DIY 3 axis micro CNC mill drawn in solidworks

First step to building a working cnc mill is to have an accurate representation in a CAD/CAM software. The progress/plans can be viewed at http://www.installerworld.com/CNCprojects/3AxisMicroMill.htm. The machine will have a work area of 9.5"x9.5"x2"(assuming 1 inch bit). I will be using it at home in my room so it needs to be fairly small so that it does not take up a lot of room. I will have begun to cut the major components out of MDF using a full size CNC mill (although with enough time you could probably cut it out by hand with a router)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Solidworks
• CNC
• Homemade
• DIY
• Micro
• Mill

[KeithWasHere1]

are those draw slides for the x and y axis?

[1TwistedmindZ1]

@KeithWasHere1 Yes they are, but that is the initial design i ultimately moved to linear rails recycled from printers, check out my other video that shows the same setup with linear rails. The problem with using drawer slides is that they have to be mounted vertically and one on each side of the axis (this design had 1 per axis that was horizontal) to prevent unwanted movement (basically like regular drawers are set up).

[sovietspyguy]

@1TwistedmindZ1 I realize this is an old video but you will be using this to machine foam/possibly wood, right? Just so there are no illusions about machining metal with drawer slides/printer rails.

I'm sure you already knew that though, just throwing in my jerkwad cynical pointers. :)

[1TwistedmindZ1]

@sovietspyguy I used this to cut some hardwood, polycarb, and acrylic, as well as drilling and milling pcb's. so it is nothing to hard, but in retrospect if i was to build this again i would probably make it out of aluminum, or fiberglass over the entire frame to make it sturdier. As far as drawer slides as the rails, i ended up switching them out for linear rails out of printer.

[halfmumi]

@1TwistedmindZ1 i got heaps of recycled printer parts,including stepper motors. I got solidworks knowled,a nice dremell, and all other stuff for the soup but the only problem i have i couldnt find a usefull SOFTWARE or FREEWARE to manipulate\transform a printer . Do you have any information about this? My last option is using Arduino and the Stepper motors i got.

[1TwistedmindZ1]

@halfmumi I would suggest getting Mach3 by artsoft for starters, it's really easy to set up, you can run up to 500 lines of code for free, i think with the older version you get 1000 lines for free. Another free CNC control software KCAM, a slightly older program so might take a bit longer to adjust to. They do have that free arduino gcode interpreter called "grbl"

.

[MattOGormanSmith]

Respond to this video... I used 4 on my Y, because these slides are springy in one axis

[MattOGormanSmith]

@halfmumi  EMC2 on linuxcnc·org is great but it needs a dedicated PC or at least a dual boot of the specific real-time Ubuntu

[jmsiefer]

@jmsiefer ("it this be good"...?).. wow. I just realized I typed that. What was I thinking..?

Anyway, I'm about a week out from getting it functioning. I would be glad to post a video once it's operational.

[sovietspyguy]

@1TwistedmindZ1 Gotcha. The PCB stuff is what intrigues me the most. Post some videos! Always nice to see people making things and being productive. :)

[jmsiefer]

Hahaha... yeah.. totally understandable. Hopefully the kit I got from Zen will be able to do some decent cutting. Maybe it this be good for a laser cutter instead...? eBay has a few laser modules for like $150. The steppers wouldn't have to do anymore work than just moving the stage back and forth.

[jmsiefer]

Great design. I had the same idea for using drawer slides. This is the first time I have seen anyone make a video of it. I had purchased some of the nylon wheel drawer slides to start, but there was way too much play. They need to be the bearing kind (like you have).

I finally broke down though, and am getting a kit from ZenToolworks instead. It should be here in about 5 days. My friend is also getting one, so we can put both of ours together at the same time.