CNC Machine?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:43 pm

I've been thinking of ways to make money from home, and one of my ideas was making a CNC machine (2d or 3d) and making/selling stuff with it. I was just wondering if anyone else had made a CNC machine and could offer any advise, such as good guides and cheap sources of parts. Size isn't really an issue, in fact bigger is probably a bit better, at least a 2x2(x1)' cutting area should be good. Keeping it under $200-300 would be good, too, so maybe something that could be upgraded in the future would be best..

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:39 pm

Bump.

Doesn't anyone know anything about building a CNC machine?

benol · Post by **benol** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:42 pm

http://www.hackaday.com/2006/07/12/how- ... -cnc-mill/

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:47 pm

benol wrote:http://www.hackaday.com/2006/07/12/how- ... -cnc-mill/

I know about that, I was hoping for input from person experience and the ability to converse with them if needed.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:21 pm

Well, I don't have any advice but I would definitely be interested in hiring the services of anyone on these forums who had access to a CNC machine to make case parts, including you vskid.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:22 pm

the guy who made cherry bombs had one

cherubino? I think it was

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:03 am

You've got me interested, and the most reasonable thing I can find (price-wise) is this. I think it would be fun to have a small CNC machine.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:26 am

Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:the guy who made cherry bombs had one
cherubino? I think it was

It was scherubino. He seems to have fallen off the face of the forums, though. I found his email in one of his last posts, mail@upowernet.com. Don't know if he still uses it, but thats the best I could find.

Life of Brian wrote:You've got me interested, and the most reasonable thing I can find (price-wise) is this.

I think I'd rather build my own. I think I'll use the motor controller used in the Engadget How-to, since its cheap. If not, I'll try to find another cheap controller. I'll check out thrift stores for old printers to get the motors from. I might make up my own design, I'll check the designs of others DIY CNC machines for ideas.

If I do succeed in building a CNC machine, I won't screw you guys on prices. If you supply the plans ready to be CNC'd, I'll only charge $15ish (depending on the size) plus the cost of materials and shipping. If I have to draw up the plans, it'll be more (I'm not sure how long that'll take, so I can't really estimate). Would anyone be interested in 3d stuff, or just 2d? I think I'll make a 3d one anyways, so I can make whatever I want. And what would be about the biggest size of anything anyone would want?

spinout · Post by **spinout** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:58 pm

I was going to make a vice for a x/y thing that I have so I could attach it to my drill press, but after I showed my sketchup mock-up to my shop teacher, he just offered me a old cnc machine. It has a broken y axis but the rest works even though it is dissembled. I recommend not doing a cnc but just a x/y/z that you control with cranks because it is much simpler, but if you want to make a cnc that would be awesome.

MrTroy · Post by **MrTroy** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:30 am

spinout wrote:I was going to make a vice for a x/y thing that I have so I could attach it to my drill press, but after I showed my sketchup mock-up to my shop teacher, he just offered me a old cnc machine. It has a broken y axis but the rest works even though it is dissembled. I recommend not doing a cnc but just a x/y/z that you control with cranks because it is much simpler, but if you want to make a cnc that would be awesome.

I really don't undestand the difference between a 3 axis and a 4 axis. Me personally I just want something that'll cut in a 12"x12" area, 2D shapes. I'm not really worried about engraving, just the actual shapes. Is that what a CNC machine does?

If I do succeed in building a CNC machine, I won't screw you guys on prices. If you supply the plans ready to be CNC'd, I'll only charge $15ish (depending on the size) plus the cost of materials and shipping. If I have to draw up the plans, it'll be more (I'm not sure how long that'll take, so I can't really estimate). Would anyone be interested in 3d stuff, or just 2d? I think I'll make a 3d one anyways, so I can make whatever I want. And what would be about the biggest size of anything anyone would want?

I'll be your biggest customer. I found a site that lets you submit EPS files and it cuts for you. But... Their shipping is insane!(It cost almost as much for shipping as it cost for material and cutting combined).

Post by **Triton** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:57 am

im pretty sure if i wanted i could get the old ass CNC machine from our school, i couldnt every get ut ti work right tho, if i replaced the current controller setup and just used the steppers and whatnot i think it wold be a nice one but those cnc controller things are kinda expensive (100+$) its a LMC spectralight 0200

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:05 pm

MrTroy wrote:I really don't undestand the difference between a 3 axis and a 4 axis.

3 axis is just top-down cutting, 4+ axis can cut from other sides, too (like spinning the object to get the sides).

I really want to make one of these, but I don't have the money, the $15 in my wallet probably won't get me very far. The controller is the most expensive part, since you can't really salvage it from anything (except another CNC machine). I found a site that sells them for about $80 (hobby CNC, I think). Maybe thats what I could ask for for Christmas... I'll have to check the thrift store for old printers to get the motors from.

Post by **Triton** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:53 pm

yea hobby CNC 3 axis controllers are 79 plus shipping, if i can get ahold of that CNC machine (i will have someone ask about it for me) if someone would be willing to split the difference for one of those controllers i would CNC some things for them free of charge (you supply plastic and mebe designs)

the problem this cnc machine has it is the software and everything works good (ancient as crap tho) and it detects the machine but the stepers dont move, the box is probably shot, i know there are extra steppers for it too