During the early part (January-February) of 2010 I build a CNC router based on plans I got from
http://www.solsylva.com. I modified the design based on the following objectives:
1) I wanted to use some surplus rails and bearing I had on hand.
2) I wanted to use aluminum angle and plate instead of wood where possible.
3) I wanted to use cog belts and pulleys instead of screw drives.
The modified design worked pretty well. However, I'm less than happy with a few things. One, it make an incredible amount of noise. Two, it makes and incredible amount of dust. And, three, even though I'm using aluminum I'm getting some flexing where the router mounts to the gantry. It's worse on thicker material and at higher speeds.
The noise and flexing are pretty easy to deal with. I can wear ear protection and I can slow the router down to minimize the flexing. However, the dust is a problem. Even if use a mask while cutting the dust gets everywhere and I'm bound to inhale the dust at some point. I've made a vacuum hold-down system which helps a lot but I'm still concerned about the dust. Why the concern? Well, it's my understanding the aircraft plywood uses a phenol-formaldehyde glue. This is bad stuff and I like to minimize the amount of it that I breath. Thoughts?
My thoughts...I've been considering getting (building or buying) a laser cutter. I've been looking at
buildlog.net. This site has a bunch of information on laser cutters. If you're interested
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