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Message
Cnc build ( Help needed )
Posted on 7/2/19 at 2:57 pm
Posted on 7/2/19 at 2:57 pm
I’m wanting to try my hand at building my own cnc. While I have experience building I have no clue on the electronics part.
Can someone point me in the right direction on what size stepper motors, mach3 controller, and stepper drives to use? Also what my best bang for my buck on all these kits? What name brand would you recommend?
I’m using this cnc for woodworking and plan to have a full 4x8 platform. The router will be a 1-1/2 hp porter cable. I would like to have 5 axis so I can add a rotary tool later on in build.
Can someone point me in the right direction on what size stepper motors, mach3 controller, and stepper drives to use? Also what my best bang for my buck on all these kits? What name brand would you recommend?
I’m using this cnc for woodworking and plan to have a full 4x8 platform. The router will be a 1-1/2 hp porter cable. I would like to have 5 axis so I can add a rotary tool later on in build.
4
Posted on 7/2/19 at 3:02 pm to Hunter82378
subscribed.
Posted on 7/2/19 at 3:04 pm to CarRamrod
Wanna give me more detail on this comment? Lol
Posted on 7/2/19 at 3:06 pm to Hunter82378
meaning i going to follow this thread because i would love to hear information about how to build one.
Posted on 7/2/19 at 3:11 pm to CarRamrod
Thought so just checking! Watch Dave gatton on YouTube! I’m trying my hand at one like his. I just want others advice on electronics.
Posted on 7/3/19 at 11:50 am to Hunter82378
Have you checked Joe's CNC? It's the best resource I've seen. It has a great forum.
Posted on 7/4/19 at 2:42 am to Hunter82378
I'd also like to build one some day, but unfortunately I don't have any real recs for you. I'll just share my personal approach to DIY stuff.
As far as dollars spent, DIY can be cheaper than commercial stuff. But when you factor in the time, it's almost always more expensive. So ignoring cost as a motivator, the only real reason for me to build something is for the knowledge and experience. For that reason, I always avoid commercial and/or closed-source software whenever possible. Even if I never even look at the source code, I like to know that it's available if I ever need or want to.
Similarly, for the components that I can't build myself like motors and circuit boards, I'm going to choose "generic" or commodity parts. If I can't build or repair it myself, then it has to be easily replaceable from any number of vendors.
Almost everything we buy these days locks us into a single vendor for service and repairs, so I'll be damned if I build something myself and lock myself in.
But I know most people don't care about that shite, and you may just enjoy building things and ending up with a functional product. So whatever the case for you, I hope you get out of it more than you put in.
As far as dollars spent, DIY can be cheaper than commercial stuff. But when you factor in the time, it's almost always more expensive. So ignoring cost as a motivator, the only real reason for me to build something is for the knowledge and experience. For that reason, I always avoid commercial and/or closed-source software whenever possible. Even if I never even look at the source code, I like to know that it's available if I ever need or want to.
Similarly, for the components that I can't build myself like motors and circuit boards, I'm going to choose "generic" or commodity parts. If I can't build or repair it myself, then it has to be easily replaceable from any number of vendors.
Almost everything we buy these days locks us into a single vendor for service and repairs, so I'll be damned if I build something myself and lock myself in.
But I know most people don't care about that shite, and you may just enjoy building things and ending up with a functional product. So whatever the case for you, I hope you get out of it more than you put in.
Posted on 7/4/19 at 11:46 am to Hunter82378
I started down this road about 3-4 years ago and built my own custom 4x4 CNC one with the parts from Openbuilds.com
They have a lot of builds that you can examine and figure out what you need for your particular setup as well as offering all the electronics and other accessories to build it
My father runs the CNC and the 80w commercial laser engraver full time doing signs and such
While you can absolutely use that router, eventually you will want to end up looking into a water cooled spindle and VFD to drive it. That router is going to be LOUD and you will end up having to replace bearings pretty often when they fail
I used the CNC xPRO v2(later upgraded to v3) for a controller on my setup but it doesnt have mach3 support, rather I have a computer connected to it and it streams gcode over a serial USB connection
There are commercial alternatives that come in kits but I was more of the type that I wanted to know how all of it worked rather than just putting parts together.
One word of warning is that this will be a money sink for a while until you get it set up like you like it. My current setup looks nothing like what I originally built because of the many upgrades I made to the rails, spindle, dust collection, etc
Hope this helps
Also, if you want to look at what Ive made with it in the past(I quit posting things a while back because it was just too much hassle to deal with social media)
Schwinn Creations FB page
They have a lot of builds that you can examine and figure out what you need for your particular setup as well as offering all the electronics and other accessories to build it
My father runs the CNC and the 80w commercial laser engraver full time doing signs and such
While you can absolutely use that router, eventually you will want to end up looking into a water cooled spindle and VFD to drive it. That router is going to be LOUD and you will end up having to replace bearings pretty often when they fail
I used the CNC xPRO v2(later upgraded to v3) for a controller on my setup but it doesnt have mach3 support, rather I have a computer connected to it and it streams gcode over a serial USB connection
There are commercial alternatives that come in kits but I was more of the type that I wanted to know how all of it worked rather than just putting parts together.
One word of warning is that this will be a money sink for a while until you get it set up like you like it. My current setup looks nothing like what I originally built because of the many upgrades I made to the rails, spindle, dust collection, etc
Hope this helps
Also, if you want to look at what Ive made with it in the past(I quit posting things a while back because it was just too much hassle to deal with social media)
Schwinn Creations FB page
Posted on 7/4/19 at 7:31 pm to Schwinn
Thanks for the info! I’m piecing this thing together. We shall see if I can make it happen. Thanks again
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