Arduino based CNC

[chucketn]

My interest in Arduino based cnc has re-awakened with a vengeance.
I have been searching for a project for a router/engraver/plotter that I can build on a very limited budget, using surplus, scrounged, or home made stuff. Like the simple plotter made from cd-rom parts.
I have salvaged some rails from inkjet printers and old obsolete flatbed scanners.
Anyone have any home built projects to inspire me?
My main purpose would be to make parts/pieces for patterns to cast in aluminum, or plywood pieces for projects. Maybe a 3d printer.
I would love to build/buy a kit but they are so expensive.

Chuck

 

[ddmckee54]

Chuck:

If you're willing to think in metric for your projects then check out the Mostly Printed CNC (MPCNC) website. http://www.vicious1.com/ Might be a good place to start.

Printer kits aren't that bad, I got mine for $300, used part of a tax refund so it was Mad Money. Granted, I've replaced a lot of the original low priced Chinese-clone parts with medium priced Chinese-clone parts and the print quality has improved dramatically. In that way 3D printers are a lot like lathes, they can make the parts to improve themselves.

Don

 

[chucketn]

Thanks for the reply, Don. I'll check it out.

Chuck

 

[vederstein]

Here's my build thread on my CNC router.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/showthread.php?t=26060

...Ved.

 

[chucketn]

Thanks for the link to your build, Ved. Incredible luck getting the ball screw slides. I don't have that kind of luck ... my slides will be cheap...
Chuck

 

[blanik]

........
My main purpose would be to make parts/pieces for patterns to cast in aluminum, or plywood pieces for projects. Maybe a 3d printer. I would love to build/buy a kit but they are so expensive.

Chuck

If you're looking for an affordable 3D Printer Kit (US$ 198.00 including freight from China) then have a look at the Tevo Tarantula. The base model can print anything that can fit within it's 200mm x 200mm x 200mm printing space. I use my Tarantula to print casting patterns using PLA filament, plus lots of other stuff for mainly for the workshop.

The Tevo printers use an Android compatible motherboard (supplied in the kit, and pre loaded with the sketch), and is programmable and configurable from the Arduino IDE. The firmware is open source and is downloadable in a few varieties from various sources, such as the Facebook group, if you need or want to make your own changes.

The main structure of the printer uses a mixture of 20mm x 40mm and 20mm x 20mm aluminium extrusions, with metal fasteners. Some of the sheet parts are 6mm thick laser cut acrylic plastic, which some people see as a weakness, but if you use washers under all of the screw heads, you won't have any problems.

There's a really well supported and active Support Group with thousands of members on Facebook, forums at http://tevo-3d-printers.com.

The Tarantula comes in a range of sizes and features starting just under US$200 and going up to about US$390 - unless your budget stretches further, just go for the basic $200 version, as upgrades are cheap and readily available - except for the larger 200mm x 260mm print bed which you can't easily add-on later.

I believe that there are outlets in the USA that sell the Tevo printer kits as well, but I don't know how competitive their prices are when compared with the Chinese Tevo Factory Outlet price in the link that I've provided.

If the Tarantula doesn't have a big enough print volume for the casting patterns that you have in mind, have a look at the Tevo Black Widow which is quite a bit bigger print volume at 370mm x 250mm x 300mm.

Hope that information is useful.

RoyG

 

[chucketn]

Thanks, Roy. I'll check it out. Joined the Facebook group.
Keep up the responses, folks. Love it!

Chuck

 

[chucketn]

Anyone have a entry level 3d printer that they have outrgown, or upgraded from?

Chuck

 

[Wizard69]

Hi Chuck

Im in a similar boat wanting a CNC router but have no budget for it. The big problem, from my perspective, is that you can't go cheap and expect good results like you can with a 3D printer.

Here I'm talking about a machine with a decent work area able to mount a real router not a dremel sized machine. For me anyways id want a CNC with a reasonable work area, say 12x24 as an absolute minimal. CNC routers are very versatile, my fear is that if i go too small i will end up very frustrated with the machine. Of course space becomes an issue too.

The problem you run into with unsupported rail is vibration that you won't see on a 3D printer. You might get by with light cuts but in the end that just leads to worn out tooling. Buying linear rail solutions gets to be expensive. How ever if you have machine shop equipment you can make saddles that use ball bearings running on what amounts to box ways. Done well these ball bearing slides running on well supported ways are far better than trying to use unsupported rods.

These ways can be hot rolled or cold rolled plate depending upon how much work you want to put into them. A low end example here might be 1/4" thick stock 3" wide. The saddles can be aluminum stock machined to accept ball bearings that wrap three sides of each side of the way. The way stock still needs to be supported, on a low end machine you can get by with 2" square tube.

Note that this describes what i think of as a minimal solution for a CNC running a reasonable spindle. You will have considerable challenges getting everything squared up and aligned with minimal slop.

These machine builds take a long time compared to say a RepRap 3d printer. Mainly because you need to fit everything up better to minimize backlash and deal with the effects of reaction forces from machining. Again the size of the tooling used is a factor, but if patterns are a goal here i can imagine using a number of cutters to carve out something in a timely manner.

In any event the only things i can suggest are:

1. To determine what an ideally sized machine will be. Not easy really.
2. Nail down your expectations. The reality is the higher your expectations the more expensive the machine.
3. Let time be on your side and collect materials as they become available and you can afford them. My budget doesn't allow for a mass purchase of everything so I'm collecting stuff as time permits.
4. A good frame design is key to getting good results.
5. Sketch out designs on paper or in your head to help with determining what you will need.
6. Google!! There are a huge number if machines that guys have built to provide inspiration.

 

[stragenmitsuko]

I think when you go the arduino route , it's best to avoid those little stepper drivers
that plug into the mainboard .

I don't have any experiance with those particular drivers , but if I compare any of the so called single chip stepper drivers with a full digital driver like a leadshine dm442. The difference is day and night. Torque , smoothness , speed , midrange damping ....

Offcourse the price is day and night to , the leadshine is abt 50$ a piece .

Im' currently working on a small desktop router .
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/showthread.php?t=26704
Progress is slow , but I'll get there eventually

Pat