Using a CNC machine to build a CNC router.

[Ramage]

I've been working on building a CNC router since April, figured I'd post some pictures of the process since I'm about a month or so away from finishing. All of the structural components were made from raw stock aluminum.
CAD model of router:


Cutting the ball screw mounts


Ball Screw mounts came out awesome


Fits perfectly, the other pieces are the stepper motor mounts.


Didn't take a lot of pictures of the machining process but here is the final Z axis front plate next to the preliminary z plate that didn't work with my spindle.


Put my Z axis together to do a test fit, several parts were a little tight, had to take it apart and drill the holes a little bigger to get more clearance.


Decided to work on getting a smooth bearing fit first, did a lot of trial and error on the x axis rails to get it rolling smooth.


Added in the ball screw


Put the z axis back together, everything turned really smooth. Not pictured is the hours spent milling and drilling the parts to get them to fit well.


Added the gantry pieces

[Ramage]

I went with a 2.2KW spindle however, if I could do it all over I'd buy something smaller to start with.  I don't know if my table will be rigid enough to warrant a 2.2KW spindle.

It's large.


Testing the water cooling with a submersible pump. It didn't seem to have a very good flow, I'll work on that once my table is actually together.


Testing that it actually works with the VFD. It wasn't too hard to set up, I found some simple instructions on line for the VFD settings.  Ended up getting a 220V VFD since I have a few 220V outlets at my house.  It didn't vibrate in the slightest, even at 20,000 RPM.


I was fortunate enough to work with an industrial grade panel so I had a really clean power box. I learned that I need to use both of my PSU's on the stepper motors instead of just one, I'll be fixing that soon.



Had to rig up a mount for the break out board, it's a little bit of a mickey mouse job.


Power box finished.



Due to the odd size of the router, I had to make a custom table to keep it on. Luckily I had a lot of wood I could reclaim from another project.

[Zekromtor]

Wow. Now that's a project.

At first I read the thread and I thought you were just attaching a router to your CNC machine ... which actually can be useful (I know, I have one) for high RPMs.

[redskull]

amazing project Ramage! how much the total cost?

[Ramage]

Thanks guys! It's been quite the learning experience so far.

 The raw material cost without the spindle and VFD cost me under 900 dollars. If you factor in the spindle/VFD ($400) and everything it takes to get the machine running (Mach3 license, PC with parallel port, misc small parts) I'm at $1600 spent.  I got that power panel and the wire joining blocks for free but that set up can be replicated with an old PC case and some wire crimps for close to nothing.

[suicidal_orange]

Can't say I know the difference between a router and a machine but you've made something big and shiny, I can certainly appreciate that )

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

[jaffers]

A CNC machine is one of the first things I will be getting when I finish my degree, I've always wanted one. But the fact that you are building one might mean that... Maybe... I could save up some money and build my own. I never thought of doing it before. Consider me SUPER interested in this thread. Awesome work so far man, can't wait to see more. Its really neat work to, you definitely look like you know what you're doing. Very professional looking

[Ramage]

Are you an ME? CNC machines are pretty simple by design, and the controls are nearly plug and play if you have the PC software.  The biggest problem is having a machine to cut the parts on, and obviously the money for raw materials.

[heedpantsnow]

Wow very cool; I love it when a plan comes together.

[Zekromtor]

I'm currently a Mach3 user myself, but if I built my own I'd definitely opt for LinuxCNC. I'll probably migrate to LinuxCNC at some point regardless, simply a better means of communicating with the machine from what I understand, with less room for hiccups caused by timing issues or interference. You may already be well aware of the differences, but if not, give it a look.

[Ramage]

That's a solid recommendation and I did consider it for a while. The reason I chose Mach3 over LinuxCNC was I wanted to have to ability to edit my CAD and CAM quickly without having reboot into windows in case something wasn't working. Plus the documentation for the drivers only includes set up information for Mach3. What machine are you running on Mach3? 

[sean]

Awesome man. I'm planning on either getting 6040 hardware components or x-carve hardware components and then adding my own electronics in the future.

[Zekromtor]

That's a solid recommendation and I did consider it for a while. The reason I chose Mach3 over LinuxCNC was I wanted to have to ability to edit my CAD and CAM quickly without having reboot into windows in case something wasn't working. Plus the documentation for the drivers only includes set up information for Mach3. What machine are you running on Mach3?

I've got a Tormach 1100, and they've actually recently converted all their machines to a controller that runs a mod of LinuxCNC, but I built my own controller computer so I don't qualify for the free upgrade. Nor do I feel like shelling out the near $1k at the moment for the probably $400 computer that they sell as a new controller that I'd end up jail breaking anyways.

That makes sense if you run your CAD and CAM on the same computer that controls the machine. My garage is not a comfortable enough place to want to mess with CAD/CAM stuff. If I can't fix something by a quick edit of the G-code, I need air conditioning

[derezzed]

Somewhere, CPTBadAss's BadAss sense™ is tingling.  You’re living the dream.  I hope someday I’ll have the opportunity to do projects like that.

[Ramage]

That's a solid recommendation and I did consider it for a while. The reason I chose Mach3 over LinuxCNC was I wanted to have to ability to edit my CAD and CAM quickly without having reboot into windows in case something wasn't working. Plus the documentation for the drivers only includes set up information for Mach3. What machine are you running on Mach3?

I've got a Tormach 1100, and they've actually recently converted all their machines to a controller that runs a mod of LinuxCNC, but I built my own controller computer so I don't qualify for the free upgrade. Nor do I feel like shelling out the near $1k at the moment for the probably $400 computer that they sell as a new controller that I'd end up jail breaking anyways.

That makes sense if you run your CAD and CAM on the same computer that controls the machine. My garage is not a comfortable enough place to want to mess with CAD/CAM stuff. If I can't fix something by a quick edit of the G-code, I need air conditioning

Wow a Tormach? Man that's awesome! My dream is to buy a Tormach or a Haas minimill so I can actually do high tolerance work.  What do you use your Tormach for?

[Zekromtor]

Just screwing around. Made my keyboard with it, of course. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=61006.msg1412875#msg1412875

[jaffers]

Are you an ME? CNC machines are pretty simple by design, and the controls are nearly plug and play if you have the PC software.  The biggest problem is having a machine to cut the parts on, and obviously the money for raw materials.

I'm an EE but I have always been heavily interested in ME projects. My main concern in building my own one would have been the accuracy of the machine itself. I will definitely be looking into this more as it might be a valid option to persue as apposed to the more expensive entry level CNC machines

[Ramage]

Made some more progress today:

Re-attached the rails to the side base pieces.


Making sure the gantry bearings slide smoothly by loosing them up, sliding them on the rail, then tightening them. This is step that has to be done for every single rail and bearing, sometimes it helps to leave the rail loose as well.


Tapping the block for the ball screw bearing mount which attaches to the back base piece



Had the front and back base pieces attached so I could match drill the holes for the side base pieces


Marked up the center drilled holes, one clearly says 13/64's but I accidentally grabbed a 15/64's. Hopefully that doesn't cause too many problems.


Drilling a pilot hole followed by a full size hole


Detaching the pieces so I can work on just the back base piece


Drilling out the center holes


My favorite machining operation of all time, deburring holes 


Counterboring the two top holes for a 10/32 screw


Milling out a hole for the ball screw coupling.  Ideally this would be done with a 1.25" boring bar but I didn't have one and a square was easy to do.


Attaching the bearing mounting block with loctite.....on the wrong side......I fixed it later


Doing a test fit on the base, everything matched up and the gantries glided well but my phone battery died so I didn't get any pictures.  Took it apart immediately after so I could move it.


Next up is machining the brace between the gantries, the midway bearing mount, attaching the ballscrew for the Y axis, and the final assembly.

[Ramage]

Short Update, just added in the drive bar between the gantries:

Had to break out the big boy calipers to measure the distance between the gantries



cutting the stock


Milling it down


Drilling it


Fits like a glove

[Oobly]

This is simply awesome!

Good job and keep the updates coming

[RabRhee]

Superb, some great machine + milling pron here.

I think once you have finished this, you should quickly run up another one the day after and give it to me

[sean]

I'm about to order an x-carve with a chinese 1.5kw air cooled spindle. It wont be as nice as yours but it's the cheapest solution without having access to a cnc machine.

[Homenubbie]

Those ARE big boy calipers!

[Ramage]

Drilled holes for corner stiffeners


Stiffener 1 on.


All stiffeners on


Shimmed up the bearing .045 inches to make the coupler perfectly concentric. Not all Chinese bearings come to spec



Drilled holes in the gantry drive bar to connect to the ball screw bearing block.


Made a mistake on the accurite read out


Drilling holes take 2


Noooiiice


The last and most problematic piece, the Y axis bearing mount plate, many mistakes were made.
Milling it to size, the piece needed to be within a couple thou otherwise the linear bearing glides would bow in or out


Perfect fit


The setup for drilling and tapping the end holes, kinda fun.






Milling clearance holes in the rails


Works


Made a mistake because I was rushing so I had to mill out a pocket to let the end of the ball screw fit it


Got the bearing mounted, and the gantry drive plate hooked up.  At this point you should hook up an indicator to your main gantry assembly and check the trueness of the ball screw in the X and Z direction.  I didn't have time so I packed up the machine as was without checking.  This will bite me in the ass in about 2 pictures.

[Ramage]

Packed it up for the trip home. Thanks Mr. Wagon.






Cleaned off all the sharpie and marking fluid for now.


Finally tested the ball screw with an indicator, it was WAAAAY off. I have to re-drill the mounting location for the bearing, and do some "editing" to the gantry drive bar as well. I'm hoping I can make these changes without buying new stock but the new holes look like they'll be overlapping with the old ones. Kind of bummed but that's what happens when you rush. 

[sean]

That's a really unfortunate setback... Otherwise once it's done it'll be a work of art.

[Matt3o]

I do envy your work space...

[Ramage]

Thanks Sean, I certainly hope so. Matt, it's definitely an awesome workshop, I hope to own similar equipment in the future. That shop is located at my university so I only have a few more months of use at it.

[Ramage]

More updates. Finally got the thing up and running.

Marked the new bearing mount hole location and drilling and tapping the new holes. Everything fit perfectly after this adjustment



Attached all of the limit and homing switches so the machine can't crash itself


Wires got kind of messy


Hooking up the coolant and power to the spindle as well as the air hose. Coolant hoses run into a Home Depot bucket with a submersible pump inside.  Best case is using a closed loop with DI water, and higher quality tubing to keep gunk from building up. I plan on switching to something like that in the future.


Wrapping all the cables up into a bundle. This took significantly longer than I was planning.


The almighty E-stop


Sort of done, not tuned and no surface table


Added the temporary table. Definitely planning on adding T slots as the surface instead, but they aren't cheap so I'm holding off on it for now.


My wonderfully engineered mist coolant set up and cable holder. I'll work on a permanent solution when I have more money and time.


Tuning and calibrating the motors and the table movement limits. This was kind of fun. I used an indicator to square a 6.0125 long parallel and tuned it in to that length within .0002


I'll start actually cutting first thing tomorrow morning.  After I face the table I'll be drilling holes to mount the vice and make some small holders for my collets.

[sean]

That spindle looks like it can chomp through anything.

[Ramage]

It's 3 HP so I'd certainly hope so. The problem is really the rigidity of the machine. I definitely could have gotten a smaller spindle but the power is nice to have!

[Ramage]

The cutting begins!

Firstly I had to make a mounting point for the vise.


Might was well cut out a keycap. I used some old scrap wood I had laying around.

[sean]

I love that you even DIY'd the mist coolant system...

That keycap though

[rm-rf]

i wish i had a router like that.

[Ramage]

I love that you even DIY'd the mist coolant system...

That keycap though

Thanks man! The funny thing about that coolant system is that it was totally over kill. When it's on it floods the whole table in just a few minutes. I'm gonna try and sloooow down the flow and see if it's at least partially usable. Can't wait to try some cooler materials for the caps.

[rm-rf]

I love that you even DIY'd the mist coolant system...

That keycap though

Thanks man! The funny thing about that coolant system is that it was totally over kill. When it's on it floods the whole table in just a few minutes. I'm gonna try and sloooow down the flow and see if it's at lease partially usable. Can't wait to try some cooler materials for the caps.

this build log has me very jealous.
what other materials are you going to use?
are keyboard cases on the list of things to make?

[Ramage]

I love that you even DIY'd the mist coolant system...

That keycap though

Thanks man! The funny thing about that coolant system is that it was totally over kill. When it's on it floods the whole table in just a few minutes. I'm gonna try and sloooow down the flow and see if it's at lease partially usable. Can't wait to try some cooler materials for the caps.

this build log has me very jealous.
what other materials are you going to use?
are keyboard cases on the list of things to make?

There are a lot of really cool exotic woods and stabilized woods I'd like to try.  Ipe wood for example is one of the hardest woods in the world, it'd be cool to make a cap out of that stuff.  And stabilized wood is just absolutely gorgeous and completely unique.
There is also aluminum and brass.  I'm gonna try and make a wrench for my collet nut tomorrow out of aluminum so we'll see how that works. As for the cases, I'm looking at CAD models right now since I'd like to try out making one.

[Ramage]

I finally got to answer the big question, CAN IT CUT ALUMINUM??  I needed a spindle wrench so I got to find out today.

Raw stock 6061


Starting the cut, took really light passes (.01 depth of cut) the machine had no problems, I could definitely push it a little more.



I was really blown away by the accuracy. I expected it to be close, but not spot on. Pretty stoked to hit these kinds of tolerances right out of the machine.
 

[sean]

I've heard you will actually be more accurate and wear out the bit less the faster you go (to a certain extent), and I'm sure with the structural rigidity of your z axis and powerful spindle you can really go to town with it. Needless to say I'm jelly since I have an almost complete x-carve with a z axis and y axis that will need modifications to stop them from bending once I install my Chinese 0.8kw spindle...

[rm-rf]

will you be selling your services to users here?
or is this just for personal use?

i might have to make one myself.

[sean]

will you be selling your services to users here?
or is this just for personal use?

i might have to make one myself.

In case you don't already have access to tools to make your own from scratch, you should look at the 6040 and 6090 machines. You can buy just the hardware and add your own electronics or buy an entire kit on Ebay or Aliexpress.

[Ramage]

will you be selling your services to users here?
or is this just for personal use?

i might have to make one myself.

Ya I would definitely work on something for someone if they were interested and I've reached out to a few people on GH already because I really like doing this stuff.  Already have a few non keyboard related jobs lined up too.

[Bucake]

sexy stuff, pretty jealous

[kurplop]

Thanks for sharing your project with us. It's quite inspirational. Congratulations on its success.

[Ramage]

Thanks guys, it's been fun documenting the process.  Kurplop I've really enjoyed following your planet 6 build, keep up the good work.

[Zekromtor]

Can you give some specifics on the pathing for that wooden key cap you made? That finish is the best I've seen.. was that just a 2x4? What was the depth of cut per pass, and what were the endmill(s) used?

I'm good with aluminum, but I just don't know what I'm doing when it comes to wood. My attempt at CNCing a cap out of an old 2x4 looked like someone carved it with a cheese grater. Maybe that wood is just too soft and you're using something harder there? Thanks for the info. You should be proud to have made such an incredible machine yourself.

[kurplop]

It looks like maple. A good choice.

Edit:  Oops, I stand corrected. A closer look reveals my mistake.

[Ramage]

Can you give some specifics on the pathing for that wooden key cap you made? That finish is the best I've seen.. was that just a 2x4? What was the depth of cut per pass, and what were the endmill(s) used?

I'm good with aluminum, but I just don't know what I'm doing when it comes to wood. My attempt at CNCing a cap out of an old 2x4 looked like someone carved it with a cheese grater. Maybe that wood is just too soft and you're using something harder there? Thanks for the info. You should be proud to have made such an incredible machine yourself.

Sure, the wood I used came from an old 2X4 that's several years old and was kept outside. I would consider it to be pretty soft. I run my spindle at 12,000 rpm & 20IPM, I use a 1/8" ball endmill for all of the contours, and a .04" square endmill for the "teeth" which is run at 20,000 RPM.

For the tool path I run the 1/8" cutter on the top using .005" passes parallel to the grain then wrap the cutter around the outside using .010" stepdowns. Going with the grain is important, it cuts down on chipping. I repeat the same process on the underside except I have a roughing operation to clean out most of the material before I go in for a finishing pass.

The good finish comes from the small step downs, the high rpm, and the quality of the ball end mill I'm using. There is very little material left when I go in for a finishing pass so the cutter doesn't deflect. I'm also constantly removing chips with my air feed which definitely helps as well.

[Zekromtor]

Awesome info, thanks. I might have to try some wood one of these days, that stabilized wood is cool as hell. I bet it'd make some killer caps.

What brand, metal, and finish, endmills do you like for wood? HSS uncoated? Carbide uncoated?
And what cam software do you use?

I needed something to work with my 4th axis (which I never use), and Sprutcam 8 was the only solution for under 1k. I'm not very impressed with it. It is super finicky and crashes too often. I would not want to be a Russian astronaut after using it.

[Ramage]

Awesome info, thanks. I might have to try some wood one of these days, that stabilized wood is cool as hell. I bet it'd make some killer caps.

What brand, metal, and finish, endmills do you like for wood? HSS uncoated? Carbide uncoated?
And what cam software do you use?

I needed something to work with my 4th axis (which I never use), and Sprutcam 8 was the only solution for under 1k. I'm not very impressed with it. It is super finicky and crashes too often. I would not want to be a Russian astronaut after using it.

No problem! I don't quite remember the exact brand but it was a cheap 1/8" endmill off of Enco and I'm pretty sure it was HSS uncoated.  The really small endmill I just got off Ebay from China. I use HSMworks by Autodesk to do the CAM. In case you aren't familiar with it it runs inside of SolidWorks as a plugin.  I've used mastercam, camworks, and surfcam, none of them are as easy and intuitive as HSM works IMO.