Your Journey To CNC

[8ntsane]

Hello all

Im not a CNC guy at all. I have a interest in CNC , and have read many posts over at CNC Zone.
For those of you that have allready gone down this road, I would like to hear your story. From the start of the mods to your machines, Mill, Lathe, Rotary Table, to the mounted of steppers on your machines, and power sources for these.

I have been lurking in the back ground over at the ELS , Electronic Lead Screw Yahoo groups for some time. That all started when I wanted to cut metric threads on my American lathe. This isnt CNC, but I veiw it as a step towards that direction. I still havnt pulled the trigger, and purchased one, or even started to collect any parts. Ive allso been looking at the Putnam controller, as that one is not a do it yourself kit, its pre assembled. Machine automation has certainly grabbed my interest.

How did you begin that journey?


Paul

 

[brucer]

I'm building mine from the ground up here's a link to my build gallery here: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/album.php?albumid=28


The electronics and controller are actually the easy part of the build.. My controller is a 2.2ghz intel computer with 2 gig of memory with the old parallel port. I'm running mach3 control sofware.. The mach3 I have is the demo version, but its good for up to 500lines of code.. there is also a version of ubuntu/emc2 that is pre-packaged together and its completely free and many people use it.. I have $0 in the computer/controller, I put it together from a pile of salvage parts..

I'll have under $1000 in my table to get it to the point I can use it. I'll have 50"x36" cut capacity..

 

[racecar builder]

bruce

i think he's talking about full size machinery.

adding cnc to those is easy.

you call a place like Fadel Engineering.

they come out and make it cnc controlled.

they send you bill for about the same amount as a very cheap new car.

Have A Nice Day!

 

[brucer]

bruce

i think he's talking about full size machinery.

adding cnc to those is easy.

you call a place like Fadel Engineering.

they come out and make it cnc controlled.

they send you bill for about the same amount as a very cheap new car.

Have A Nice Day!

The same would apply to machinery...

Why would you pay someone to convert a machine for you. A person can view it as a learning experience and actually figure out how the system works as a whole and do it yourself, instead of paying someone $80-$100/hr to install a kit. you also have to pay them for travel time..

It would depend on what the op wants to do..


the putnam controller the op is speaking of is not a complete kit, its not even a complete electronics package, its pretty much a $10 breakout board, the controller, adapter,usb cable, parallel cable, and a wall wart power supply for $675.. One would be better off ordering a cnc 3 or 4 axis electronics kit and using an old computer as the controller.. If you wanted more power than steppers you could do a belt drive reduction like prototrak mills and lathes use and go with servos.. you can also add a remote pendant to those systems.

It would also depend on what the op is wanting and what machinery he has available besides the machine hes converting..

 

[Kennyd]

My "journey" began when I bought a Bridgeport that had been converted by an older friend of mine.

Thread about getting it home and into my basement: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/3542-My-new-(to-me)-Bridgeport-MILL-w-CNC-conversion?highlight=bridgeport

My first attempt at CNC "machining": http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...ew-Bridgeport-Mill-Video?highlight=bridgeport

 

[8ntsane]

Kenny

Sweet looking set up you got there.
How are you finding the learning curve with cnc, is it fairly easy? or have you had many sleepless nights over it.?

Id like to get into cnc, but seems a bit scary with next to zero knowledge of getting the maching to do what you want. The steppers, or servo motors look straight forward to adapt up. Ive looked into that for both mill and lathe. I joined cnc zone a few yrs back, I read alot, but still find it confusing at best.

Nice score Kenny

 

[Kennyd]

Kenny

Sweet looking set up you got there.
How are you finding the learning curve with cnc, is it fairly easy? or have you had many sleepless nights over it.?

Id like to get into cnc, but seems a bit scary with next to zero knowledge of getting the maching to do what you want. The steppers, or servo motors look straight forward to adapt up. Ive looked into that for both mill and lathe. I joined cnc zone a few yrs back, I read alot, but still find it confusing at best.

Nice score Kenny

Thanks Paul,
The learning curve is steep for sure-but I luckily had the advantage of buying a working machine and I was able to spend time learning/operating it with the previous owner. You must learn no less than two software packages. There are support forums that are invaluable for those as well, I use CamBam and Mach3.

If starting from scratch, I would have to recommended NOT doing it to your primary machine(s) but rather buy a project piece to practice on.

I am a member of CNCZ also, but what a chopped up miserable place to navigate that place is, I might go there to do a search but that's it.

 

[DMS]

I purchased a used 9x42 knee mill a couple months back, and after cleaning the thing up, and fixing a bad bearing in the head, I have been working on a CNC conversion. I purchased the servos/controllers/power supply from Keling, and I am using an old PC running EMC2 for the controller. I also got a VFD to run the 3 phase motor which came with the mill.

Currently the X and Y axes are running, and I have home and limit switches on the X and Y axes. I am still working on a quill feed for the Z. Here is a video of the mill cutting a test piece for the quill drive out of 1 inch acrylic.

http://youtu.be/iAOzEd_NaM0

I am running the stock screws on X and Y and have backlash compensation turned on in EMC2. I have been very impressed with the performance of EMC2, it is really pretty amazing.

I don't have a CAM package yet. Most of the stuff I do, I draw out, and then write the G-code by hand, which is not really that hard if you are not doing anything complicated. I have also done some ad-hoc stuff where the cnc controller was used as a glorified DRO/power feed. It works great in that respect.

The thing that I think is hardest is getting feeds/speeds right, and they are critical. On my first project (a bracket for the z axis limit/home switches) I broke 3 endmills in the space of about 15 minutes (changed feed rate in the file, forgot to reload, had feed override set to 120%, and then, once more, just for fun, because apparently the dial on speed which indicates spindle speed was reading a bit low, and my chip load was a bit high for a 3/16" end mill.)