Homemade desktop cnc router

[baskarz]

Here's my little desktop cnc i built a few years back.
I was on a fairly tight budget so it had be cheap but also reasonably rigid as i wanted to machine aluminium.
Frame is recycled 32mm square steel tubing with the gantry a piece of scrap rectangular alloy tube from the boatbuilders (the guys there are awesome, they let me scrounge through their alloy scrap bin for nix! always pickup nice slabs of alloy from 8mm thick up to 25mm thick and everywhere in between with different types of tube as well )
Stepper motors also recycled from old commercial photocopiers.
the linear rails are cheapo sbr12 fully supported rails from ebay (looking to upgrade to hiwin style in the future, these rails are quite sloppy and require constant adjustment )
Router is an Ozito 850w from bunnings, nice and cheap at $60.
Control box is an old pc case gutted and modified with homemade 48v linear power supply, SuperPID router controller, and THB6064AH stepper driver kits from here - THB6064 MassMind Stepper Motor Driver Kit
There have been quite a few upgrades and changes since its birth like the table got changed from the mdf to 10mm aluminium plate with a grid of M5 threaded holes for spoilboard and hold down fixings.
Also have rigged up an enclosure around the machine to contain the dust and chips.
I did make a vacuum attachment for the router but bristles started falling out and i haven't gotten around to fixing it.

This machine has had quite a lot of use with mach3 logging 271 operating hours since the pc was last rebuilt about 10 months ago with at least that again with the last pc.
I'm quite happy with how it performs, I've learnt its limitations and can generally get repeatability around 0.1mm which i hope to better when i change out the sbr rails to something better.

Hope you enjoy

[Altair]

Resourcefulness at its finest. Great job, baskarz.

Al

[Christophe Mineau]

I agree, great !
You slides look pretty good, and you say you are not pleased with them ?
Christophe

[kbalch]

Thanks baskarz! I've added your CNC Router to our CNC category, as well as to your builder page: baskarz's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

CNC Router by baskarz

tags: power supply, CNC, router, electrical, controller, software

[Paul Jones]

Thank you, baskarz. Great to see how you constructed your desktop CNC router and seeing this will encourage others to try it. Did you use the CNC router to engrave the labels on the control panel front? The photos have a lot of details.
Regards, Paul

[Christophe Mineau]

Agree with Paul.
I must say I like your design, well thought for stiffness, especially the steel frame and fix vertical support, and the fact that it is the table that slides along the X axis, instead of having the full head moving along that axis.
Same for the bolted adjustable in height Y-Z block. The Z axis slide with its limited range is certainly more accurate.
Very well thought.

[DIYer]

Great looking rig! I'm envious that you have a free source for all that aluminum.

[baskarz]

thanks guys are the comments!
It is by far the best thing i have ever built!
@ Christophe Mineau - The rails are ok but i have noticed after the use its had the bearings have loosened up a little, which is enough to get chattering which leaves marks when doing aluminium, I have tried to tighten them with the set screw on the bearing blocks themselves but it soon loosened up again. Still getting decent results, i just alter the feeds and speeds to minimize the chatter. I've been looking at the MGN15 linear rails on aliexpress but will probably hold out until i have more room in the shed as i want go for a larger cutting area ( currently only have 370mm x 285mm)
And yeah the adjustable height is handy especially since i got a 4th axis when i upgraded the table

@ Paul Jones - Yes the front panel on the control box was one of the first things made on it I basically stained the 6mm mdf with a thinned down old tin of black enamel i had laying around so it would soak into the mdf a little.
Then once it was dried, i then machined it all up. After that i did give it a clear coat
Heres the first 2 panels i made, bit rough but functional haha

[kbalch]

This thread has been moved to the Must Read subforum. Congrats (and thanks) to baskarz for making such a valuable contribution!

[Christophe Mineau]

Agree with that