CNC Mill / Router

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peterwaller
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CNC Mill / Router

Post by peterwaller »

I have been toying with the idea of buying a small hobby CNC machine and it would be helpful if anyone has any experience with such machines or the software that runs them. The favorite at the moment is
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0301483759
which uses Mach 3 software but no final decision has yet been made.
I may end up selling my Bioloid Humanoid robot to help finance this so if anyone is interested let me know.
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olivers
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Post by olivers »

What are you going to mill and what sort of accuracy are you after?

You can but a standard ?300-500 mill then add stepper motors and controller to make it CNC. My stepper motors were about ?30 each and the controller I made myself for about ?20.

I have all the bits to make a CNC that will cut wood and plastic, not sure about metal. Some of my links:

http://buildyourcnc.com/default.aspx
http://www.cncinformation.com/
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48
http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to ... g-Machine/
http://www.instructables.com/id/3-Axis- ... --JunkBot/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... aply-and-/


Was at Legoland a few weeks ago and they have one of these:
http://www.cromwell.co.uk/OSA2715500K

Non CNC but they said it was good.
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

I already have a manual mill as below but badged Axminster.
http://www.warco.co.uk/productimages/documents/P48.pdf
I had considered modifying it but it isn't accurate enough as it seems to have too much backlash. Besides it would be a big project in it own right especially the software applications for converting from drawings and I just want to build robots.
I would be mostly milling Polycarb and Delrin plus some aluminium but not steel and I suppose an accuracy of 0.1mm would be about right.
I enjoy machining the first part but I find making an identical second/third/fourth some what tedius and not always repeatable.
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

I finally got one on ebay. It turned out to be an almost identical mill to my manual one that a company had decided to do conversion kits for. Having produced the kit they sold of the complete machine they had built to test out there kit on. The only problem was I had to drive to Liverpool and back today to collect it. Now all I need is to work out how to program and use it.
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

Here is the machine:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... MG0505.jpg
And here is the sample file that was on the computer the chap was a motorcycle man.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... MG0510.jpg
It's a little rough around the edges I think it was a combination of poor ali and me setting the datum too low so it engraved much deeper then it was supposed to.
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Simon Windisch
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Post by Simon Windisch »

Very cool Peter.

Simon
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Post by EpicentrE »

Very nice indeed - it does look exactly like the Axminster Micro Mill, which I also have. Did you say the model you bought was a test for conversion kits they were producing? If so, I'd be interested to have the details of the company, to see if it would be possible, and how much it would cost to convert my mill to CNC.
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Epic Robotics. Champion of AWS38/41/42.
http://www.epicrobotics.co.uk
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

The company is:
http://www.frsservices.co.uk/
As I understand it the conversion kit is just the mechanical parts and you need to buy the stepper motors and controller board.
Having said that another bidder on ebay complained when he didn't get the complete unit and he has agreed to build him one. You might be able to persuade him to convert yours. I think he said the mechanical kit was around ?200 the motors are about ?40 each and I have no idea at the cost of the controller board the paperwork for it gives TheCNCgeeks.com but it doesn't seem to exist. The software for contolling it is Mach3 which is free for a version that is limited on program length but about $170 for a full licence. So far I have only run the engraving file so I haven't tried actual milling yet but I have printed out the mach3 manual ready to start learning. Don't be put of by his name being Swindells he couldn't have been more helpful.
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

I have finally made an ant part from drawing to machining.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... MG0514.jpg
There is quite a steep learning curve and many of the terms used in the manuals were new to me so it has taken about a week and a half.
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Post by Glenn Jones »

looks good. :D
Image
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