diy cnc router build (large format 5x10ft, rack and pinion)

This is my homemade CNC router, which is a small summary of the construction of the overpass.
This instructable is more about the documentation of how I build CNC and don\'t be mistaken for a tutorial on installing CNC.
The initial goal I built was to make a large CNC router that didn\'t affect the quality and functionality.
It\'s a bit hard to achieve with tight budgets, but I managed to do it anyway.
As for the inspiration and information for my building, I got a lot of help from Joe\'s CNC Forum.
Also, I was greatly inspired by the cncrouterpart machine and learned everything I could learn from their website.
I highly recommend taking them all out and looking at them.
I also watched videos on youtube for hours (
Or maybe a few days lol).
This is one of the most problems I get when people see my machine.
How much did it all cost?
The answer is about $3500 including parts, services and shipping/travel expenses.
However, fees for laptops and software licenses are not included.
From the beginning to the end of the building, it took me about 4 months to finish.
Given the price and the hardware used, and the fact that I was able to build all the hardware myself, I would say it was worth it.
Also, there is nothing better than the experience I have gained from this building.
Even if I build it again now, I can build it in less time.
As a design major student, I have only a weak idea of CNC engineering and machinery, so the first natural thing is to study the various gaps of CNC.
As mentioned earlier, Joe\'s forum is a good source for this, and CNCzone is also very helpful.
So I started designing on sketchup and roughly outlined the frame and gantry size I was going to design for my building.
I later described the model in detail by adding gantry plates, extruded profiles, linear bearings, and gear rack assemblies.
Later, I moved to fusion360 to simulate a precise design that I can refer to make my final machine.
The design and manufacture of the machine do not require welding.
All the parts are fixed together.
This gives me the advantage of making machines in some modular way. e.
People can easily zoom in or out of the building without having to buy brand new machines (
Very much like CNCRP build).
The gantry height is adjustable and can be raised or lowered if this happens.
Although I will try to build a welding frame if I have welder and some welding experience as it may be a little cheaper but more durable.
This is a Rack and Rack structure that can reach 20000 mm/min or faster.
For security reasons, I usually control the rapids below 15000.
If I try to go faster, the machine starts to shake clearly.
The effective cutting area is 58 \"x 108 \".
I used a bit of an experimental approach to engage racks and small gears, which worked really well for me and saved some money than I did with other racks and small gear drives.
Ps: My final design is somewhat different from what I originally designed in Sketchup and/or fusion.
This is just a quick list and description of the parts I use, not the full BOM.
I apologize if I miss it. 1-
40x80mm aluminum profile T-slot nut:-all profiles used in this product are 40x80mm Modular profiles (
Except for 40x40 leg support).
I used these because these are the biggest profiles I can easily find for my build, plus it can easily use a type of profile.
Also, since the whole assembly is bolted, we need a lot of T-
Slot nuts like many.
I used about 700.
There are 800 nuts in the building.
I was able to get these nuts for less than $20 for a set of 100 (1 T-
Nut 1 Bolt 1 washer x 100). 2-
All kinds of horns. -myself.
By cutting the angle iron pieces and drilling holes on them, all brackets used to connect the profiles together are manufactured.
This is one of the most annoying and time consuming jobs in the building, but in the end I saved about $100 more than the prefabricated building I bought.
The angle is also used to reinforce the gantry and as a support for the gear frame. 3-
Mid-fiber board-in addition to the spoil board, I also use the mid-fiber board as the back plate of the gantry and cross support my table legs to the top frame.
I recommend using aluminum for this purpose, but this is what I was lying down at the time and works well. 4-
Nuts and bolts-pins say this 5-1 requires some kind of nuts and bolts
10mm steel plate for gantry-I can\'t purchase aluminum plate for my Building (
At least the price of DIY is not suitable)
So I bought some rectangular steel plates. 6-
20mm acrylic plate for z-axis carriage and ball screw assembly (
Description described in the following article)7-
Linear bearings and bearing blocks-I used THK linear bearings in this building.
I could have saved some money by buying Hiwins, but have done so now.
I used 25mm on both sides, 20mm on gantry, 4 bearing blocks for each track. 8-
SBR16 guide rail and linear bearing for Zaxis9-
16mm 10-Section ball screws and nuts for z-axis 10-
Gear and tooth transmission (
Description described in the following article)11-
For X and Y 12, 3 34 s that meet the standard
Z13-1 mahogany 23
4 step drive 14-
A parallel port breakout board 15-
Shield wires16-
Spindle or router-I used 2.
2kw Chinese water cooling spindle with HY frequency conversion drive.
In addition to the few necessary tools, the only power tools I use in this version are as follows :-
Drill press-I have a heavy drill press in my workshop.
Since using this machine can be very monotonous, I can\'t imagine building a CNC without this machine.
If you think the hand drill is good enough, please reconsider.
Angle grinder-needless to say, angle grinder is a must when using metal.
I think I used about 10 discs in this version.
Most of them were exhausted when cutting 10mm steel plates.
Chop saw-this makes it faster and easier to cut the extrusion and the angle iron.
The base starts with two symmetrical side profiles, each with three legs, each connected by a bracket, and cross-supported using a mid-fiber board to maintain stability.
Now, I use the extrusion with 80-
20 ranges used by many people in the world.
So I came up with a way to connect the mid-slim board to the side profile so that it can provide some extra support for the profile while supporting it to the legs.
These pictures may explain this better.
Now, once these are done, I\'m starting to connect leg profiles to each other using aluminum profiles of the same cut length.
For better understanding, please visit the CNCrouterparts website.
I assembled my base in a similar way to them.
Once the base stands up, it is time to slide the linear bearings on the side and slide the bearing blocks onto them.
As you can see in the photo above, my gantry design is more like a torque beam.
This is because I have to use a 4080 extrusion to make a very solid gantry that won\'t bend, and this is the only viable solution I can come up with and the result is good.
The beam is very strong and does not bend at all.
I even sat on it when it was supported on two edges.
When it comes to support, I decided to be as simple as possible.
Instead of making a large support plate, I took a rectangular plate of 10mm steel and printed a 1: 1 scale template that I pre-designed on CAD and put that template
Later, I just drilled and knocked on the hole I wanted.
After completing all the holes, I installed the plate on the bearing block.
Now, I took two small lengths in 4080 extrusion, and then fixed it vertically on the dragon door panel.
I checked whether the two sides are at the same height relative to the linear bearings on both sides.
Then, all I need to do is put the gantry frame on the profile and fix them in place with the bracket.
I reinforced these with some angle iron behind the gantry to prevent any forward/backward movement.
This setting allows me to flexibly raise or drop the gantry in the future as needed, although it is understood that the higher the height of the gantry you remove from the base, the more unstable the machine will be.
After installing the gantry, I slide on the linear bearing and the bearing block.
There is no doubt that for the size of the machine I am making, I need a gear-and-tooth device, so I started looking for a gear-and-tooth device on the Internet.
It seems that almost everyone is doing DIY setup using the drive from cncrouterpart, but this is not an option for me.
I calculated that I will spend $200 per car for shipping and import after tax, I need 3 of them!
So, like other millennials, I chose the cheaper option AliExpress.
I found the 5:1 gearbox for nema34 specifically for the CNC router.
After import duties and taxes, I purchased 3 for a total of $250. Score! !
Gear racks were ordered locally.
Now, after buying the gearbox, I challenged how to keep the rack and the pinion in tension.
This will not be a problem with the CNCRP drives as they have a spring loaded tension on their drives.
After a few nights of thinking and browsing the internet, I found a solution.
If people are interested, I will explain separately how I did it and link it here.
Otherwise, the description becomes a bit lengthy.
Before that, try to find out the answer from the photo I uploaded.
After that, I just fixed the gearbox in the proper position and calibrated it equally with the linear bearing.
Now, I fix the gearbox on the dragon door plate to make sure that the pinion is tightly engaged with the gearbox.
The Z axis is one of the most critical components of CNC.
Because it works in a cantilever way, it is very important that it does not leak out in any form, otherwise the cut will not be clean.
Before I go ahead, I want to justify the material I have chosen.
I know that acrylic is relatively weak and very brittle compared to aluminum, but I can\'t get any aluminum sheets as mentioned above, so I need an alternative.
The only sheet I can find locally is acrylic, plywood, pvc, medium fiber board and steel.
The thickness of the PVC sheet does not exceed 10mm, so this is not possible.
Plywood and mid-fiber boards have some room for bending and it doesn\'t seem like a good option to put them on a machine made of metal.
Steel may be a material option here, but I would like to keep the load on the gantry to a minimum, and adding steel seems to be a lot of unnecessary loads.
Like other materials, acrylic is very weak when using thinner paper.
I used 15mm acrylic although I recommend 20mm acrylic and may replace 15mm acrylic with the latter in the future.
The sheets so thick may be strong.
I tried to bend or break it manually but failed.
The main thing is that the impact force can crack the acrylic resin, which I don\'t think will be a problem on the CNC machine.
In terms of bending, the force required to bend and break this thick acrylic sheet is far more than the force that the diy cnc machine can place.
There are other things that may fail before this happens (eg.
The drill bit is broken or the spindle is stagnant. ).
There are also some advantages to using acrylic.
Laser cutting is very simple and accurate.
My laser cut.
In addition, it is also very easy to make threads in acrylic resin with ordinary taps.
I don\'t use nuts on the z axis.
All bolts are fixed with threads on the sub-acrylic board.
These threads hold the bolts very firmly, and none of them have been loose since the few months I have been using this machine.
It looks super cool except everything else.
Now all the plates are cut and tapped, it\'s only a matter of time before you screw all the parts of the Z axis together.
I connect the top bearing block to the z-axis board with a small piece of steel C-channel and screw it directly to the lower bearing block.
I was then able to install the final gearbox on these boards, which would drive the Z-compartment.
Now, since I\'m an e-noob, I don\'t want to go into this topic in depth because there are better sources to learn from.
All I can say is that it\'s not as hard as it looks.
I\'m sure almost anyone can do it if I can.
I will show a simple wiring diagram on the Internet for building CNC.
One suggestion here is to remember to learn them online before ordering any electronics.
Know how big the machine you are making is and how much power you need.
This will directly affect the size of the motor, drive or power supply you purchased.
Just remember to read the data sheets of the components carefully and follow them accordingly.
As a small generalization, what electronic products need is :-
Power supply of stepping motor driver for driversA breakout da router or spindle (
Also VFD if using spindle)
It is not necessary, but if you are going to build a CNC yourself, try to order the electronics in the order above.
Of course you need some electronic accessories and major electronics such as the E stop button, proximity switch (not necessary)
Connectors, computers, etc.
Although not done yet, I have piled up and connected everything in the laser cut box.
Everything seems to go well so laziness makes me better and I \'ve never finished closing lol.
When doing all the connections, I recommend using the shield wire for the connection, as this can have an impact on the functionality of your machine.
Initially, I just fixed a small arm like a temporary fixture on the machine, which put the wires on it.
It performs better in the photo.
But when the machine goes back and forth, it vibrates.
So I designed and made a drag chain that looks very effective.
In this way, I saved a lot of money than I bought a ready-made e-chain.
This is a very proud thing I made for this machine.
The details of this will be presented in a separate structure.
Documents will also be provided. Stay tuned.
One of the few questions people asked me was how I used my laptop to get my CNC to work with parallel ports.
I\'m a little lucky here.
I have a laptop 10 years ago.
While it doesn\'t have much benefit today, it just has enough specs to run the CNC program.
This laptop has a PCMCIA slot which is just a fancy name for the laptop parallel port.
All I need to do is have some sort of PCMCIA to DB25 converter.
AliExpress the rescue again and I found what I was looking.
I do need to enter a new copy of xp on my laptop.
Remember to disable the ACPI settings before doing a new OS installation.
How Google does that.
Once everything is ready and the driver is installed, it will not run better than on the PC.
The machine is up and running and all I need to do is put down the mid-fiber plate vandals I have fixed on the table with T-nuts and bolts.
If you want to know if it has been cut, I can cut 10mm mid-fiber boards in a very good feed.
I can cut the thicker paper at a time, but as it is now, I don\'t have the right vertical mill.
The above is the first cut example of some furniture I made on the 18mm medium fiber board using the machine.
I would say they came out pretty well and it took me less than 10 minutes to cut each of them off.
I know there are still many topics to discuss, such as software, vertical grinding, dust collection, etc.
But these may vary from person to machine.
Also, this machine is always an ongoing work for me and I will continue to build on it and refine it to a certain extent.
So I\'m going to close the instructions here and hope this might be useful for some people who are installing their own machines or planning to build them. Cheers.