Ordered my new CNC machine

[Ptownkid]

diy spindle...shit man, THAT is diy dedication!

I will build my own cnc one day, larger than the one i currently have, but i have too many hobbies/passions/projects so it might be a while.

 

[sonicmook56]

Ha you guys probably thought I gave up this audio stuff! I hope to get some capsules ready to test in the next month or so. Shabtek you will be on my shortlist of testers. Thats if you want to build a mic!

Here is a pic of my new spindle. Its also almost all diy(the er16 collet is not) Not shown in the pic is the 850 watt brushless motor that will drive it up to 20000 rpm!!!

Wow.

Can you post some photos of your capsules?

 

[tskguy]

Like I said I kinda went down the rabbits hole on this one!! The diy spindle was actually easier than it looks. The hardest part was machining the stainless steel. Man what a pain that was!! Anyway I have only completed a few capsules. I did them by hand and so I wasnt very happy with the outcome. I have been gathering mylar and misc things that I will need to make a handful of capsules. Mostly I have been trying to get my cnc machine as perfect as I can get it. Im not trying to be Dale or anything but it would be cool to make a few that sound good enough to sell to a few folks.

Anyway here are a few pics,

 

[Rochey]

Folks, just wanted to update you, that I built the system in about 5 hours today.

I got the box delivery last week.

the kit is of high quality, and everything is easy to put together, providing you take your time.

I haven't got driver boards for the steppers yet, however, I tried the Y axis (the table) with the DRV8811 Evaluation board, and it worked like a charm!

Happy Happy Joy Joy.

/R

 

[sahib]

Good stuff.

 

[tskguy]

We need pictures!!!!!  ;D

Glad to here everything went together well.

Eric

 

[Rochey]

Little update for you.

It's built. It's now working.
I used stepper motor drivers from Pololu. They do these cute little all in one PCB's for about $13 each.
I used a isolated parallel port breakout card from Probotix. $45

I got some old and wrinkly prototype pcb boards and did some old school wirewrap style soldering too.
Lets throw another $20 at that.

I had to get a load of bits - and they are expensive - $5 or more each!

Initially, I was snapping bits left, right and center, and was hitting my head against a wall regarding why!
Turns out my feed rate (the rate that the unit moves) was faster than the speed that the drill bit could cut the material.
So I slowed down the feed rate in my CAM processor, and suddenly, I was able to cut Aluminum and Plastic without issue.

Very cool.

In the mean time, I'm still learning my way - just thought I'd share my results. I'll post videos and pictures soon.

/R

 

[leswatts]

I had to get a load of bits - and they are expensive - $5 or more each!

Don't feel too bad...I have a large format cnc router and some of the bits cost $100 each....and last sometimes only three hours.
We can resharpen 5 times or so. This is with a large three phase Colombo spindle.

The carbide PCB drills can had resharpened for a buck or so apiece...at least that's what I paid last time I got some.
They can be run at fairly high feeds, but require very high RPM...often air bearing spindles at 100kRPM or more.

At 20K  a couple cm/sec is better.

They are not real good for aluminum and other metals...Try RobbJack for small diameter end mills for that sort of thing.


Les

 

[Marik]

Hey Rochey,

Can't wait to see the pics! I love CNC!

is 0.2mm accuracy doable?

Really depends on what lead screws do you use. The ballscrews are much more accurate, but unless you use preloaded or oversized balls, you can still have some backlash. The accuracy of the lead screw is from C0 to C7. Typically, the lower cost ball screws with some 5mm pitch will easily hold some 0.002", or even better.

The repeatability depends on the pitch of the screw, gear ratio, rigidity of the construction, and the load you apply to the machine. If you are using open loop (steppers vs. servos) then you might run into skipping steps.

Best, M

 

[Marik]

Ha you guys probably thought I gave up this audio stuff! I hope to get some capsules ready to test in the next month or so. Shabtek you will be on my shortlist of testers. Thats if you want to build a mic!

Here is a pic of my new spindle. Its also almost all diy(the er16 collet is not) Not shown in the pic is the 850 watt brushless motor that will drive it up to 20000 rpm!!!

One word--REZPEKT!!!

What bearing did you use. Is it preloaded?

Best, M

 

[Rochey]

Finally pulled my finger out of my butt and manager to mill a working PCB!

it's only for thru hole components so far - I've had some difficulty milling for SMD... but I think it's a matter of time and patience.
One of the things I've learnt is that you really have to design with milling in mind. you can't just take a board you'd send to a board shop and simply hit "mill".

Great way for making prototypes though...

 

[user 10827]

top bannana! pics?

So what software are using to convert Gerber to Gcode?

best
Pete

 

[Gus]

Rochey

What are you using to collect the PCB dust?

 

[Rochey]

No pics yet. On my todo.

Gus, I use some machining oil to keep the drill bit cool.... It also has the advantage of keeping the dust from flying.

 

[Rochey]

it's a bad one taken with my itouch... but it's something

(edit: fixed picture link)

 

[Rochey]

Wanted to upgrade the voltage for my drill from 24V to 34 -- get's more RPM!'s

Decided that I can mill a basic unregulated supply myself. Decided over coffee this morning... Then:

1 ) Drove to Tanner Electronics in DAllas (20 mins)
2 ) Spent faaaar too much money there on bits and bobs, but mainly got a 24VAC transformer, a couple of bridge rectifiers and a small bunch of 1000uF Caps (50V). (45 mins)
3 ) PSU schematic and layout, and creating a PCB GCOde file (35 mins)
4 ) Set up the CNC machine and started it on it's way (Machine is currently milling, will update this post)


I will have everything done before the wife gets home by lunchtime.

This is what rapid prototyping is ALL about

 

[Rochey]

Well, decorating the upcoming baby's nursery took precedent yesterday afternoon. It appears that rapid prototyping still hasn't caught up with the human factor!

Spent this morning assembling a new psu for the Cnc spindle. She now runs at 36v instead of 24v - the few tests I've done show a significant increase in cutting speed.

It's a simple unregulated linear, with about 7000uF of capacitace... I learnt the hard way about charged up electrolytics! A few blue sparks occurred!

Other than that, nothing much to report.

Rochey

 

[sonicmook56]

I could have made 50 of these circuits on a bread board the old fashioned way in the time it took me to figure out how to do this with CNC.  I'm almost there tho!  Not quite as clean as I want it to be.  I'm going to clean it up a bit, stuff it anyways and move on to the next project.

Rochey, this is with my fancy pants .02" tool.  The .006" and .012" tools I got from eBay rendered terrible results.  Rough messy edges, exc.

 

[ppa]

Are the alluminium wastes (that a CNC machine does when it work on alluminum parts)  dangerous for the health?

I would like to buy a CNC machine but I am thinking that the alluminium wastes might be a problem, this is my suspicion.

When the CNC machine works on alluminium parts, does it make a very small dust in the air?
isn't it?

 

[bkbirge]

This thread takes DIY to a new level of coolness.