Archive for March, 2010

Never enough clamps…

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Today:  put together the supports for the x-axis lead screws.  I will be using 1/4″-20 all thread (it’s cheap!).

I bought the cheapest 1/4″ ID bearings I could find.  They have a 12mm diameter shoulder and 22mm outside diameter.  That’s roughly 1/2″ and 7/8″, respectively.  Since I’m drilling the holes in MDF, there’s naturally some inaccuracy involved.  The small amount of slack will be quite welcome when the time comes to adjust the bearings’ position.

A while back, I also put together the slides for the y-axis linear bearing.  Nothing exciting here, just a couple pieces of MDF and some aluminum angle.

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Big project…

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

I’ve been wanting to build my own CNC machine for years now, and I’m finally in a position to do so.  I’m cheap, which means I’ll be using inexpensive materials and lots of my own labor, rather than spending the money for a commercial project.

I’ve gone through a number of iterations on the design, and finally have one that I think meets the dual requirements of being A) within my skill-set, B) big enough to be useful, and C) within a modest budget.  Unlike previous iterations, I haven’t made a google sketchup model of the machine, and I’m making it up a bit as I go along, so I fully expect the design to evolve as I go.

Last weekend, I started on the base.  This is the simple stuff.  I added some bracing underneath for stiffness, and now have the two side rails for the linear bearings.

Top side of the base

It’s not much to look at, at this point.  Here’s the bottom:

Bottom side of the base

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