My new project. Hobby CNC machine

[Target30]

not that i have any idea how to draw it up in cad or anything, but i can sketch you out a picture, and get some measurements, if when you are ready, i'll be your first customer. i am going to need a dash made for my veypor and leds, and gps unit, and sirius radio , hmm daytona temp guage. well a bunch o crap i want on my dash. i already have the idea, just need to make it a reality. and it wont have to be too thick as it is more a shell than enything else. was going to make it out of fiberglass, but i really dont have the time, and i like the idea of having other members crafted stuff making my bike what it is.

[bweight]

Hey guys... i'll respond more tomorrow night... i'm in a hotel at the moment and my only net access is on my phone unfortunately .... damn weddings !

Either way, i do have a lot of plans for items to make. gauge templates, possibly chain guards, kickstand pads.... just to name a few....

[YAM93]

not that i have any idea how to draw it up in cad or anything, but i can sketch you out a picture, and get some measurements, if when you are ready, i'll be your first customer. i am going to need a dash made for my veypor and leds, and gps unit, and sirius radio , hmm daytona temp guage. well a bunch o crap i want on my dash. i already have the idea, just need to make it a reality. and it wont have to be too thick as it is more a shell than enything else. was going to make it out of fiberglass, but i really dont have the time, and i like the idea of having other members crafted stuff making my bike what it is.

You done forgot the 8-track tape player man.

Hopefully you'll be finishing it off with some purple shag rug.



(just messin' with ya)

[ShogunTX]

Group buy on everything when you are done with that bad boy....I want a CNC so bad but Santa won't buy into it

[95FZR600]

not that i have any idea how to draw it up in cad or anything, but i can sketch you out a picture, and get some measurements, if when you are ready, i'll be your first customer. i am going to need a dash made for my veypor and leds, and gps unit, and sirius radio , hmm daytona temp guage. well a bunch o crap i want on my dash. i already have the idea, just need to make it a reality. and it wont have to be too thick as it is more a shell than enything else. was going to make it out of fiberglass, but i really dont have the time, and i like the idea of having other members crafted stuff making my bike what it is.

First you need to get that bike back on the road then worry about the acc,...

[bweight]

Weeeeeeeeeeeee... I HATE family gatherings.. especially weddings. Everyone bitches about everything, the drive down there, the hotel stays.. But man did I ever get drunk.. woohoo.. took me about 15 minutes to get back to my room that was at the end of the hall and down a set of stairs.. damn that was the best part.. This morning, not so much.. head hurt, baby cried, wife mad.. *sigh*.. oh well..

Anyways, back on topic. I've got lots of plans for this machine, but until I actually get it up and running and test out cutting a few different materials, I won't know exactly what I will be able to manufacture. I think I've figured out the 3d drawings as well.. it's a little strange though when I input the G-Code files (files needed for the plotting of the 3-Axis system) on some of the drawings though. If I don't have enough "lines" in the wireframe, the finished product doesn't appear to be correct.. When I add more of the lines in the wireframe, it seems to look right.. We'll see. Electronics, Linear Shafts and the bearings should be in sometime this week.. If I'm lucky, I'll have it operational by the weekend.. Then I gotta find a cheap donor lap-top that I can use out in the garage to run everything..

[ShogunTX]

What specs do you need in the laptop?

[bweight]

I suppose it depends on the software I'm usin.. Processor speed won't be the issue I would imagine, RAM would be the key.. something with about 1GB.. I'm still tryin to figure out which software I'm actually gonna go with, so it's hard to say.

[megaloxana]

Very awesome man. I think I got a CNC course next semester coming up. Good luck with this.

[bweight]

Weeeeeeeeeeee... Got some more goodies in today.. Found out the linear shaft is in and should be cut up this afternoon hopefully into the right lengths.. And the bearings will be in by tomorrow morning. As for the cutting tool, I'm gonna have to figure out how to pick one up without the wife having too much of a fit when I do.. will be tricky, but I'll get it.. here's some pics of the goodies that came in today..

3-Axis Stepper motor driver.. W/cool little screwdriver and cable to go to computer.


Cooling fan and Power Cables for Power Supply


110/220V switchable Power Supply


3 x 425oz.in Torque NEMA 23 Stepper motors..


LOTS of stuff to do to make sure these things are hooked up correctly before I even plug the power supply in. I guess I better get crackin on the software and figure out what I'm gonna use.. Hopefully after surgery on Wednesday, I'll be feeling a little better by the weekend and maybe I can see about doing a few trial runs on some scrap wood.. More to come.

[sweekster]

Nice new parts are always fun to open and play with .

[bweight]

So due to my impatience with this project, I'm sure my latest purchase is gonna come back and bite me in the ass.. But it didn't cost me much and it may actually work for me, at least to get going anyways until I can afford/find a suitable replacement..

Anyways, didn't take any pics, but here's what I bought..



This will do the main cutting of the materials that I'll be using. The only downside to this particular unit, aside from it being a POS and very cheap, is that I'll have to cut at a VERY slow pace to make sure I don't burn out the motor..

Meh.. again, it's a temp. stop gap until I get something better.. But now that I have just about everything in order, I might actually get it up and running for the most part tomorrow night and see if I can test it out.

[95FZR600]

With that setup you will have to go slow. I know you said its temporary and will work for the time being. Those stepper motors are not cheap. Ill have to get you pics of my buddies set up. Good luck. Ill get your software to you on thursday.

[bmh5566]

Back to the 3D part. If you need any help I might be able to provide some. I model pieces and parts to send to our CNC at work for model building.

Depressing thing is it is busy almost 24/7 so getting any "personal" time with it is tough!

[bweight]

Well things slowed down a little and I'm behind on the build.. Not far behind, but behind... Here's a few more pics showing the up to date progress:

Stepper motors with extended wires.. ready to be mounted to machine.


X-Z Plate & shafts installed.. (My dad in the background getting a measurement on one of the motor mount plates.)
This step actually caused us to re-build the X-Z plate because the first time we did it, well, the shafts weren't parallel when in the bearings and even though it was out only about 1/32 of an inch or less, it was still binding so we started that piece over..



Side view of X-Z plate.. Have to cap the ends of the shafts still, and finish up a couple things on the top before we can mount the Z-motor on it. It's as square as it's going to get to the cutting base..


Opposite side of X-Z plate..


That's all so far. Tomorrow I've gotta find something to mount the damn motor driver, power-supply & fan in... Radio Shack sucks and doesn't have anything at all.... Should have some mounts for the 4-20 threaded rod to mount to the motors finished up tomorrow and we might get the steppers in place and mounted. Last thing I need is to find a PC to run the machine off of... I had an old desktop sitting in my basement for the longest time until I got rid of it about a month and a half ago..

Ahh well.. HOPEFULLY I find a decent used one around here so that I can get the software up and running and test out the motors to make sure everything moves smoothly before trying to cut anything..

That's all for now....