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CNC lathe

entropie

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I figured it's about time for me to build my own cnc machine and I wanted to take the opportunity to ask if anyone got experience with that already.

A professional cnc looks like this:

http://www.pr-x.de/uploadfiles/pictures//0612_141649_2 Bohrer im Eingriff.jpg

So its basically one or two drill heads that can move in all 3 dimensions automatically and under it you clamp a piece of raw metal, plastic or wood and programm the control unit so the drill starts cutting the piece in shape automatized.

I of course lack the equipment to build a professional cnc like that, but I recently soldered a little control unit with an AVR microchip to control a stepper motor and I want to use that to build a directional system you can move a drill head with on all three axes. For the drilling head I thought to buy a cheap drilling machine, disassemble it and glue the parts together to have the free-moveable drill head. Then I can use a drill chuck to plug in different heads.

Does anyone by chance got experience with that already ? I found several schematics by hobby constructors on the interwebz, but they all concern with building a pristine machine and you need a lot of gear to do that :/.

Any advice appreciated :)
 

INTP

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HAHAHHAHAHAAA good luck :D
 

entropie

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I found some not too complicated schematics by a guy, whose house looked like this after his first attempts: :D

Photo Gallery « FJungclaus.de

They all tho buy most of the parts, like the control. I dont want to do that, cause the parts cost like a million
 

INTP

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do you have eny idea on what your doing? are you a professional machinist and got equipment for doing the parts?

im 100% sure that you will never finish the machine or you finish it and end up killing yourself with it.
 

Laurie

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I was just talking to one of my friends who designs CNC machines! They used to build them all to custom specs and he is trying to come up with a standard order machine.

So basically, nope, can't help you. :p
 

entropie

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do you have eny idea on what your doing? are you a professional machinist and got equipment for doing the parts?

im 100% sure that you will never finish the machine or you finish it and end up killing yourself with it.

Kind of a depressing attitude you have there. Like: I will never bake bread cause I am no baker. Sounds very german, didnt know you guys had it also in you :D.

--------------------

This guy did it also: :D

Selbstbau-CNC-Fr

I figured there are some standardized parts you usually can buy for a project like that, some guy sells a board thats equipped with an avr aswell that emulates a real cnc program, but I figured I dont need stuff like that. Main reason is it costs like $1000.

Gonna see how far I can get and if I loose an arm or two :D
 

Laurie

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do you have eny idea on what your doing? are you a professional machinist and got equipment for doing the parts?

im 100% sure that you will never finish the machine or you finish it and end up killing yourself with it.

We would totally see him on the news or darwin awards. He should absolutely go for it. If people never tried things they would never learn anything or do anything new. :shock:
 

INTP

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Kind of a depressing attitude you have there. Like: I will never bake bread cause I am no baker. Sounds very german, didnt know you guys had it also in you :D.

--------------------

This guy did it also: :D

Selbstbau-CNC-Fr

I figured there are some standardized parts you usually can buy for a project like that, some guy sells a board thats equipped with an avr aswell that emulates a real cnc program, but I figured I dont need stuff like that. Main reason is it costs like $1000.

Gonna see how far I can get and if I loose an arm or two *lol* :D

im a machinish by profession and i have used these machines, so i got the basic idea how these work. and trust me when im saying this, you are not able to build a cnc machine, atleast if your not a really experienced machinist and mechanic who has worked with these machines alot

these machines need to much power that if you make even one calculation mistake by 1/500th of millimeter the thing will blow up in your face and you need to do ALOT of correct calculations.

not to mention how much the thing would cost and how long it would take to build it. this project would take you meny years or maybe just one or two if you do it full time and know about what your doing
 

entropie

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Darwin Awards is a big goal :D:D:D

Look here is someone who did it too: :D

bild1.JPG
 

INTP

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We would totally see him on the news or darwin awards. He should absolutely go for it. If people never tried things they would never learn anything or do anything new. :shock:

ask your friend what he thinks about entp building cnc machine from scaps without clearly eny kind of idea what hes getting himself into. im pretty sure he will just laugh
 

INTP

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Darwin Awards is a big goal :D:D:D

Look here is someone who did it too: :D

bild1.JPG

ah lol you ment small thing like that :D

i thought you ment something like this:

CNC-machine.JPG
 

entropie

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im a machinish by profession and i have used these machines, so i got the basic idea how these work. and trust me when im saying this, you are not able to build a cnc machine, atleast if your not a really experienced machinist and mechanic who has worked with these machines alot

these machines need to much power that if you make even one calculation mistake by 1/500th of millimeter the thing will blow up in your face and you need to do ALOT of correct calculations.

not to mention how much the thing would cost and how long it would take to build it. this project would take you meny years or maybe just one or two if you do it full time and know about what your doing

Ya, but I dont want a big thing like that.

I mainly need a machine precise enough to cut thru some plastic or wood, so I can build boxes for my robots. Cutting steel would be a dream, but I know too that will rarely be possible to be made true in ones basement.

My dream would be to cut gear boxes. I am in sincere need of gearboxes.
 

INTP

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why dont you just build a frame where you can put a drill and adjust its moving with stoppers?
 

INTP

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Now we expect YOU to build that in your basement, since you have the experience.

i would but i live in apartment, so i dont have a basement :(
 

entropie

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why dont you just build a frame where you can put a drill and adjust its moving with stoppers?

Now we expect YOU to build that in your basement, since you have the experience.

i would but i live in apartment, so i dont have a basement :(

Haha :D. I wish I had an appartment and not this dark and wet basement they've kept me locked in for years now :D.

As you said, a stepper a drill and there you go, that's my initial idea. I am tho still in the information gathering stage. I never looked into the possibilities there are to build a cnc equivalent at home so far, so I am still looking for what's possible.

I found cheap retooled cnc solutions on ebay for 800 euro, but that's too much. I just stumbled over this site: www.thiemig.de Preiswerte CNC + Datentechnik

The owner offers schematics and parts to build a machine yourself for around 300 Euro, what's a better price.

Gonna see what I am gonna do, I wrote an email to the site owner requesting some information, maybe that's a good idea to do, his side is referred by some huge modelbuilding communities.

I'll keep you posted, thx for your input so far :)
 

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That's awesome, but I can definitely see it breaking again and again and again until you get pissed off with it and just let it gather dust. If you've got parts, and knowledge, DO IT!!! :D You're an engineer too, I take it that this is why you're taking on the project?
 

entropie

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That's awesome, but I can definitely see it breaking again and again and again until you get pissed off with it and just let it gather dust. If you've got parts, and knowledge, DO IT!!! :D You're an engineer too, I take it that this is why you're taking on the project?

Yes, I've been trieing to construct a variety of robots lately, ranging from the automated turf cutting to the window cleaning robot :D. Some projects are gathering dust already but some I am constantly working on. I already managed to build a working board to let an engine move on a programmed path but I now come to the mechanics part. And despite on which site I am looking, they charge you horrendous amount of money for a single thing like a shaft, which is basically nothing more like a cylinder from metal.

And being able to manufacture those parts yourself, that's an engineers wet dream :D
 

INTP

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building a robot that cleans your windows is the ultimate example of entp laziness :D
 
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