I have been jumping down the rabbit hole on these DIY CNC machines the last couple of weeks and have found this channel. So far, these are the best ones I have seen and I can say that they have given me the confidence to jump in and build my own. Plus, I can do this over time so that my wife won't notice what I've spent!
Awesome, thank you! that was always my goal here, I just wanted to show people that anyone can do this with a few simple tools. Now that I've Open Sourced the files I hope to see it built all around the world!
Hole saws work in wood because they grind the sawdust in to a powder which can eventually work it's way out of the kerf, with metal that doesn't work. One tip I have heard is to drill one or two smaller holes (like 5mm) on the inside of the larger hole so they are tangent to the circumference of the larger hole. They will allow a place for the chips to fall out of the teeth instead of packing solid almost immediately. Another one is if you don't have material for the pilot bit, you can use the hole saw to drill a guide hole in a scrap of wood and clamp the wood to whatever you actually want to cut. It also works if you accidentally used the wrong size saw and need to enlarge an existing hole. If the guide hole is too lose and you can't start the saw easily, you can cut a slit through one side of the guide, then clamp it together. The removal of the width of a hacksaw blade from the circumference of the guide will make it a bit tighter.
On the main chassis where split washers were used they seem to be holding up really well. In other areas of the build such as the Z -Axis, loctite is definitely required
Huh.... A lot of work. It would be easy if you made most of these parts by CNC. I would do all this holes more precise and better on CNC in 2 hours of mostly drawing. One tip: when you lose guiding hole put a part of wood which doesn't have to match exactly, just hammered square part of wood and it would do the job for bimetal saws. I used cordless drill for taping steel and aluminum and it seems to be much better.
Yes of course it would be much easier on a CNC. Unfortunately I do not have a CNC capable of that (hence why I'm building this one by hand). I will likely perform upgrades for this machine and CNC it on the machine when it's operational. Great tip with the block of wood! I'll use that next time
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I have been jumping down the rabbit hole on these DIY CNC machines the last couple of weeks and have found this channel. So far, these are the best ones I have seen and I can say that they have given me the confidence to jump in and build my own.
Plus, I can do this over time so that my wife won't notice what I've spent!
Awesome, thank you! that was always my goal here, I just wanted to show people that anyone can do this with a few simple tools. Now that I've Open Sourced the files I hope to see it built all around the world!
Hole saws work in wood because they grind the sawdust in to a powder which can eventually work it's way out of the kerf, with metal that doesn't work. One tip I have heard is to drill one or two smaller holes (like 5mm) on the inside of the larger hole so they are tangent to the circumference of the larger hole. They will allow a place for the chips to fall out of the teeth instead of packing solid almost immediately.
Another one is if you don't have material for the pilot bit, you can use the hole saw to drill a guide hole in a scrap of wood and clamp the wood to whatever you actually want to cut. It also works if you accidentally used the wrong size saw and need to enlarge an existing hole. If the guide hole is too lose and you can't start the saw easily, you can cut a slit through one side of the guide, then clamp it together. The removal of the width of a hacksaw blade from the circumference of the guide will make it a bit tighter.
Great tips, thank you for your input 👍🏻
I agree... There is nothing like building your own CNC. I'm glad I did it. 😅
it's real fun and I'm learning a lot! it also gives me the confidence that I can upgrade any component in the future or even build a bigger machine
Very tidy build. Thanks
For drilling out the gantry holes, would it not be easier to use an adjustable dowel jig that clamps on? Those normally come in 8,15 and 15mm.
Absolutely, that could work. You can get as creative as you want, if it improves accuracy then go for it 👍🏻
Turning into a beast
Did you use loctite for assembly too or just split washers?
On the main chassis where split washers were used they seem to be holding up really well. In other areas of the build such as the Z -Axis, loctite is definitely required
If you drill the wrong size tapped hole you can use a helicoil to bring it back to the right size
Huh.... A lot of work. It would be easy if you made most of these parts by CNC. I would do all this holes more precise and better on CNC in 2 hours of mostly drawing. One tip: when you lose guiding hole put a part of wood which doesn't have to match exactly, just hammered square part of wood and it would do the job for bimetal saws. I used cordless drill for taping steel and aluminum and it seems to be much better.
Yes of course it would be much easier on a CNC. Unfortunately I do not have a CNC capable of that (hence why I'm building this one by hand). I will likely perform upgrades for this machine and CNC it on the machine when it's operational. Great tip with the block of wood! I'll use that next time