Show us what you make with your home cnc machines

Dirty Engineer said:

Enjoyed your build logs. Thanks.

Would you do anything different with the cnc router if you were to build another one?

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Oh yes! ...But depending on how much money/materials I would have at my disposal....
...like right angle reducers so I could have mounted the X axis motors horizontally, as an example.
Or drives that can handle higher voltages to get the full potential out of the motors(for y axis rapids).
Like the commercial on TV lately...."More is good" :LOL:

But don't get me wrong, I like very much how this machine performs...its satisfactory in speed, accuracy and rigidity.

Actually, I would do things differently because I don't like doing the same thing twice.
Materials available for me dictates the configuration of the machine. I would like to have a 4 foot wide machine, but space and funds are constricting.
And too, I would like to build a very small(for PCBs and such) format machine but with high precision.

And then there is 3D printing systems...! Or plasma tables..

I would like to explore belts, different linear bearings, extended gantry but lower sides, etc. etc. SOOooo many possibilities!

I'm still making roller dies for my friend
nothing fancy but it sure makes me feel good to get to work with steel without problems. my other cnc lathe and mill are sherlines
on this larger one he didnt have a piece of steel thick enough so we are putting 2- 1 1/2" thick pieces together
my 9x20 cnc lathe has a limit of 5" over the cross slide so i had to make a mount out of 1" scrap for the tool post to move it to the left first.
then i used a collar that fit the bore and mounted the parts on the mill for locating the bolt holes and machining out the counter bores and locating pin holes
then i tapped the lower plate and bolted everything together.
I mounted it back into the lathe and turned it down to size. i keep a piece of all-thread to use in the lathe for larger parts. the gap between the plates is because my friend had beveled the edges before i got them. it wont be like that once the concave is cut.
I though the adapter for the toolholder might cause chatter and make turning real slow. but it is really ridgid so today i'll do the code for the cutout to fit the pipe and post more pics
steve

Jumps4, those die are coming along great! This is something I have on the list of things to make on my lathe. How large of material are those dies? I like how you extended your tool post mount. I've been meaning to ask you about your tool post mount. Do you have a drawing of the hole locations? Did you have to relieve on the bottom of them for the hex on the tool post bolt? One final question. Do you use individual T slot nuts to hold the tool most mount to the cross slide or do you use a full T slot bar?

I didnt draw anything, i just measures drilled and counter bored. it is the normal t-nuts and there is no hex i threaded the tool post mounting stud and screw it into the plate. this is going really well. i'm cutting the concave at 800rpm, .015 per pass and a feed rate of 1. the chips are coming off silver turning gold then darw blue. no chatter is amazing concidering the rig i'm using to get this done. this roller is 7" in diameter and about 2.5 wide.
so much for a hf 9x20 being to lite of a machine for steel...
steve

all finished
right at the end i started getting some chatter but i added a counter balance and it went away
it turned out pretty well
steve

here are the dies finished and painted, they work good
steve

HI
Here are parts I cut out for my new CNC table the red parts are motor mounts and wrenches. The blue is a desk name plate for my daughter when she made chief in the Navy.

Have fun
Tom

Congradulations for the daughter!

As to that CNC'ed parts what are the materials? More so is that CNC table a router or a mill? I'm new to Homebrew CNC systems so the little details help me understand what you guys are up to.

acourtjester said:

HI
Here are parts I cut out for my new CNC table the red parts are motor mounts and wrenches. The blue is a desk name plate for my daughter when she made chief in the Navy.

Have fun
Tom

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Here is an RE16 collet box I made on my CNC.

I cut a fancy pocket in the lid with an 1/8" endmill and filled with tinted epoxy. After it was cured I sanded it flush to create the sharp pattern.

The lid is 6061 and the box is delrin or ABS, I forget. They snap together with small rare earth magnets which is kind of fun.

For this part I ran EMC2 for machine control, solidworks for CAD and CAM-BAM for the CAM.

that came out nice
i like how you did the epoxy
steve