My First CNC Machine

So here it is at last! I have labored over this little project for countless hours. Not because it is particularly complicated, but because these stepper motors really give you a run for your money when it's time to wire them. The machine table itself is actually an old (and I do mean OLD) flat-bed scanner that I converted into the Y axis. Mounted on the cable gantry of the scanner bed is the original matte weight that rests atop the scanned document. I chose it because it was steel, and the ideal size. Atop that is the glass plate from the same scanner. The X axis is the carriage from one of the first inkjet printers to hit the public market. Riding on this assembly is the old printer ink cartridge mount, which when laid on it's back made a decent platform for the tool assembly. Realistically, on a larger machine that is, anything could be mounted here. At one point, I had attached a Class I laser just for fun. When I scale this project up to 8' x 4' in the coming weeks, I will mount a 100W Class IV CO2 laser for burning a hole into China if I feel so inclined. I will also mount the obligatory router for the more practical tasks I have planned. Anyway, this CNC machine is driven by three unipolar stepper motors, all of different manufacturers and design specs. The resolution of the Y axis is extremely high and is thus very quiet, but the X axis is exactly as poor as it can get because it's motion is directly applied to the load, thus all the noise. Controlling the steppers is a three-axis stepper motor controller with a parallel interface. Controlling that is the best program in the business, Mach 3 from Artsoft. A few things to keep in mind, directed mostly to the haters:
1. The 'tool' I am using in this demonstration is a common Pilot G2 gel pen.
2. I built this for FREE with the components I had laying around, save the Controller.

Hope you like the machine and the video. Subscribe and leave comments if you have a sec.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• grillot
• cnc
• mach3
• artsoft
• mill

[bloog510]

Cool!