[thisoldtony]

Greets all.

I decided to try my hand at a home-built; got my video camera along for the ride too.

Fixed gantry / Moving bed (Y axis) .. about 36" x 15" (900x400) with 8" (200mm) of Z.

biggest problem I ran into so far is a suitable spindle.. in the meantime I purchased a
1.5kW import spindle with VFD but its much too fast (on paper, haven't tried it yet). it'd
be great to find the head off of a small milling machine.

Anyway, here's Part 1 for now.. if there's interest I'll post the others as I get through them.

[TSJ]

This was a GREAT video, I am looking forward to part two! I am no expert but the machine looks great too.

[jueston]

very interesting to watch, i hope you do a part 2 as well.

[thisoldtony]

Thanks! Let's hope it works when it's done -- no pressure now huh?

[thisoldtony]

Just a heads up.. here's Part 2 for anyone who might be following along:

[nlancaster]

That build looks like it is going great!

[plcamp]

Looks like a nice heavy machine, good work. Keep the kids involved they are surprisingly more help than you might think and it keeps them from parking in front of the TV.

Paul

[UA_Iron]

This is a great video! thanks for sharing. Your son in there is hilarious haha.

I'm making time to sit down and watch them again as there's a lot I can learn.

[rubenbryon]

What spindle will you be using? Is this for machining steel? Looks awesome!

[thisoldtony]

thanks all.. and that's a great question Ruben -- one I wish I had an answer to. for now i have an ebay 1.5kW air cooled with the huanyang VFD.
so far it seems to be working okay, but I don't have high hopes. I just used it to cut some 1/16" mild steel sheet to make belt guards.. and have
since be 'hogging' some aluminum (ER11 collet!).

part 3 coming soon and you can see it at work.. though my CAM skills are still lacking.

On the bright side, I'm getting quite good at breaking small end mills.

Tony

[Zekyx]

Thank you, very inspiring build! I like your video editing skills

Do you use these rails, if yes, can you give some review:
Aliexpress.com : Buy New Economical 15mm Linear Guide 2pcs LG15 L=350mm linear rail way +4pcs LG15S Square linear carriage for CNC X Y Z Axis from Reliable carriage stroller suppliers on BST AUTOMATION | Alibaba Group

Thanks

[Fluxion]

Great videos! I was surprised to see that I am already subscribed to your YouTube channel.

[rubenbryon]

I'll be keeping an eye on this project, mine will have similarities for sure .

I'm going for a 2.2kW induction 3 phase 4 pole (1500RPM) motor with hitachi x200 VFD or similar, mainly for steel milling. I'll design my own spindle with ER32 collet.

What are the dimensions of your tubes?
Would you in hindsight think 100x100x4mm square tubing would be enough in my case with similar frame and 1000mm gantry?
Are you satified with the linear guides?

[thisoldtony]

My tubing is 60x60x4.. I designed this so a 50# cutting force at the tool tip, center of gantry, full extension (~8" away) would cause less than 0.001" deflection
in the frame. How good that might be is anyone's guess.. not sure what cutting forces are like (though personally I doubt they're 50#).. keep in mind this is frame
deflection.. I have no idea whats going on in the bearings / Z axis plates, etc. but so far so good.

100x100 might be a bit overkill, but if you've got it already.. might look nice, though.. nice and beefy.

Too early to say about the linear guides, but they seem to be doing their job so far.

[thisoldtony]

Third and last part of the CNC build. There's a bit of a test project at the end, a rubberband rifle for my boy.. starts at around
26 minutes if you'd rather just skip to see the machine work.

Thanks for watching.. comment/criticisms always welcomed.

[Bubba]

Very NICE!

[Kotyara]

Excellent videos! You really have a talent for making them easy and pleasant to watch. Your kid must be happy

I'm contemplating a welded steel build myself, albeit with a moving gantry, so it was very interesting to see how you did it.
Have you done any stress relief after welding? If not, are you worried about things slowly moving out of alignment?
Have you tried cutting steel thicker than that sheet for the belt guard?

Cheers,
Alex.

[wizard]

very nice video.

Looks like your goals have been accomplished and the you have a very stiff machine.

[bhurts]

Great videos. The design is really great. I have to ask. Where did you get the design for the rubber band gun? Is it something you designed yourself? If so great job.

Ben

[Adamj12b]

Another great video!

Where did you get the material for the bellows you used?

-Adam