CNC - ongoing

Hi,

I have done some progress in assembling this CNC. Y plate had connected all linear bearings and screw. It was easy to set and axis is moving smoothly. Z screw was installed. Photos will show, how it looks.

Workshop heating

Hi there,

I had a problem with warming in my workshop. But anymore problems. I bought a ceramic propane heater. It works great. Workshop warms up about 5 degrees in 1,5 hour.  I work there with pleasure.

 

I  have to work a little bit on the ventilation to work more efficiently, and the cold air was heated in some way before returning to the workshop. In January, plans to rearranging the furniture thoroughly and put two partitions. This will reduce the areas which will be warmed. At the same time separate part of the work (where the equipment is working) on the part of the build machine and electronics. 

CNC - ongoing

Hi there,

Today only some photos of things that I made and received

Housing for bearings I made from Aluminum. For Y and Z axis. Only need to install them on frame.

Headstock from DIY lathe. I bought it from one guy from forum. Tool Holder for ER16 collet. I will create spindle from those part.

But now all work is stopped. I have only 4 Celsius degrees in workshop. I have to find source of heat to go back there and work.

Lucas

CNC - ongoing

Hi there,


Recently I made some progress in connecting new CNC parts in to one piece. I made a reinforcement, I mentioned about it before - 15 nuts to connect it to frame. It looks great, but time will show how it will work in future.

Next step was to place rails and carriages for Y and Z axis. I have screw them, and I will try to set as precisely as I can. I use indicator (I do not know exact name in English for that tool) and it looks like I have 0,01 mm precision. But frame is Aluminum, what will happen, when temperature will go up (it was 10 degrees of Celsius, when I have did all of it)

New CNC

Hi all

Recently I bought 12 pieces of 45 x 45 mm aluminum profiles. 500 mm long. I have some rails and linear bearings, some ACME screws and nuts. So I decide to build some new CNC. There will be some new stuff included in it, that I never try before:
- base made from epoxy granite,
- low speed spindle that I will build myself
Reason why I am building it is I want to get experience and get new skills.

Frame is almost build

T-nuts for 45x45 aluminum profiles.

Hi all,

last days I bought some second hand 45 x 45 aluminum profiles. I will build with them new CNC. To connect rails to them I have to use M5 screw. Normal metric nuts are to small, because profiles have 10 mm grove. I checked web and there were some special nut for this. But the prize is so big. For 30 nuts I have to pay more than for 4 m second hand profile. So I decide to made myself one. I measured the T grove in profile, took 20 x 5 mm flat and put it on CNC. And this is what I have:

 

T shape of this nut holder made it easy to slide inside a grove. Used normal M5 nut made it durability. It can be easy changed to bigger nuts. To compare some old special nut. Prize of it is equal to prize of this 3 that I made. 

Lucas

Table micro saw

Hi all,

In my workshop I have always some Plywood or MDF leftovers after cutting from plates on CNC. It can be used later, but you have to store it. Those leftovers are usually big and I am a little bit "lazy" one guy to cut them manually. So I took some time and search web for an inspiration, and found one. Micro Table Saw was my inspiration. And this is how I build one myself:

Epoxy optical table

Hi all,

I decided to create some bigger sample made with epoxy resin. I chose some optical table. I have some 20W laser in my workshop (that is still waiting to run it), so table will be helpful to end and show laser on blog. I checked in net how they are made and what will be needed to do it.
So first was mold. I decided to made rather small table 160 x 240 mm and 30 mm high. Mold was made from plywood 10 mm thick. As was tested before release agent was silicon in spray.

Next was inserts with thread. So I have a problem here, because there is difficult to get dedicated inserts. I used my lathe to create some sample inserts. They were ok, but it take over 15 min to create one. So I would spend few hours to create inserts only for this small form. That why I decided to search something else. And I found a thing: Ericson's nut. They are used in furniture creation, but it can be easily used as inserts in epoxy casting.

Vibrating table

Hi,

I work in new workshop almost for 2 weeks, but there was nothing to show. Until today :)
I made a vibrating table - to vibrate future epoxy resin CNC. Below some pictures how it was made.
BOM:
 - grinding machine
 - used tire
 - piece of plywood
 - some screws and nuts ( M8 and M4)
 - material for 2 wheels

 I bought this:

Workshop - more photos

Hi,

It is hard to keep clean workshop. After I moved in I start to work immediately. So it will not be clean, never. But I decide to show some photos.

 some panoramic view 

New workshop - again

Hi all,

There was a long period when I did not write here. But I had a lot of stuff to do and I took some holiday :)
Most important think is that, that I found new place for my workshop. It is 4 times bigger that last one. And I have big window. It is in poor condition generally, but if I stay there for longer time I will repair everything.

Epoxy

Hi all,

For couple of month I was reading different literature, science papers and forums about epoxy granite. I found very interesting topics in www.cnczone.com and www.cnc.info.pl about using it to build CNC frame. And I start to dig deeper. I check availability of epoxy resin in Poland. I found one, parameters of it are very promising: EPOLAM 2002. It is mainly used to laminating, but It can be used to create epoxy granite.
So I found aggregate to fill it. I used two type of aquarium sand:
- 0 to 2 mm diameter,
- 1 to 5 mm  diameter.
After I collect all elements I decide to create MDF mold, It was 150 x 50 mm and 60 mm high. I used wax as separator. I have create 4 samples.

  

1. I used 50/50 of sands and use resin 14,5% of volume, It was not vibrated.

Future & past

Hi,

FUTURE

Slowly I am preparing to move out. CNC from MDF was sold last week. I hope new user will be contented with it. I am building new shelfs to workshop because I was using owner of the place furniture to store my stuff.

I made them from dust board (18 mm ) and prepare to use bunch of box that I am using. They are really heavy.
 In plans there was some new CNC. I can not decide what to do (big plotter or small mill), but there was something that helped me to make decision. Wooden RACK box, that is used to send PC equipment was lying around in company that I am working. So I decide to use it. I will write about it more info soon.

Cyclone

Hi all,

I decided to build something that should be build long time ago - cyclone. Paper bags to my workshop  vacuum are incredible expensive. This is why I decided to used some plastic pipes (100 mm and 150 mm diameter)  and bucket, use some MDF and silicone for sealing everything. This is how it goes:

Move out

Hi all,

Sad news, I have to move out. Owners of the place where I have now my workshop are complaining. Noise is to big for them. even that I work there 2 times a week for about 3 hours per visit. But ok ...
So I trying to find new place to hire.
Let hope that I can managed to do it.

Lucas

Chips & dust

Hi all,

Everyone that have CNC have two problems chips&dust and noise. I do not like to have mess in my workshop so I decide to solve first problem somehow. First of all chips. When I cut Aluminum chips are flying everywhere, so I made barrier for them. On the side of the table I have mounted 4 mm Plywood and I do not remove it. In front and back of table I mount 6 holders. When I can install and remove 3 mm MDF sheet. This is how it looks like:

 one holder

T-table part 2.

Hi,

yesterday I try my new table. It works great. There is no problem with attaching different type of materials. Also I made some additional holders, and corner finder for bigger plates of material. I will put of all files to Thingiverse today, so they can be easily downloaded. Some photos below from yesterday tests.

T-table for bigger CNC

Hi all,

I had a lot of problem with finding optimal table to my CNC. I try different ways to mount material to it. But all previous ideas were wrong. So I decided to T-table. First try is in plywood, to see how it will work.
So let start.
In my bigger machine I have 435 x 345 mm of work place. Bottom part of it where nut and slides are installed is from Aluminum. On this I put first layer of 10 mm plywood. Bottom groves are 13 mm wide and 7 mm deep, prepared for M8 nut. On the periphery of working place I made 10 mm holes 6 mm deep, where I punch with hammer M6 nuts. This is how it looks:

99 % ready

Hi,
This weekend was productive. I almost end building this CNC. Electronic part was added, and first table milling was done. It works OK. Some photos first:

General view 

Mechanic part is ready

Hi,

After long period of no info it is time for big update. Yesterday I have ended most mechanical stuff. All axis have motors mounted and they are moving smoothly.

Next axis almost ready

Hi all,

after long period of quiet I decide to put some post. I don not why, but I am still not used to do it regularly. I made some stuff last time and the newest is Y axis to my CNC. It is made from MDF, because I have it ;)
2 ball bearing are on ACME screw (Tr 14x4) and only one nut on it. Still are missing some rail bearings, but I need to collect funds on those. Lately I decided how to build last axis of the machine, I hope to build it in next two weeks.
I have some problems with adding photos, but I menaged to do it :)

Z axis is ready

Hi all,


After long pause I came back to build my new CNC. I almost made electronic driver to it. Pictures of it will be available tomorrow. Next think I made was Z axis. I decided to made it from 10 and 12 mm plywood. I used 12 mm line rails, and 6 line bearings. Screw used it TR 10x2 with brass nut. Margin on it was good, but later I will cut it and squeeze to get margin elimination. I have almost 150 mm of operating range, but I am think to reduce it to 120 mm to get better stability. Step motor used have 1,2 Nm, and power is direct transfered to screw by coupler. Everything is prepared to hold KRESS (I think that I will use 1050 model). I try my KRESS to it, and it fit tightly. I take pictures before final touch of file and varnishing.

New CNC

It looks like that I have a lot of spare parts and I decided to used them build another CNC to my workshop.
Today I officially start preparing to build it. Here I will create my build log, with pictures, drawings and dxf files that will be created during this process. I will try to create 3D drawings in Sketchup, because I do not have PC to install my ViaCAD. It will be something new to learn. I am using CamBam to create CAM files and it will be used now to.
First thing to do was check what I have in my workshop. Complete electronic to 4 axis CNC will be taken from my old 3D printer. I have all linear rail and lot of smaller parts, but some bearings are missing So it is good point to start.

Lucas