What would be the first steps in making a CNC router? How do you know what servo motors to get? I mean.....the mechanical part.....no problem. I have AutoCAD experience but no experience in programing. Can I really do this on my own???

Dave

Mechanical part no problem.... what is your budget for the "motion" components?

Are you thinking servos or steppers?

If steppers, I'd take a look at the Xylotex line....

If servos...look at Gecko drives and maybe K2 CNC servos or the like.

I would stick to the NEMA 23 for foam and light wood cutting. That will keep the price down quite a bit. Also make sure you try to find a bipolar driver board that way you can use almost any stepper on the market today.
Mark

Originally Posted by The End

Mechanical part no problem.... what is your budget for the "motion" components?

Are you thinking servos or steppers?

If steppers, I'd take a look at the Xylotex line....

If servos...look at Gecko drives and maybe K2 CNC servos or the like.

I am gonna have to save some $$ before starting. I know nothing about either servo or steppers. I will not be able to buy everything all at once anyway. I just need to understand how it all goes together. Steppers are plugged into a interface? This is what powers the steppers and the computer tells the cutter where to go?

Am I close?

Originally Posted by kram242

I would stick to the NEMA 23 for foam and light wood cutting. That will keep the price down quite a bit. Also make sure you try to find a bipolar driver board that way you can use almost any stepper on the market today.
Mark

You are talking greek to me, but I am going to learn the terminology and products. I have decided that is going to be fun.

Originally Posted by The End

Mechanical part no problem.... what is your budget for the "motion" components?

Are you thinking servos or steppers?

If steppers, I'd take a look at the Xylotex line....

If servos...look at Gecko drives and maybe K2 CNC servos or the like.

Budget you are speaking of. What do you think a small router will cost? I have seed some guys on Youtube who made theirs out of wood frame, threaded rod and bronze nuts to be turned by some steppers. They seemed to work well.
I cant spend a lot at once....but I can buy a little at a time. I just want to make sure that what I am purchasing will work. Learn as I go....

Hi imsofaman

Iīll be starting a thread about my newly finished CNC router. The Thread will include basic instructions, drawings and a shopping list for parts. The thread will be aimed at modelers with basic skills and tools.

The design has one very unique feature compared to most CNC router designs out there. Thatīs only to be expected when modelers start designing CNC machines So stay tuned...

- Michael Hammer

OH yes!!! I am waiting! What you have so far looks great!!!

Dave

I use CNCZone.com They're one of the largest forums dedicated to buildings CNCs. Unfortunately their RC portion is not well developed, so these forums here are a great place to combine RC with CNC. I built Joe's 2006 CNC: http://www.joescnc.com/ and the CNCZone link for dicussions and help: http://cnczone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=346

I wanted something more than just a wire cutter. I wanted to be able to cut wood, metal, glass and so on and on and on. So, that's why I went with that type of CNC. To warn you.... my original budget was under a $1000 for a good CNC. But, because there are so many nice options available, I ended up going up to $2,500 (including a brand new computer system to run the thing and cad/cam programs... so that was $600 by itself).

Hope that helps.


-BK

BK, did you cut the Joe2006 pieces by hand? I really want to build a joe2006 style machine but the idea that I'd need to be able execute precise and repeatable cuts on 80+ pieces is pretty daunting.

philba,

I think the joe2006 machine needs to be cut from an existing CNC. In fact I think "Joe" designed the 2006 with his existing CNC in mind. He built a slightly enlarged JGRO first then cut his 2006 on that. For a first machine the JGRO looks to be the one to build. It can be cut with basic shop tools. Thread here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=300

imsofaman,

Take a look at www.hobbycnc.com

You can get a driver board, motors, and all as a kit from them.

Steve

Steve, yes, I read that in the Joe thread. He definitely states that you need a CNC router to build the router. But there is a guy that built a joe2006 derivative without a cnc. He appears to have really good woodworking skills though. I was hoping to hear from BK - it sounds like he might have not used a CNCrouter to build his Joe2006.

I really don't want an unsupported rail machine but supported rails require really tight tolerances. Probably beyond my woodworking skill level.

HI guys, this is my first post here, I'm just getting into rc plane hobby, flew my hz supercub lp for the first time and I'm hooked with no crashes, guess I can credit that to real flight 4.5 simulator. any way I built a solsylva and plan on building my own planes as I learn more, I found this machine very easy to build and you can also upgrade it as you go. cost me about $1500 to build but thats because I kept changing my drive screws . if you decide to build a machine go with multi start screws and try using the new gecko drive, g540 4 axis, http://solsylva.com/cnc/cnc_plans_home.shtml vist the site for more info, they have a few different plans to choose from. Graham

Originally Posted by philba

Steve, yes, I read that in the Joe thread. He definitely states that you need a CNC router to build the router. But there is a guy that built a joe2006 derivative without a cnc. He appears to have really good woodworking skills though. I was hoping to hear from BK - it sounds like he might have not used a CNCrouter to build his Joe2006.

I really don't want an unsupported rail machine but supported rails require really tight tolerances. Probably beyond my woodworking skill level.

Take a look at the mods done to this JGRO. They are simple to do and address the unsupported rails.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13872

Yeah, I've though about doing something similar. However, it doesn't look that easy to me. You'd have to install after adjusting the rails. I'm still thinking of how I could build a joe2006 design without a cnc router. Templates for manual routing could be the trick.