jamius.com

Hi,
I am currently making a cnc mill. Have been doing the project for over 12 months now...... I'd say I'm approaching the half way mark!!! Although I have been working away from home so its been a bit on and off.

Its actually my second attempt. My first mill was made out of MDF.....I never finished it. I know you want to make a cnc mill with a cnc mill, which is a nice idea, in reality the frustration, time and disappointment with making your first out of MDF is NOT WORTH IT. Just giving you the heads up.

My second mill I used a product called 8020 (American brand). Its an aluminium extrusion. Strong, light weight (not that weight should be a problem with a desktop cnc mill) and VERY versatile. I live in Australia and bought all of mine of ebay. If you live in America do a search '8020' on ebay, HUGE range of products at VERY low prices.

Here are some pictures of where I am at:

He ain't no spammer no more:)

I built one of these last year.
Grand total invested? about $200.

I have advice.. but you may not like it.

Any advice is good advice.

I have checked the 8020 Alu stuff... It really is pretty cheap. I may end up using it over MDF.. Now I need to figure out the mechanics of this beast. Most importantly, the bearings..

WB1, Can you share more pictures of your setup?

Also, Are you going to build a torsion box?

It may just be my low experience with mills, but I think your mill might warp a little if you cut some metal stock. Maybe I am just underestimating this 8020 stuff?

I dunno if this has been mentioned but Ben Heck did a home-build CNC machine, I think it was portable too but I'd have to check that. Maybe it can help? I'm sure any video based information would be a welcome aid with a project like this. He also talks about the circuit boards and controllers you can use to build it. I think the keyword here is Arduino but I could be wrong. Anyway here's the vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56YIwNz4 ... ideo_title
After a quick review I notice he uses a CNC to build a CNC which kind of defeats the purpose however the circuit board stuff is gold for people interested in this sort of thing. Hope it helps! =D

Hi LithiumFlame,

I'm going to be doing alot of work on the mill this weekend I will post some pictures soon.

I should point out that my mill is just a side project. I mean I have know real experience with making homebuilt cnc mills. The 8020 material has been used before by others with great success but I can't say so myself yet. Its an experiment/ADVENTURE really!

I chose the 8020 30Series because the mounting holes for my linear rails fitted the 30Series perfectly. But really I think a mill of my size should have used the 40Series. Also I don't really intend to be cutting metals, perhaps aluminium, some engraving etc.

The gantry could indeed have some warping issues. Probably put some gusset in to keep it as rigid as possible.

Hope this helps.

Heres a good source of information if you have already found it:
http://www.cnczone.com

Hi some pictures as promised.

Basically been working on the y-axis (the moving table). I think its pretty much finished. Everything seems to be moving smoothly.

Tied down some adaptorflex from the cabinet to the ducting running around the mill. I will run my 3 motor cables and 6 limit switch cables in the ducting. I won't be running any 240V (I live in Australia) just to make sure I don't have problems with electrical interference.

I also started working on the x-axis, but can't do much more work on it as I need to start thinking hard about how the z-axis is going to be put together. Probably going to get some aluminium plate fabricated because I have no equipment to work with 20mm thick metal.

Looking good! I did look around and think I will make mine out of 80/20 as well. I had forgotten about that website. Thanks!

Keep us updated on your mill.

I've caught the portable CNC bug, especially after reading TeamOrr's post about building one out of old printers. Its easy to see how that would work, I'm also using parts from a flat bed scanner. I'll let you know how it goes. I've got more than enough scanners and printers laying about for something like this. I'll probably use one of those Arduino boards to control the motors and connect it to my computer.
Peace!