Homemade CNC milling machine

[VerticalNoodles]

wow thats amazing,

you've created a machine that draws on a piece of wood with a pen,

you keep going at this rate and you could move up to crayons and cardboard.

[sietevicio]

123

[franky1pro1]

you are awesome!!

[PimpXXXGuitarist]

I have a program that has all 26 letters and 0-9 numbers... How much do you think that is worth??

[PimpXXXGuitarist]

I'm jealous though...

[PimpXXXGuitarist]

Your tool is flexing a bit ; ]

[rbneville]

@PimpXXXGuitarist thats what she said lol

[PimpXXXGuitarist]

@rbneville ROFLmMFAO who is this? That is EXACTLY what I would have said

[rbneville]

@PimpXXXGuitarist Great minds think alike? ahahah

[fabyiros]

cool

[brad3y]

how long did it take you to make this ?

[illbeda1974]

The sound reminds me of an old Sci Fi movie!

[UnitedPebbles]

They actually have class for this craps? Dude, I thought these kind of jobs pay the minimum wage. I once have a few experience at J.C. but mostly metal press. It's kind of repetitive..like folding paper. Maybe J.C. shouldn't have let me go..hahaha. I thought these professions are robotics/mass production fields...you know assembly language and some other crappy programming languages of the past.

[diyengineer]

Need to make a aluminum pen holder from aluminum on a lathe :) Then no more bending haha

[roofy2k]

that's pretty insane, and it really pays to automate *if* you can, and you can

[techdavey1000]

Well done! not many people could do this. A lot of people leaving school these days just seem to know how to do drugs and vandalism. Watch out for stiffness in the guideways as steppers lose torque when "sprinting". I can remember a nasty machine fault "cranks oversize after a wheel dress" but after three or four oversize cranks the rest of the batch would be OK until the next wheel dress! Fault was neglect and rusted iron dust. Had to get makers in to avoid the lazy fitters striking!

[tcrusader]

get you cpu away from the machine the dust will destroy it

[Evangelos1991]

nice job mate! ;)

[RUSSSELLLLL]

Nice!

[xXDominoXx]

pretty creative :D

[broerbreaker9240Z]

nice job xD

[vip3rboy]

this is soooo cool omg i hope i'll be able to do something like that one day great job man

[123hikid]

This machine have two problems.

1. Need Antibacklash screw.

2. Pen is fit in wrong way. Pen slightly bend when X,Y axis is move.

[shawbros]

CNC Music Factory

[1113562]

I can see from the comments that you changed the lead screws to ball screws. Did you manage to get these from stock or were they made to the length you need or just buy stock screws and get end ends machined to your needs?

[brokerwebsites]

Hey what would you charge me to build one of these?

[1903A3shooter]

Very cool.  Nice work. Dave.

[77videoman]

great job

[BADFISHHHHHH]

Careful so those handles don't hit you in the nuts. It hurts

[freghard]

@BADFISHHHHHH

CNC = Computer Nut Cruncher LOL

Seriously though, Nice work on the conversion ! I have an enco mill like that ... on e of these days maybe it will get some steppers on it Time and money permitting ;-)

[snake9510]

why leave the hand wheels on?? take the nuts off so you can let the little servos/steppers have an easier day. in case u really need them(power break-down lol) you may always slide em back on. hand wheels produce a lot of inert mass which needs to be moved back and forth;-)

[cooknwithgas]

They are off now. That was "day one" in testing. I needed them on to move things around.

[ripozi01]

haha awsome :)

[nero81]

hehe what spindle speed u used?

[SoaringHoosier]

Great work!

No reason to discard an old milling machine just because it wasn't programmable. MAKE IT PROGRAMMABLE!

Congrats.

[dgwbuildwright]

what a waste of time and money. why convert a milling machine to operate a pen

[SoaringHoosier]

The guy is obviously just testing the machine.

[mdocod]

Very interesting, appears that you are moving the spindle via motor rather than the head. Unusual for a CNC but the only option on a round column machine. Have you run into problems or limitations with this configuration?

[molinobeer]

that's just a XY scan... not a CNC machine..

[SoaringHoosier]

Any machine controlled by a computer IS a CNC machine:

Central

Numerical

Control

[molinobeer]

that's not the point...

[rimanophin]

Try Computer Numerical Control

[SoaringHoosier]

Machines have been called CNC machines long before computers existed. Hydraulic, pneumatic, vacuum tube and electronic logic circuits were controlling CNC machines during WWII.

The use of the acronym CNC has been similar to the the use of the DVD which started as Digital Video Disk, and someone once tried to turn into Digital Versatile Disk to mean that it wasn't meant only for video.

I bet one day CNC will mean something like Cybernetic Neural Command.

[rimanophin]

Your right there automatic machines before CNC's. those were NC's not CNC's

The first C in cnc has alway meant Computer.

[kuru2k9]

or Cybernetic Nucular Catastrophe.

[wordfreason]

DVD means Digital Versatile Disk not Digital Video Disk, You have it the wrong way around. It was first designed for computer backup on WORM drives (Write Once Read Many). It was only later that it's ability to store digital video content was realised and explored, then perfected. As it was more widespread as dvd video many people made the mistake that dvd video came first. Inlcuding you.

[sombu65]

how can i buy this controller

[molinobeer]

with money

[theGHETTOMAN1]

SICK! I love it man...I know you've prolly been asked a ZILLION times, but what software are ya runnin? I SOOoooo need to build a mini cnc....

[Chooky308]

that is one awesome machine mate.... i have a mill on the may and i will eventually convert it to cnc

[ricks73eb]

you sir have way to much time and money on your hands..... VERY cool though!

[wazii6]

wear can i buy the cheapest homemade cnc machen

[cooknwithgas]

Well, cheapest is not always the best option. Many of the Chinese Mills can be converted by you if you want to take the time and effort to do so. I suggest selecting a decent mill, then converting the ACME screws to ballscrews (a big job), then work on the motor mounts and continue from there. If you stop at that point, at least you will still have a good manual mill you can use.

[wsanriv]

@wazii6 easy at your home, just build it, it will cost what ever you use to make it :D homemade should be for challenging your self. try with an old printer :D

[bignick01dakota]

wow u know ur shit if its 1 thing i know nothing about its computer stuff

[ossanches]

what software you are using???

[cooknwithgas]

MachIII for the mill control and BobCad for making the drawings and G-code.

[kingmike40]

Did you change the lead screws to ball screws? These machines usually have so much play in the lead screws I don't see how it would be accurate without changing to ball screws.

[cooknwithgas]

Yes. I changed out the ACME screws and nuts to Ball nuts and ball screws. Absolutely no play now.

[r32adt3db]

Geezus H Christ there are some talented people out there. Amazing work and effort.

[cooknwithgas]

Very kind. Thank you.

[ninja750rider]

Wow! I was wondering if this could be done! Excellent job! Keep it up!

[jurban1997]

Nice job. I like how compact you made the motor-couplings. Please post the amps and torque rating of the servos/steppers.

[Dieselolds]

Thats amazing, 5 stars

[HiNtZzZ]

That looks deadly accurate for something you threw together!

[CUBITO71]

That was genius. you are the man

[ripcurl010]

oh great cicles

[vizionzofspace12]

for your safety and that of your computer you might want to encase the mill

[TopGunMan]

Ha i love the fact that the handles are still on, seems like a ghost driving it.

[durobib]

WOW very impressive!!! very nice

[RobbindaNegus]

That was Kool! Only manual Z axis? Whut size ball point pen did you use? And how big the spacing?

[cjshull]

I'd love to see some more videos of this. What was the hardest part of your build may I ask? I've ordered my mini mill, now I'm just contemplating how to build the rest of it.

[cooknwithgas]

Mounting the motors and pulleys was the hardest. The mill is very robust and easy to modify with another, small mill. Luckily I have another, small mill to make the parts. The ballscrews and nuts were the easier than I expected.

[jaycek]

Hey that's really clever!

Nice video and five stars.

[maximebob001]

thats pretty dangerous with the handle turning around

[cooknwithgas]

Yes, that handle is a pain. It actually falls off a lot. I usually take it off after setting Zero but when I forget, it will fall off.

[rteyber12]

wow! impressive that you managed to cnc a round column... Very nice machine. thats the harborfreight one correct?

regards

[cooknwithgas]

Yes, the geared-head Harbor Freight unit. $999 on sale. When it first came out I would always see guys staring at it in H.F. I found myself doing the same and had to buy it.

[jeabo0adhd]

i'm going to make one!

[HemiHotRod]

Very nice! That is a great set up. Hell I don't even have DRO's on my old mill. I was considering buying a cheap set but, now that I have seen your set-up, I think I will just go a little further and jump to home-made CNC.

What kind of proximity sensors are you using if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks for sharing and thanks for the incentive.

[dIlocha]

zajebiste :)))

[WinkenBlinkenAndNod]

Very Very Cool.

Curious, do you think from being in the room while that's working that the handwheel's inertia might make the stepper motor not track well ?

[carveriscool]

i use the zmill in my technology systems class. its in Computter Numarical Control module.

[delacerdaa]

Do you actually have a 9-5 job in CNC or is this a hobby? I`m starting a 5 months course in CNC 2 days in class and 2 days on a CNC machine. Is 5 months enough to land a good paying job in CNC? Their going to teach me shop math, G-codes, and train me on a machine

[cooknwithgas]

It's just for fun - a hobby. I am a mechanical engineer for a living. I just like stuff like this. Never stop learning.

[cooknwithgas]

Nope. Just an interest and to see if I could do it. It was a lot of fun but not cheap. The parts are expensive.

[FUTUREFIGHTER]

VERY INTERESTING  -- WOW I could build something like this -- teach me man --Very Smart

[arkara87]

you can do it by learning programing

for examlpe the circle is made with this wheels turning on sin(x) and cos(x)

learn programing.

get the hardware and do the job

:D

[snoose1976]

What I am wondering is what program could a person use to do this and how hardware is connected, this would be an open loop system obviously but are rotary encoders used or just stepped motor with counted impulses??? yah im interested lol

[tsport100]

The software used here is MACH3 by Artsoft, costs about $150.00. Stepper motors are cheap, about $50.00 ea. You usually have to put together your own combination of off the shelf stepper drivers and power supply. Easy to find more info via Google.

[funwithatheism]

Is that pen high speed or carbide?

[Partspare]

I'm pretty sure it's a spherical endpen.

[combatzonepaintball]

jejeje, very funny... I guess is a laser pen (joking)

[funwithatheism]

It is neat, but how are yoy checking the accuracy?

[NickMonteleone]

Why do you call it a Home made Machine? You did not build the mill. You just converted it to CNC. Not quite the same. I can put a remote start on a Vette....that doesn't mean I built a r/c Corvette.

[savagekiller986]

although true, all he needs to do is stick a dremel on the end of it.

[paniq5757]

fuck you pkk

[kkbose]

wow is that real

[pilaratwork]

This is just too awesome, I wish I had the talent to make a machine like that, haha.

[AmericanFabricator]

Nice retrofit.

"If you know what a dremel tool is, you are probably one of my subscribers" - The Fabricator

[zataraz]

Wow...nice job giving that old dril a new purpose in life.

[hadrians]

very cool

[MAS5270]

I have a cnc kit like yours that I got on ebay.

I only have 5" of Y-axis travel! How much Y-axis travel does your's have?

machine travel

[tsport100]

What did you use to connect the belts to the x and y handles? I have the same mill and spare steppers motors.

[elsalvadortube]

What control board did you use for this?

[vacuumtuube]

That was incredible! You know what would be funny - put a sensor on the door to that room and a small light aimed at the table so if someone comes in at night the machine spells out "You're next". A little burst of coolant would make the letters all drippy like blood... What size collet do you use with a Bic pen?

[criscros7]

Looks and sounds funny. Well done.

[jesuschristo073178]

You must be one of those "crazy nerd guy who's going to take over the world some day" guys. I love the fact that you turned a piece of shit chinese crap tool into an automated accurate piece of machinery. Kudos.

[rcheliboy]

Hey, we chinese don't make shit crap, well we didn't, until people started selling fake stuff (food mainly) that was shit

[neutron7]

there are a lot of more inexpensive products from china that are crap. go look in walmart. everything they sell is crap.

on the other hand they make some very nice things as well. some machinery, and carbon fiber bikes.

[hoarp001]

hehe, its quite spooky to see the mill handles move round like that

[ResidentPhysco]

**x-file theme starts**

[TrailChaser]

That's normal in most manual machining machines that have automatic features. Still cool to watch tho.

Can you tell us how much money and time went into this project? I'd like to eventually build something like this for my garage.

[roohunts]

what size oz/inch motors do you run with this table sise.

[cooknwithgas]

I believe they are 480 oz/inch motors.