a sloppy cheap machine you can learn how to get everything working which would be fun. Then buy something better when you have some experience.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rlockwood &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ive been looking into building my own cnc machine for a few months now, and so far what ive come across that would best suit my own personal needs is the offerings from sherline IPD (http://www.sherlineipd.com)</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's a nice machine but very, very small. Be sure to check out if what you want to do will even fit it. I think all these are good for is model building.

Instead, here's a somewhat reasonably priced machine I have my eye on (for the manual version)...
http://www.industrialhobbies.com/

 

i still prefer the haas machines where i work

 

awesome tech guys! Bookmarked!

 

I do realize its a rather small machine, and to some extent that's the beauty of it.

my daily job is programming, running, maintaining and servicing fadal machines. We have two vmc-15's (one an "xt") along with a 4020, so anything large can be done on one of those. What I dont have is a "free" machine, that is a machine that is seldom used for anything but tooling and fixture building. This would improve setup times on new work alot, as I could potentially have it ready to roll before the machine is free.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wantboost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i still prefer the haas machines where i work </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, we'd "prefer" Angelina Jolie too, but none of us can afford one of those either...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kb58 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That's a nice machine but very, very small. Be sure to check out if what you want to do will even fit it. I think all these are good for is model building.

Instead, here's a somewhat reasonably priced machine I have my eye on (for the manual version)...
http://www.industrialhobbies.com/</TD></TR></TABLE>
Wow those are really nice. Seems to me a good step up from the Sieg mills, and appropriately priced. I'm diggin the one with the SBF block on it.

 

subscribed, good reads!