OX-Metal CNC Router Mill

Introducing the OX-Metal CNC Router Mill. As the name would suggest this CNC mill is based on the popular OX CNC Mill. This is my own version of the OX and has been named the 'OX-Metal' to avoid confusion with the original OX. Most notably the biggest change to the design has to be the use of 8mm Leadscrew on all axis. This allows the OX-Metal to machine aluminum along with other similar hard materials. Even if you have no intention of machining aluminum I personally prefer leadscrew over GT3 belt for a couple of main reasons. First this stiffens the axis and reduces the amount of elasticity within the axis. And second effectively 'gears-down' the steppers to produce more torque. The OX-Metal has also had a few add-ons, Namely a grid of M8 tee nuts on an 18mm plywood bed to secure down your workpiece, Limit switches for both min & max travel, X and Y axis Cablechain for cable management along with some ideas for future improvements (such as a lubricant mister and a vacuum nozzle for dust collection)

If you want to see the features of the OX-Metal along with a demo of the OX-Metal cutting follow this link:


Tools used are pretty minimal with the OX-Metal being mostly a nut&bolt kit (so to speak) A drill press would be handy for drilling some of the holes however a hand drill will make do. You'll need a 4.2mm drill bit along with a standard thread M5 taper tap (also have cutting lube on hand like WD-40) along with a couple other sizes of drill bits, a set of hex keys, wire cutters & stripers, soldering iron, heatshrink, some type of wood saw to cutdown the plywood and MDF, open ended spanners, hammer, and that's pretty much it really.

The OX-Metal uses a number of 3D printed parts, which can be found and downloaded on thingiverse (please note there are 2 options for 3D part files, 4 & 6mm parts files can be downloaded separately depending on the thickness of the material used for the gantry and X carriage plates) by following this link: OX-Metal CNC Router Mill by Schematix

There is a detailed build video with step-by-step instructions on how to build the OX-Metal by following this link:


This video explains some of the basics to get the OX-Metal up and running. Including drivers and software.


Any future videos with upgrade/add-ons for the OX-Metal will be posted here:

Adding a dust extractor to the OX-Metal


Mods to support the use of Hardlimits


Click on 'Build-List' to view the entire build list with links to parts.



- SCHEMATIX -