I got:
2 Nema23 1.26Nm steppermotors for the y-axis,(2Amps at 3.6Volts)
1 Nema23 1.26Nm steppermotor for the z-axis(2Amps at 3.6Volts)
1 Nema23 3Nm(435oz-in) stepper for the x-axis(4.2Amps at 3.78Volts)
Im driving the steppers with 4 TB6600 Stepperdrivers (one for each motor) controlled by an Arduino Uno with Grbl and Universal Gcode sender on my laptop.
There will be 2 SFU1605 ballscrews for the Y-axis, 1 SFU1605 ballscrew for the X-axis and one M16x2 threaded rod for the Z-axis.
Let's begin
(10/13/2018) I just received the first batch of 2.3 cm plywood and started building. I started with the wasteboard and drilled all holes into it. This wastboard will not be "wasted", there will be a 1cm-2cm thick MDF board on top of it.
![]()
(10/28/2018)
![]()
And this is the real life picture
(12/2/2018)
I have now assembled the linear rails on the Z-axis and they are moving pretty freely and smooth.![]()
![]()
![]()
(first half 2019)
I have now finished the Z-axis. It weighs about 7.5 Kg (16 Pounds) and a speed around 400mm/min (15.8"/min) without loosing to much torque. (I may replace that part with a proper 8mm leadscrew)
![]()
(the backlash is removed by tilting the nuts in different directions)![]()
I have tried the same technique for the Y-axis which didn't worked that well because the resistance and backlash was way to high than what I considered good so I bought some cheap SFU1605 ballscrews from China as listed above.
(8/9/2019)
In the past few days I assembled the first ballscrew on the Y-axis. The alignment was pretty good thus the ballscrew could turn with very low resistance and no backlash(by eye). The only problem is the way i have to mount the stepper to the frame of the CNC because the stepper is so far away from the frame of the CNC and the space is very limited.![]()
Right now I just got one of the supports of the stepper in place but that one alone would be probably enough. With this setup I could achieve a feedrate of 2000mm/min (78.8"/min) with no load (so probably just for rapids) and no obvious signs of the stepper loosing steps.
(8/12/2019)
In the time between the last post and today I have done a lot of testing with the TB6600... I found out that at some feedrates and no load I am loosing steps.(like <300mm/min; >1500mm/min and at some speeds in between). With load (ca. 5-15N) I am sometimes loosing steps worth of up to 0.15mm(0.0059") or even more. I also tried different microstepping settings like 200(no microstepping), 400A(2 times) and 800(4 times) steps/rev and found out that at I am loosing the most steps without microstepping (which could be just random).
(08/20/19)
I have now bought some other stepper driver's... There is still no Tb6600 chip in there but they seem to work for now. The work fine below 2000mm/min (81"/min)
(08/30/19)
I have bought a 1.5kw water-cooled spindle from China (ER16 - 24k rpm) and it just arrived. I have checked all the components and everything looks fine but I didn't expect it to be that big. After setting up the VFD I tested the spindle and it is super quiet - it sounds like an electric toothbrussh.
(9/18/19)
To make it short: I had to assemble, disassemble and reassemble the CNC multiple times and am now almost finished. I just need to wire up a quick controller to get it running before I go to EMO 2019 in Hannover and can show some results . I will be there on Thursday.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
(3/3/2021)
The CNC has been running for one year now and I am currently doing some upgrading on the Z axis... The old M16 screw wasn't bad and the backlash was considerably less with the 3 Nuts on there but it's still sketchy if you are milling steel or even doing helix's into metal at all. I ordered a SFU16*5 ballscrew a while ago and I guess it will improve it a lot. The speed of the Z-axis was around 900mm/min max with slow accelerations.
![]()
For woodworking purposes it's totally fine as you don't count on 100% precision in the Z direction so it's ok if it lifts up half a mm while roughing.
I can't recommend using those cheap round "bar type" linear rails as the linear blocks suck at constraining rotational loads (in all directions) which is why my Y axis blocks allow the whole gantry to rotate a little bit (box type linear rails are much better, even the cheapos)
One thing I found out is that you shouldn't drive two steppers with one driver: at some speeds the resonate and loose all their torque so no bueno. This limited the speed of my Y axis to below 1800mm/min at first. Now that I have two drivers everything works fine. When the drivers get to hot as they can't handle the current they just shot off - as the other motors are still moving you are going to have scrapped parts and smoked endmills so don't buy the cheapest drivers-sources like stepper online or similar are still dirt cheap but the chance of getting good results is greater than the cheapest thing I found on eBay or Amazon... I now got 6 bad drivers with no use and still had to buy the a little more expensive ones.
Btw if you want to find out more about the performance of this monster check out @c.cnc_ on Instagram![]()
"Unfinished model of the cnc"
Gantry Style CNC from plywood
Build in 'Cartesian Style CNC' published by C-CNC, Mar 4, 2021.
I am currently 15 years old, from Germany and trying to build a low budged CNC router. I only designed this CNC based on other CNC routers that I have seen and what I am able of. It consists mostly of 2.3cm plywood to keep costs down. The size of the work area is approx. 40 x 80 cm. I would be really glad if you could give me advice's for improvement on the design and everything else ... ( I could really need your help :) ) enjoy :)
-
-
-
- Build Progress:
-
- Build in Progress...
Attached Files:
-
Special Notes
DON'T BUILD LIKE THIS !
IT WILL HURT YOU THE WHOLE TIME YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT IT!
Dorian Trempe, Phillip N Dillon, Vasileios and 2 others like this. -
-
Build Author C-CNC, Find all builds by C-CNC
-
- Loading...
-
Build Details
- Build License:
-
- CC - Attribution NonCommercial - Share Alike - CC BY NC SA
Reason for this Build
I build this to get an insight to the world of machining. -