Welcome to my blog
Hello. First I would like to say welcome to my blog. This site is just a place where I would like to share my experiences with you the DIY CNC hobbyist. Hi my name is Travis and I used to work in tool & die and machine shops since 1993. I have to say I became hooked on CNC machining from the get go. These days I just machine for hobby. I am by no means an expert nor do I claim to be. I built my CNC hobby router from very basic hand drawings I made and dimensions I came up with to simplify the design. A lot of trial and error before getting it right. I was a machinist not an engineer. My CNC router plans are simple and easy to understand if you have some experience reading mechanical drawings. They are in AutoCAD DWG format.
Below is the start and completion of my CNC hobby router. I tried to
take pictures every step of the way. I will try to be brief and to the
point with descriptions. I have been accumulating tools and a couple
different machines all the while saving the all mighty dollar for
several years and buying tools and equipment whenever I had the chance.
Just recently I have purchased the
Micro-Mark X2 mini mill along with
the X2 conversion kit from
CNC Fusion. Excellent kit comes with
precision ball screws and matched pair of angular contact bearings per
axis. Also provide nice step by step video how to install the kit. Well
worth the money. In 1999 I purchased a mini lathe 7" X 10" from
everyone's favorite online auction place. I have since updated the tool
post the chuck to a four jaw four inch chuck and added digital readout to X
and Z. My lathe upgrades came from
Little Machine Shop.com again well
worth the money. I thought as long as I'm mentioning names I would turn
them into easy links for you to check out. Maybe you could bookmark this
site for later searching of all the links.
To start, the electronics. What a nightmare if you don't have a
clue where to start like me. I would recommend hanging out in the
Art
Soft forum to start. Another great place to learn the basics needed to
build your own linear power supply you might want to check out is
Bob
Campbell Designs. Another useful tool is the
Number factory great if
you want to know what your stepper motors ounce inch torque rating is.
It converts the N-m from your spec sheet to oz inches. Great way to
tell what you're buying before you buy it. Another great site to check
out is Probotix. I use their products and I have to admit I don't
think anyone else can come close to their quality for the price. I
think their unipolar stepper drives are like $34 and some change. They
also explain the difference between unipolar and bi-polar stepper
drivers and stepper motor torque curves. I just want to tell you they
have outstanding customer service after the sale and before the sale.
I want to also mention the opto isolated breakout board they make is
awesome it has its own onboard +5 volt voltage regulator which you can
hook your main power supply to up to 40 vdc. Great with a multitude of
drivers. I really can't think of another company who is more dedicated
to the CNC hobbyist on a budget. No soldering. If you're like me you
would rather be CNC machining.
First I
would like to start out with the CNC mini mill. All my aluminum parts
for my CNC hobby router where made using it. I am powering the mill
with a 35 vdc 10 amp transformer which is rated 24 vac by the way in
case you didn't already know. The motors I decided to go with are 282
oz inch bi-polar rating motors from
Kelinginc and decided to use his
drives the KL-4030 which are bi-polar. This was all purchased prior to
using Probotix. Can you tell I'm kind of liking the Probotix products.
Kelinginc has a good product also and wide variety of motors and
drives. I get about 50 inches per minute which is fast for this little
machine with the current set up.