[Teddz]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of building my first 3-axis CNC router. It's a fairly small setup with a (X)60cm x (Y)60cm x (Z)21cm work area.

Some specs:
2.2 kW water cooled spindle
NEMA 34 1232oz. steppers
2005 (X axis) and 1605 (Y and Z axis) ballscrews
25mm linear rails for the X axis
20mm linear rails for Y and Z axis

I'm building most of the machine with heavy duty steel tubing and used 20mm aluminum plate for the Z axis.

I'm almost done with the fabrication work on the machine and will be tackling the electronics and fine tuning starting this week.

Here are couple of pics of what I've done...
The gantry with the Z axis and spindle. This is before I added the side plates to the uprights that the stepper mounts to. So far, even with everything added to the gantry, it's pretty solid and takes some effort to tip it.


And here's an early pic of the base with the X-axis rails. I left that center section open in case I want to add a 4th axis and need a little extra room for the material. It's a 'what if' scenario and I may never need it, but I figured it's easier to leave it open than have to cut it off later.

Initially I was going to just bolt it all together, but it was a Saturday night (around 3am), I ran out of screws and wasn't about to wait until Tuesday (that Monday was a holiday) to get more, so I broke out the MIG and welded it together.

Is the machine overbuilt? Yea, I think so... but it's kinda what I do. I'd rather overbuild it and have room to play than under-build it and have to upgrade or rebuild later.

More to follow soon.

Cheers!

[awerby]

It doesn't look like you're getting much travel in the X direction. What if you changed it to a bridge design, with a moving table instead of a moving gantry? That would make it more rigid, and allow you to run that table you've built back and forth underneath it, on a much longer base table, giving you about twice as much X travel.

[Teddz]

It doesn't look like you're getting much travel in the X direction. What if you changed it to a bridge design, with a moving table instead of a moving gantry? That would make it more rigid, and allow you to run that table you've built back and forth underneath it, on a much longer base table, giving you about twice as much X travel.

I had thought of the bridge design, but the amount of room I'll need for this thing to go back and forth is more than the space I have available for it. The whole machine (without the steppers) is 90cm wide x 90cm long and with them on it's like 110cm wide x 110cm long (a little over 43" x 43"). It probably would make it more rigid, but I doubt the machine, as it is now, will ever be taxed to the point where it needs more rigidity.

It seems small because of the pics, but I get the minimum 60cm (roughly 24") of travel in the X-axis I need for the materials I'll be working 99% of the time. I have room for a couple more inches of travel IF I need it, and if I start going way over in material size, that's what my 2nd CNC router will be for which will be 1.8m x 2.5m (about 71" x 98").

[ger21]

UNfortunately, I think you're going to find that those big motors will be very, very slow with 5mm pitch ballscrews.

[Teddz]

Slow doesn't bother me that much, but if it's an issue, changing out the ballscrews won't be much of an issue.

[Teddz]

How much would guys think are the aluminum bearing blocks without the bearings for SBU25 are at a local supplier? 40 Euros ($42.50) EACH! No set screw, no c-clips, no bearing, no nothing... just the aluminum. I haven't lost my mind yet so I made my own blocks for less than that for all 4.

The Ballscrew double nut for a 20mm screw, IDENTICAL to the Chinese stuff, 140 Euros ($149). From e-bay... with shipping... $38.

This is yet another reason some businesses are closing up out here... their prices are just insane.

So far this machine has cost me $1600 in materials and components. Had I bought the components locally, it would be pushing at least $3000.

[wizard]

How much would guys think are the aluminum bearing blocks without the bearings for SBU25 are at a local supplier? 40 Euros ($42.50) EACH! No set screw, no c-clips, no bearing, no nothing... just the aluminum. I haven't lost my mind yet so I made my own blocks for less than that for all 4.

Shocking isn't it.

The Ballscrew double nut for a 20mm screw, IDENTICAL to the Chinese stuff, 140 Euros ($149). From e-bay... with shipping... $38.

This is yet another reason some businesses are closing up out here... their prices are just insane.

Many automation suppliers are use to selling to big business. Big business is real funny about paying for stuff. Cost sometimes is of little concern or maybe more importantly paid for by people that don't know better.

So far this machine has cost me $1600 in materials and components. Had I bought the components locally, it would be pushing at least $3000.

Still a lot of money but it is surprising to me that CNC is even doable at the costs. I've been at this for a long time and some of those early machines had really expensive components.

[wildgrav]

Hey Teddz, can you tell me more about that Spindle and CLAMP. Where did you get it. Does it have a VFD driving it?


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[Teddz]

Hey Wild....

The spindle is a 2.2kw water-cooled chinese unit with a VFD. The clamp I made from a chunk of aluminum based on a design I had seen somewhere online.

[A_Camera]

How much would guys think are the aluminum bearing blocks without the bearings for SBU25 are at a local supplier? 40 Euros ($42.50) EACH! No set screw, no c-clips, no bearing, no nothing... just the aluminum. I haven't lost my mind yet so I made my own blocks for less than that for all 4.

The Ballscrew double nut for a 20mm screw, IDENTICAL to the Chinese stuff, 140 Euros ($149). From e-bay... with shipping... $38.

This is yet another reason some businesses are closing up out here... their prices are just insane.

So far this machine has cost me $1600 in materials and components. Had I bought the components locally, it would be pushing at least $3000.

You are not doing the maths correctly...

For the $1600 you get the material only, you are doing all the work. If buy the components locally, your supplier has to pay wages, machine and tools wear, rent, taxes and so on, so of course that is going to be more expensive. Making your own machine and not calculating the costs correctly always result in these kind of conclusions, apples and oranges comparison. Of course you can make your own parts cheaper than if you buy the same parts from a local supplier, but you are doing the work for your own self, not for somebody else, a total stranger. Running a company costs money and competing against the Chinese sweat shops is not easy.

[Teddz]

Has nothing to do with my math and more to do with shop owners gouging prices simply because they think they can. Why keep your prices competitive when you're the only "shop" in town?

If I was to figure my time into this as well, the CNC would cost well north of $7000, but since I'm not in the business of building machines to sell, figuring my time into the build is a moot point. All that's really relevant is the cost of all the components and materials.

[A_Camera]

Has nothing to do with my math and more to do with shop owners gouging prices simply because they think they can. Why keep your prices competitive when you're the only "shop" in town?

If I was to figure my time into this as well, the CNC would cost well north of $7000, but since I'm not in the business of building machines to sell, figuring my time into the build is a moot point. All that's really relevant is the cost of all the components and materials.

Yes it has indeed to do with your maths, but you don't seem to understand.

[Teddz]

Well, my machine is done and is working great. :banana:

GER21 mentioned the motors/screw pitch combo would make the machine very very slow... not the case, well at least after upping the pulse/rev's to 3200 from 25600.

One of the 3 power supplies was DOA from Longs-Motor China, but they sent out a new one for only shipping cost. Which is great considering I bought them over a year ago, left them in the shipping box and just got around to using them. So far, all works great.

I'm still fine tuning the machine and making minor modifications when needed, but so far so good. It's rock solid, almost no backlash and has enough Z Axis travel to accommodate a lot of what I work on... mainly models, replica props, small plaques, molds and such.

[Teddz]

so here's a pic of the machine set up in my modeling work space. Still some parts left to install like the drag chain, limit switches, dust collector and water cooling setup, but other than that, it works. All electronics are under the desk off to the left. I used a pen in the spindle to run some tests to see how it is. The spindle works manually and I'm working through getting Mach3 controlling it but with the lack of documentation sent with the BOB, it's been a long process of looking around the net...

Thanks for lookin.

CNC Laser next!!

[wizard]

Looking good.