Bench Top CNC Resurrection

[flanagan0718]

Hey Everybody,
    A while ago one of my friends gave me a bench top CNC. He said last time he used it the thing worked like a charm. But, he used it with a different controller and had to cut it off. Now he gave me a different controller for it and said it should work no problem. I did a little googling this morning and it looks like it will do the trick no problem. I need to get a connection diagram and download the soft ware but it looks like it might be fairly simple to get going.

    That being said I need to find connectors for the stepper motors and milling motor. I'll also need to find some end mills and way to stabilize what I'm milling. The platform is 9.5 inches by 8 and the Mill has a pretty long rod it moves along. This should be able to handle a 1590DD no problem. We shall see though. Here are pictures of it's current state.

















If anyone who is reading this and has advice, please feel free to post it. Thanks for reading / posting.

-Mike-

[bcalla]

I have no advice, but I wanted to compliment you on a great score!  I hope you keep posting progress as you go forward.

[storyboardist]

I have no advise either, but I am quite jealous. Nice score, buddy. Hope you can get it up and running soon!

[flanagan0718]

I have no advice, but I wanted to compliment you on a great score!  I hope you keep posting progress as you go forward.

I have no advise either, but I am quite jealous. Nice score, buddy. Hope you can get it up and running soon!

Thanks guys, I hope it doesn't take too long. My bench is starting to get pretty crowded. I'll need a second bench for just my drill press and this CNC. Both aren't big, per say, but both will make quite a mess. 

[sturgeo]

Looks like a fun project, what are the approximate travels on the z axis? It looks like you have enough distance to set a pallet system up so you can hold a handful of enclosures at a time with multiple pallets for different sized enclosures.

Do you know what rpm the spindle is? i imagine it'll be good for engraving enclosures.

Be prepared to break end mills until you get the speeds & feeds figured out for what you're machining!

[selfdestroyer]

Mike, I am guessing this is what you need for pinouts for the stepper motors

http://www.keyestudio.cc/h-nd-111-0_35.html?skeyword=ks0095

Looks like a fun project for sure.. I too am jealous. That rack looks like a workhorse!

Cody

[flanagan0718]

Mike, I am guessing this is what you need for pinouts for the stepper motors

http://www.keyestudio.cc/h-nd-111-0_35.html?skeyword=ks0095

Looks like a fun project for sure.. I too am jealous. That rack looks like a workhorse!

Cody

Cody, That is the exact project. Thanks for the link! It's all super nice material. It's gonna be a work in progress for sure but I should have a lot of fun doing it.

Looks like a fun project, what are the approximate travels on the z axis? It looks like you have enough distance to set a pallet system up so you can hold a handful of enclosures at a time with multiple pallets for different sized enclosures.

Do you know what rpm the spindle is? i imagine it'll be good for engraving enclosures.

Be prepared to break end mills until you get the speeds & feeds figured out for what you're machining!

It's pretty small. I think the biggest enclosure that will fit is a 1590dd if i'm lucky. but if I can do 3 or 4 125b or 1590b at a time that would be awesome.

I haven't looked into the spindle too much yet. I've just been casually looking at the controller today. And it looks like Cody nailed it for me. I still have a ways to go but I found out that ABCFAB sells end mills too!

[sturgeo]

On my quest to get decent engraving results using off the shelf hammond enclosures i've decided to have a go at  mechanical engraving rather than laser engraving.

My nomral CNC hasn't got the spindle speed to get good results engraving so a smaller machine seems the way forward.

My current plan so far is to add the CNC shield to my next elecrow order and get a bunch of Pololu steppers off the bay/alibaba.

Chilipeppr is likely to be my gcode sender of choice as it has some useful tools such as auto-leveling which will be hugely helpful milling pcbs.

Machine wise the ballscrew version of a either a 3020 or 3040 should be upto the job mechanically, i need to fit the 1032L/1590BX on and i'm not sure about the maximum workpiece size for the 3020.