My custom CNC router
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:29 am
Dear CentroID community, I'd to show you my home-built CNC "for the world to see". Also because I'm particularly proud of it...
I started with the desire to buy a CNC Router, I ended up building myself a monster.
The AVID CNC kit was appealing: a CNC, a kit, relatively cheap…
Analyzing pros and cons, I changed "a few" things: pretty much everything.
The fact is that I was struck by the Datron Cube8, and so I started looking for the components to make a Datron - cheap - clone.
Fusion 360 then allowed me to draw everything down to the smallest detail.
The initial idea was to make a prototype with cheap materials (BB Plywood), to then build the definitive machine in aluminum and steel.
The prototype is so successful that now I don't want to change, also because in the meantime the cost of aluminum has skyrocketed.
I am particularly proud of how it turned out: extremely precise and rigid, above all expectations.
Obviously, since wood is a yielding material, it is certainly not made to last a lifetime, nor can it deal with heavy duty uses. In any case now it is much more precise, robust, reliable and powerful than other machines on the market that would have cost me more than three times as much as I spent.
In the near future I plan to rebuild it in aluminum and steel as it was in the original project: for now it's perfectly fine!
Features
Ballscrew-driven on all axes
Dual drive (ballscrews and motors on either side of gantry)
4 X Panasonic AC Servo motor 750 Watts (Japan)
Hiwin Linear rails 25 mm (Taiwan)
TBI Motion Ballscrews 25 mm (Taiwan)
Electrospindle: Elte 3.7 Kw (5HP) (Italy)
Controller: ACORN CentroID
Computer: al In one Samsung touchscreen
Work Area:
X: 840 mm (33”)
Y: 820 mm (32.28”)
Z: 220 mm (8.66”)
Footprint
Width: 1560 mm (61.4”)
Length: 1600 mm (63”)
Height: 1960 mm (77.2”)
Performances:
Cutting Speed (aluminum) : 5500 mm/min (216 IPM)
Rapid Speed: 8000 mm/min (315 IPM)
Resolution: 0.001 mm
Repeatability: +/- 0.002mm
Some construction details:
The gantry beam is a torsion box (38 mm thick walls and 24 mm thick vertical and diagonal every 200mm), baltic birch plywood glued with epoxy: the external surfaces are coated in epoxy. The whole assembly has been rectified and squared.
The two risers for the gantry are Baltic birch plywood glued with epoxy, 8 layers for a total of 144 mm thick each.
The weight of the gantry and the risers (a solid piece), without the aluminum plates is 128 kg (282 lb).
The riser’s support plates on the HIWIN blocks and the ball nuts are aluminum 6061.
All the support units of the ball-screws and the Servo Motors are SYK (Taiwan) - Cast Iron.
The platform is a torsion box (baltic birch plywood glued with epoxy) with 38 mm walls and 18 mm thick internal crosspieces. The surface is in 40 mm thick epoxy granite.
The z assembly is entirely 6061 aluminum: the support plates are 38 mm thick each and the linear guide rails are mounted on the mobile part to contribute to the overall rigidity. The total weight of the z assembly is about 47 kg (103.6 lb).
All the mechanics (linear rails and ballscrews) are protected from dust, in particular the Z axis is totally sealed, and the dust extraction system, as you can see from the photos, is internal to minimize the overall dimensions.
The weight of the full assembly, without the supporting base, is about 450 kg (992 lb)[/list]
Let me know what you think and/or if you want more details.
Thank you!
Henry Corien
I started with the desire to buy a CNC Router, I ended up building myself a monster.
The AVID CNC kit was appealing: a CNC, a kit, relatively cheap…
Analyzing pros and cons, I changed "a few" things: pretty much everything.
The fact is that I was struck by the Datron Cube8, and so I started looking for the components to make a Datron - cheap - clone.
Fusion 360 then allowed me to draw everything down to the smallest detail.
The initial idea was to make a prototype with cheap materials (BB Plywood), to then build the definitive machine in aluminum and steel.
The prototype is so successful that now I don't want to change, also because in the meantime the cost of aluminum has skyrocketed.
I am particularly proud of how it turned out: extremely precise and rigid, above all expectations.
Obviously, since wood is a yielding material, it is certainly not made to last a lifetime, nor can it deal with heavy duty uses. In any case now it is much more precise, robust, reliable and powerful than other machines on the market that would have cost me more than three times as much as I spent.
In the near future I plan to rebuild it in aluminum and steel as it was in the original project: for now it's perfectly fine!
Features
Ballscrew-driven on all axes
Dual drive (ballscrews and motors on either side of gantry)
4 X Panasonic AC Servo motor 750 Watts (Japan)
Hiwin Linear rails 25 mm (Taiwan)
TBI Motion Ballscrews 25 mm (Taiwan)
Electrospindle: Elte 3.7 Kw (5HP) (Italy)
Controller: ACORN CentroID
Computer: al In one Samsung touchscreen
Work Area:
X: 840 mm (33”)
Y: 820 mm (32.28”)
Z: 220 mm (8.66”)
Footprint
Width: 1560 mm (61.4”)
Length: 1600 mm (63”)
Height: 1960 mm (77.2”)
Performances:
Cutting Speed (aluminum) : 5500 mm/min (216 IPM)
Rapid Speed: 8000 mm/min (315 IPM)
Resolution: 0.001 mm
Repeatability: +/- 0.002mm
Some construction details:
The gantry beam is a torsion box (38 mm thick walls and 24 mm thick vertical and diagonal every 200mm), baltic birch plywood glued with epoxy: the external surfaces are coated in epoxy. The whole assembly has been rectified and squared.
The two risers for the gantry are Baltic birch plywood glued with epoxy, 8 layers for a total of 144 mm thick each.
The weight of the gantry and the risers (a solid piece), without the aluminum plates is 128 kg (282 lb).
The riser’s support plates on the HIWIN blocks and the ball nuts are aluminum 6061.
All the support units of the ball-screws and the Servo Motors are SYK (Taiwan) - Cast Iron.
The platform is a torsion box (baltic birch plywood glued with epoxy) with 38 mm walls and 18 mm thick internal crosspieces. The surface is in 40 mm thick epoxy granite.
The z assembly is entirely 6061 aluminum: the support plates are 38 mm thick each and the linear guide rails are mounted on the mobile part to contribute to the overall rigidity. The total weight of the z assembly is about 47 kg (103.6 lb).
All the mechanics (linear rails and ballscrews) are protected from dust, in particular the Z axis is totally sealed, and the dust extraction system, as you can see from the photos, is internal to minimize the overall dimensions.
The weight of the full assembly, without the supporting base, is about 450 kg (992 lb)[/list]
Let me know what you think and/or if you want more details.
Thank you!
Henry Corien
