Nice job. I have a PrintNC, very similar dimensions to yours. Just to note, to soundproof you need to add mass. Those foam tiles are to diffuse reverberation e.g, in a studio, to reduce echo. They are to improve a recording environment by treating flat surfaces. To soundproof, you need to add some high density material. A good option for high mass in a small package is plaster board. You can actually buy gypsum boards that are designed to add sound proofing. That's what I used to line the inside of my PNC enclosure.
I just found your channel today while looking for DIY CNC designs. I'd be very interested seeing a video walk through of all the main components, how the frame was built, what you decided upon for linear motion, etc. I've been wanting to build a CNC router for a very long time. Your video is inspiring me to build one this winter. Great job!
Very interesting! I’d love to learn more. I’m watching “Rings of Power” right now and the Elven wood working is breathtaking. I figure it’s a great thing for a CNC machine to try. Would to learn more about building my own CNC machine!
As someone who had to buy a cnc router as I lack the equipment or skills to really be able to make one, this is all real awesome to me. That being said, my only input would be that you may want to rethink the foam for noise mitigation. That kind of foam isn’t designed for absorbing and mitigating sound energy, it’s designed to help prevent reverb, in the same way that the panels on the f-117 are designed. Not by absorbing it and trapping it, but deflecting it away from the source. The pyramids basically just make sure that whatever sound wave that hits it, gets reflected into a direction away from where it originated, but the sound is still there. It’s great when you’re trying to record really clean audio, but if you’re trying to sound dampen the enclosure around the CNC, then it’s going to be less effective than if you had just had a solid piece of foam, the same thickness as the heights of the pyramid and stuck that on. The thing you need to do to quiet it down, is dampen/deaden the vibrations that the machine, the bit, the workpiece, and the frame all have travelling through them. An easy way to do that, is to increase the mass of the whole cabinet thing the CNC is in, (this is why industrial CNC’s have multi tonne cast iron bases), an easy way for me to do this would be to get some sand, make a box that the CNC can be mounted to, put the box in the cabinet, fill the box with sand, mount the CNC to the box, and the box to the cabinet. Since you seem to be American, I’d suggest it would be more beneficial for you to use lead shot, as it’s got far greater density and more favourable mechanical properties for vibration dampening than plain old sand. Bolt it down to something a lot heavier and more stable than it, (which is why Industrial CNC machines can pretty easily have multiple feet of reinforced concrete poured specifically for them, and then bolted to it), and increasing the area where the machine interfaces with the table/cabinet thing, and where the whole table/cabinet thing interfaces with the floor that it’s on. That way there’s essentially more “stuff” pressed against any surface that is trying to vibrate. Also, either, putting the machine on top of something that would isolate it from the frame of the cabinet (a high density, thick rubber sheet for example) would prevent any vibrations from the CNC resonating in the frame and making more noise, or, you could buy an off the shelf epoxy granite/experiment and try to make your own epoxy granite, and use it like a cement to bind your machine together with your cabinet. Which one is right for you, depends on how overly rigidly you’ve built the cabinet. I know this is a stupid long, kinda rambling comment that’s a bit late, but I hope I’ve been able to help or provide some ideas on how to improve that pretty awesome little situation you’ve got :)
@@dylanshandley1246 Oh c'mon Dylan, give yourself a little more credit. I don't think it would have ever occurred to me; I'd be too busy thinking of ways to increase rigidity. Besides, I've already rented a dump truck and have the spare bedroom half full of sand. Looks like the cops are outside for some reason too..
No worries Dylan. It makes sense what you are saying. I went with this because I've seen others using it and reported good results. I've also seen people filling the metal tubes with sand and epoxy. That's way too much for me to do. I still need to put doors on the enclosure. I may put some sort of rubber under the CNC where it contacts the wood to help dampen the vibrations. Time will tell if that plus the foam sound panels work. I'll do a video on that once I get the doors installed. Thank you for the input! I'm not an expert at any of this and I always love hearing my viewers thoughts. I wish more of them were like you and offered genuine constructive feedback rather than being nasty. Take care and have a blessed day brother! - Ed
@@WolfRidgeWoodworking I didn’t word it the best in my original comment :p but that type of foam will definitely have some impact on the sound from the machine, I just don’t think it would be more effective than a plain slab of foam with the same thickness :) generally, if you’re trying to dampen sounds and vibrations, the answer is to add mass, and to add as much of it as possible. Obviously you can’t just go getting inch thick slabs of lead plate and bolt that to the walls of the enclosure, so people generally just go with a foam since it’s much more feasible. But with that kind of foam, they remove a bunch of the mass and just leave the pyramids and a much thinner bottom layer so you can stick it to a surface, which makes it much better at keeping reverb down in a recording studio, but it also makes it worse for sound dampening for the same reasons :) You don’t have to fill any part of the machine itself with sand or resin, I’m referring to making a box, bolting it to the cabinet where you want the cnc to sit, fill the box with sand, and then mounting the CNC to that box. That way the mechanical vibrations from the CNC get transferred into moving each little grain of sand, and get absorbed in the process. That’s the easiest thing I’ve been thinking of possibly doing for my table top cnc router so that hopefully it can machine brass without quite so much chatter xD
Sir. You did A lot with a little. Love this particular design. Great job explaining and demonstrating. I’m strongly considering this design. A lot of these benchtop cnc machine are expensive for a semi built kit. If you’re handy you can save more than half with better results.
Brother I liked and subscribed just in hopes in gives you a tad bit more revenue. Thanks for the helpful info and walking us through your own build. Was awesome and gave me some insight to do my own.
My choice was to use steel instead of aluminium. Steel twice stronger then aluminium and half the price. Also steel can be welded instead of fragile pressure retainers for aluminium. My Cnc is 10 years old still good condition.
Thank you for watching! The CNC is made out of 2" x 3" steel tubing. It is all 3/16" thick and very stout. I really hope that mine will last as long as yours has! Take care! - Ed
love the build!!!!!!!! i like your choice of the AIO i considered this and had one then sold it LOL now i have touch laptop i snapped in half no keyboard on arm , if i could get a newer AIO i would do that hands down !!!!
Thank you Dave! The MPCNC is a great entry point. It can do just about anything you want. You just have to have very conservative settings. There are also table top ones you can find on Aliexpress for under $300 to get started with. Please let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to help you. - Ed
Good stuff. I love that you're using LinuxCNC instead of Mach3/4 (its free & way better if anyone else is considering a DIY CNC project). I built a pretty serious fully custom DIY CNC mill a couple of years back (~2 tonnes of machine) running LinuxCNC, and based on the motors I can see in the vid it looks to me like you get get those feeds way up with some tuning of your driver timings. Not sure what serial board you're using but that ethernet board looks like a Mesa one very similar to the one I used on my project, we could easily push over 10m/min with proper configuration. Since it looks like you're using open loop stepper motors rather than servos you will need to watch out for drift if you push it too hard, my machine started with steppers and we ended up swapping them out with stepper-servos, which replaced the drift issue with E-Stops when they couldn't keep up, which helped a lot with tuining it to the absolute limit of it's ability but is definatly not needed for a smaller build like this. Your machine looks plenty rigid enough to cut wood at least 20x faster, so those nice cutting shots could be real time! I should note that all the timings do also get limited by the CPU on the host computer as well, so it's basically a must that you have an RT kernel, and worth adding CPU pinning just for linuxcnc if you've got the cores to spare, I ended up buying a cheap new ryzen for my machine that was previously using a 1st gen intel NUC, and that made a pretty big difference in my headroom to push more steps/second.
I'm still learning more about this whole setup. I'm using a Mesa 7i96 controller with DM542 drivers and Nema 23 steppers. The OS is Debian with RT kernel and LinuxCNC 2.9. I recently replaced some of the 3d printed parts at critically points with aluminum pieces. I purposely have the feed rate slower while I fine tune the system. I do have it running quite a bit faster since I recorded this video. Other projects have kept me away from using it more, but I'm planning a few things where I will be able to get back to having fun with it. I think you are a few years ahead of me. ha ha. Thank you for the awesome comment! Take care brother! - Ed
Thank you! It’s a lot of fun and challenging too. While I’m no expert, please let me know if there is anything I can help answer for you. Take care! - Ed
Can you go over how you would build one of theses? I would like to build obe to replace a radial saw that my father and oncle had purchased. They both passed away last year and passed down plenty of tools but the radial saw is a dinosaur
Nice video. I looked at your channel, but didn't see any content about how you built this. I have no experience with this, but am very good at building things. I want to make a CNC machine with a water-cooled spindle and a 1X2 foot work area for the purpose of machining holes in sheet-aluminum to make chassis for electrical components. What is a good set of plans, or forum or something to help me know which way to go ?
14:53 , I did not find a link to any parts , that's some kind control board , dm4 542 servo drivers , hope to here back from you been doing Laser , I need to make a CNC
Thanks for the video. Where did you source the electrical cabinet and how much was it?... Just the cabinet itself, not any of the components within it.
Thank you Richard! I got it directly from Vevor (tinyurl.com/bdh9bske). This link should take you directly to the one that I got, but if not, it the 60cm x 50cm x 23cm one. They are all pretty expensive for some reason. I bought it in March of 2022 and paid $144 including shipping. I just checked and it is $169 now. I don't know if it will still work, but I used CART5 discount code to get $5 off. It's not much, but every dollar saved helps. - Ed
I'm using a Mesa 7i96 for the controller, Nema 23's for the stepper motors, and DM556's for the drivers. I honestly don't see me changing any of those components out. I hope that helps, but if you need more assistance, please drop me an email. - Ed
Do you have build video for CNC ? My daytime job is in IT and my hobby being woodworking, I have been planning to build a CNC for almost 3 years...and have been scavenging parts from all sort of places. At this point I have lot of 5050 aluminium ( from a European machine at work that was being scrapped) about 30 feet of used 20mm linear rail, and from my other hobbies i also various Arduino boards, stepper motors etc. Also have computers with parallel ports etc. At this point, I think what has been the hardest to decide, 1. size of the CNC I should build, 2. What kind of drive mechanism (ball screw, lead screw, or belt) ....so I suppose my question is, how did you decide on these two things.
Thank you for watching Gurpreet! IT is also my day job so the computer part is the easiest for us. Unfortunately, I do not have a build video, but I've seen a few that I learned a lot from. One in particular is Project by Brian (www.youtube.com/@ProjectsbyBrian). I had originally wanted to go down the route you are thinking. The more I looked into it, the more I realized it was a bigger undertaking that I wanted to do. That doesn't mean that you cannot design and build your own. I would recommend taking a look at the PrintNC site. You can download a Fusion 360 model of it to see how the components fit together. I'd also suggest looking at Avid CNC's website. These are places I was looking at when doing my research. Best of luck in your CNC adventure! - Ed
great video. Id love to build oneslightly larger 4x8 myself. Ill be mostly using it for planing table tops. Any idea where to find drawings and list of products needed?
Thank you Rudi! I originally started out wanting to build a 4x8, but I went with this one instead. The cost would be more and I don't have room in my garage. I have seen builds on the site that are larger. They require more beefy components. I recommend checking out the PrintNC website linked in the description. There is also a Discord for PrintNC where you can look through the post or ask others what they've done. It is a very helpful community on Discord. - Ed
That's a tough question to answer. I'm no expert when it comes to CNC's. It will really depend on how big the jobs are and how long it will be operational. If you are just doing small things to sell, something like this CNC would be something good to start with. - Ed
I'm a college student and eventually I want to build m own CNC. What resources did you use to learn how to go about making your own CNC? Like what was your starting point? Finding the right parts and software seems daunting.
For software: - Fusion360 is probably the best for the price for CAD/CAM - LinuxCNC > Mach3/4 for 3 main reasons: 1. Free, 2. Better in terms of configuring to your machine, and general fine-grained control over stuff 3. Driver boards that aren't chinesium trash, in my build I started with an ebay Mach3 board which had the "feature" that if the host PC turned off or was disconnected while the machine was powered on it would turn the spindle on and set the speed to 100%, great way to mill yourself if you ask me. In contrast the Mesa boards are fully customisable, so at least it'll be you're fault if you decide to make the machine default-dangerous. The main downside of LinuxCNC/associated hardware is that it does require a bit of configuration and technical knowledge on your part, although it's not that hard to learn on the fly & there community is pretty active and helpful. - Spindle, drive motors, ball screws, linear bearings, etc: Ebay is fine, just expect long lead times, you can also go for name-brands from tiwan, germany, etc, but expect to pay 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars by the time you're done. - Electronics: Digi-Key tends to have everything you could ever want. - Opt for 24V for all sensor/signal wiring over 12V or lower as it is less subject to signal degradation and interferance, and you'll find more industrial-grade parts at this voltage - For limit sensors: get inductive proximity sensors, and protect them from getting crushed with rubber stops, they are much more reliable and repeatable than switches and might save your fingers from getting crushed in a pinch point - ESTOP circuitry: Anything that can cause death, serious injory, or catestrophic damage to the machine should be at least double redundant and fail safe. This means: - There are expensive safety controller modules you can buy, these make dealing with the folling easier & safer, so if you can afford them I think they're worth it, but you technically can deal with all this from a cnc motion controller board if it has enough inputs, - Use 2x Guided Contactors/Relays in series anywhere you want to cut power to hazardous things like the spindle and drive motors in an E-STOP event. You sould also include as part of the estop circuit a failure event if one of the two contactors welds, and force an e-stop (most contactors have a whole lot of IO so just have a line from 24V high through one of those to an estop controller input) - ESTOP buttons should always have 2x NC switches inside, so if either wire gets disconnected, cut, etc, it will trigger estop - Cables & wires: - Only use "flex" cables, those designed for residential use in walls and stiuff have 7 thick strands that are dificult to route in tight spots and subject to fatigue, automotive cables that are also designed for static installation tend to have fewer, thicker strands that have similar issues. - At least in Australia, all electical cables must be insulated to a rating the same or higher than the highest voltage in the system, i.e. I had 400V spindle, so everything from cables in the control panel that never got anywhere near the main electrics box to (obviously) the 3-phase mains inside the box had to be rated to 400V. This adds a suprising amount of cost to the machine, it's up to you if it's worth upping the voltage from 110 to 240, 400, or even 800 if you care to comply to that regulation should it be the same wherever you are (or if you're ok with ignoring it given a proper RA) - DIN rails & terminal block: use them. get some large color coded ones for neutral, live (all three if using 3 phas), and most importantly ground. Also make sure the frame of the machine is properly grounded - Lockout/isolate: if you're working inside the electrical cabinet, always, always, unplug the machine, have a lockout/isolator switch that is off and locked, and be careful of capacitors in the spindle drive. I really don't want to scare you or anyone with all this electrical and safety stuff, its all things I learned during the course of my build and in my opinion is 100% worth it. Stay safe and have fun.
I actually learned the mechanics of CNC concepts with a 3d printer. It's the same concept, but one melts plastic and the other cuts with a router. Then I started with my first CNC which was a MPCNC (www.v1e.com/). I read through everything there and on the forum. It was a great and cheap learning device. It lacked rigidity which is crucial for precise cuts. I graduated to what I have now which is a PrintNC (threedesign.store/). There is also a forum there where I read a lot plus they have a Discord channel with a ton of useful information. Another thing that I found helpful was taking a look at Avid CNC assembly guide (www.avidcnc.com/support/instructions/pro/4896/20.2/instructions/?mr=20.2&ms=4896). It showed me a lot of ways to build a robust CNC. The parts can be found on Aliexpress, Amazon, eBay, McMaster Carr. I hope this helps. If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to reach out over email. I'll do my best to help you out. - Ed
I’m new to this and want to learn more, the link for the new cnc what all would you recommend on all the options to build a machine like yours? I build guitars as a retired hobbyist and use a router with jigs but cnc looks way better for me. I could carve body’s and necks once I’ve built the file(which is something I will have to learn. If I use a round tip bit to measure or duplicate can I build a file that way?
My machine is considered a standard size. If you wanted this machine, download the Fusion 360 files and then adjust the parameters to the size steel you will use. Wait until you get the steel so you can measure the sizes with a set of calipers. When I do my designs, I typically use Fusion 360 for complicated designs and Ventric VCarve for more simpler designs. You would always design to the dimensions of what your end product will be. Drop me an email if you want anymore details or assistance. - Ed
I'm glad I happened upon your video today. I have an MPCNC too, but lately I've been getting frustrated with using Estlcam and Repetier-Host. the other day I finally bit the bullet and got VCarve Pro but realized I needed to use a hacked-up version of a Postprocessor in order to make it work. It's not perfect, but neither was Estlcam (which makes doing inlays REALLY tough). So seeing your video makes me think it may be time to do a similar upgrade. Seeing as it's been 9 months since this video, do you still recommend going the PrintNC route or would you have gone a different direction? Would love to see a "lessons learned" video too (haven't looked at your video catalog yet, but I will do so next).
Thank you! I am still very pleased with the decision to go this route. It will do everything I think I will ever need to do. When I built the enclosure for the CNC, I did put a hinged lower door in the back. That will enable me to work on longer items. I'm still restricted with the width, but I think that will be ok. Please drop me an email if you have any questions as you build your PrintNC. - Ed
Great video Ed! I’m getting ready to order a printnc. I had a question I about “work area” I’m guessing that’s the actual cutting area. I need to be able to fully cut in both directions 48”. I’m assuming I need to order a 48”x48” work area? Also approx how much extra space do you have outside the “work area”? 2-3 inches per side would you say? More or less? Also approx how much did your Z axis plates cost? I think I’ll order some of those. I joined discord but I’ll be honest it’s a little difficult to navigate and find the answers I’m looking for, that’s why I figured I’d ask you lol😂
Probably a silly question on my part, but do you have dust collection on your CNC? If I have mine off during recording, dust goes all over the place. I don't know of a way to prevent the ballscrews and rails from getting dusty. I would like to hear from anyone who has that figured out. - Ed
@@WolfRidgeWoodworking yes I have the shoe but I don't use it when cutting aluminum and whatnot only with wood but still the mechanism gets dust all the time even just sitting I'm still looking into adding an enclosure between the bed and the moving parts.
Thank you for watching! I bought them over a period of a couple of years. That's why I didn't give an actual cost. That said, I'm pretty sure that it was less the 2k and certainly lower than any commercial CNC in a comparable size. I apologize if you feel that I misrepresented the cost. Have a blessed day! - Ed
when the dust collection system is worth more than the spindle and controller and stepper motors? time to make a youtube video shilling them with amazon referral links am i right?
Nice job. I have a PrintNC, very similar dimensions to yours. Just to note, to soundproof you need to add mass. Those foam tiles are to diffuse reverberation e.g, in a studio, to reduce echo. They are to improve a recording environment by treating flat surfaces. To soundproof, you need to add some high density material. A good option for high mass in a small package is plaster board. You can actually buy gypsum boards that are designed to add sound proofing. That's what I used to line the inside of my PNC enclosure.
I just found your channel today while looking for DIY CNC designs. I'd be very interested seeing a video walk through of all the main components, how the frame was built, what you decided upon for linear motion, etc. I've been wanting to build a CNC router for a very long time. Your video is inspiring me to build one this winter. Great job!
Fantastic! I love the time you spent explaining everything.
Thank you! - Ed
Very interesting! I’d love to learn more. I’m watching “Rings of Power” right now and the Elven wood working is breathtaking. I figure it’s a great thing for a CNC machine to try. Would to learn more about building my own CNC machine!
Love that setup.
Good video, I liked it.
Really nice setup!
As someone who had to buy a cnc router as I lack the equipment or skills to really be able to make one, this is all real awesome to me. That being said, my only input would be that you may want to rethink the foam for noise mitigation. That kind of foam isn’t designed for absorbing and mitigating sound energy, it’s designed to help prevent reverb, in the same way that the panels on the f-117 are designed. Not by absorbing it and trapping it, but deflecting it away from the source. The pyramids basically just make sure that whatever sound wave that hits it, gets reflected into a direction away from where it originated, but the sound is still there. It’s great when you’re trying to record really clean audio, but if you’re trying to sound dampen the enclosure around the CNC, then it’s going to be less effective than if you had just had a solid piece of foam, the same thickness as the heights of the pyramid and stuck that on.
The thing you need to do to quiet it down, is dampen/deaden the vibrations that the machine, the bit, the workpiece, and the frame all have travelling through them. An easy way to do that, is to increase the mass of the whole cabinet thing the CNC is in, (this is why industrial CNC’s have multi tonne cast iron bases), an easy way for me to do this would be to get some sand, make a box that the CNC can be mounted to, put the box in the cabinet, fill the box with sand, mount the CNC to the box, and the box to the cabinet. Since you seem to be American, I’d suggest it would be more beneficial for you to use lead shot, as it’s got far greater density and more favourable mechanical properties for vibration dampening than plain old sand. Bolt it down to something a lot heavier and more stable than it, (which is why Industrial CNC machines can pretty easily have multiple feet of reinforced concrete poured specifically for them, and then bolted to it), and increasing the area where the machine interfaces with the table/cabinet thing, and where the whole table/cabinet thing interfaces with the floor that it’s on. That way there’s essentially more “stuff” pressed against any surface that is trying to vibrate. Also, either, putting the machine on top of something that would isolate it from the frame of the cabinet (a high density, thick rubber sheet for example) would prevent any vibrations from the CNC resonating in the frame and making more noise, or, you could buy an off the shelf epoxy granite/experiment and try to make your own epoxy granite, and use it like a cement to bind your machine together with your cabinet. Which one is right for you, depends on how overly rigidly you’ve built the cabinet.
I know this is a stupid long, kinda rambling comment that’s a bit late, but I hope I’ve been able to help or provide some ideas on how to improve that pretty awesome little situation you’ve got :)
The sand/lead shot vibration dampening idea is brilliant, thanks! Now, off to the beach!
@@YerBrwnDogAteMyRabit I’m not sure I’d say it’s brilliant xD or really anything close to it, but have fun at the beach lol :p
@@dylanshandley1246 Oh c'mon Dylan, give yourself a little more credit. I don't think it would have ever occurred to me; I'd be too busy thinking of ways to increase rigidity. Besides, I've already rented a dump truck and have the spare bedroom half full of sand. Looks like the cops are outside for some reason too..
No worries Dylan. It makes sense what you are saying. I went with this because I've seen others using it and reported good results. I've also seen people filling the metal tubes with sand and epoxy. That's way too much for me to do. I still need to put doors on the enclosure. I may put some sort of rubber under the CNC where it contacts the wood to help dampen the vibrations. Time will tell if that plus the foam sound panels work. I'll do a video on that once I get the doors installed. Thank you for the input! I'm not an expert at any of this and I always love hearing my viewers thoughts. I wish more of them were like you and offered genuine constructive feedback rather than being nasty. Take care and have a blessed day brother! - Ed
@@WolfRidgeWoodworking I didn’t word it the best in my original comment :p but that type of foam will definitely have some impact on the sound from the machine, I just don’t think it would be more effective than a plain slab of foam with the same thickness :) generally, if you’re trying to dampen sounds and vibrations, the answer is to add mass, and to add as much of it as possible. Obviously you can’t just go getting inch thick slabs of lead plate and bolt that to the walls of the enclosure, so people generally just go with a foam since it’s much more feasible. But with that kind of foam, they remove a bunch of the mass and just leave the pyramids and a much thinner bottom layer so you can stick it to a surface, which makes it much better at keeping reverb down in a recording studio, but it also makes it worse for sound dampening for the same reasons :)
You don’t have to fill any part of the machine itself with sand or resin, I’m referring to making a box, bolting it to the cabinet where you want the cnc to sit, fill the box with sand, and then mounting the CNC to that box. That way the mechanical vibrations from the CNC get transferred into moving each little grain of sand, and get absorbed in the process. That’s the easiest thing I’ve been thinking of possibly doing for my table top cnc router so that hopefully it can machine brass without quite so much chatter xD
A DIY CNC is NEVER complete... and I'm totally ok with that
HA ha that is so true. Thank you for watching! - Ed
Sir. You did A lot with a little. Love this particular design. Great job explaining and demonstrating. I’m strongly considering this design. A lot of these benchtop cnc machine are expensive for a semi built kit. If you’re handy you can save more than half with better results.
Thank you for watching! - Ed
Brother I liked and subscribed just in hopes in gives you a tad bit more revenue. Thanks for the helpful info and walking us through your own build. Was awesome and gave me some insight to do my own.
I clicked on this video becouse i thought you were going to go over your cnc build like the description implies.
Thank you for watching! - Ed
My choice was to use steel instead of aluminium.
Steel twice stronger then aluminium and half the price.
Also steel can be welded instead of fragile pressure retainers for aluminium.
My Cnc is 10 years old still good condition.
Thank you for watching! The CNC is made out of 2" x 3" steel tubing. It is all 3/16" thick and very stout. I really hope that mine will last as long as yours has! Take care! - Ed
love the build!!!!!!!! i like your choice of the AIO i considered this and had one then sold it LOL now i have touch laptop i snapped in half no keyboard on arm , if i could get a newer AIO i would do that hands down !!!!
Thank you! - Ed
Cool video. I've thought about getting a CNC but the cost scares me a bit. LOL. 👍
Thank you Dave! The MPCNC is a great entry point. It can do just about anything you want. You just have to have very conservative settings. There are also table top ones you can find on Aliexpress for under $300 to get started with. Please let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to help you. - Ed
Good stuff. I love that you're using LinuxCNC instead of Mach3/4 (its free & way better if anyone else is considering a DIY CNC project).
I built a pretty serious fully custom DIY CNC mill a couple of years back (~2 tonnes of machine) running LinuxCNC, and based on the motors I can see in the vid it looks to me like you get get those feeds way up with some tuning of your driver timings. Not sure what serial board you're using but that ethernet board looks like a Mesa one very similar to the one I used on my project, we could easily push over 10m/min with proper configuration.
Since it looks like you're using open loop stepper motors rather than servos you will need to watch out for drift if you push it too hard, my machine started with steppers and we ended up swapping them out with stepper-servos, which replaced the drift issue with E-Stops when they couldn't keep up, which helped a lot with tuining it to the absolute limit of it's ability but is definatly not needed for a smaller build like this. Your machine looks plenty rigid enough to cut wood at least 20x faster, so those nice cutting shots could be real time!
I should note that all the timings do also get limited by the CPU on the host computer as well, so it's basically a must that you have an RT kernel, and worth adding CPU pinning just for linuxcnc if you've got the cores to spare, I ended up buying a cheap new ryzen for my machine that was previously using a 1st gen intel NUC, and that made a pretty big difference in my headroom to push more steps/second.
I'm still learning more about this whole setup. I'm using a Mesa 7i96 controller with DM542 drivers and Nema 23 steppers. The OS is Debian with RT kernel and LinuxCNC 2.9. I recently replaced some of the 3d printed parts at critically points with aluminum pieces. I purposely have the feed rate slower while I fine tune the system. I do have it running quite a bit faster since I recorded this video. Other projects have kept me away from using it more, but I'm planning a few things where I will be able to get back to having fun with it. I think you are a few years ahead of me. ha ha. Thank you for the awesome comment! Take care brother! - Ed
great, thanks for sharing 👍
Thank you! - Ed
Hi. I'm interested in a video about the new controller board
Thank you for watching! Do you have a PrintNC and looking to upgrade the controller or looking for a video just in general about the controller? - Ed
@@WolfRidgeWoodworking Hi. I'm interested in general about the controller, thanks a lot
I looked through your description to try and find your sound deadening material, can you tell me what that is please?
Sure, I'm planning to get a CNC engraving machine for my home. Do you happen to know if those soundproof panels actually absorb the noise?
Hello, do you have a link for your electronics cabinet ? Thanks
Great stuff mate, i am looking at getting in to this very shortly
Thank you! It’s a lot of fun and challenging too. While I’m no expert, please let me know if there is anything I can help answer for you. Take care! - Ed
Can you go over how you would build one of theses? I would like to build obe to replace a radial saw that my father and oncle had purchased. They both passed away last year and passed down plenty of tools but the radial saw is a dinosaur
Nice video. I looked at your channel, but didn't see any content about how you built this. I have no experience with this, but am very good at building things. I want to make a CNC machine with a water-cooled spindle and a 1X2 foot work area for the purpose of machining holes in sheet-aluminum to make chassis for electrical components. What is a good set of plans, or forum or something to help me know which way to go ?
What is the new control board you are using?
14:53 , I did not find a link to any parts , that's some kind control board , dm4 542 servo drivers , hope to here back from you been doing Laser , I need to make a CNC
Thanks for the video. Where did you source the electrical cabinet and how much was it?... Just the cabinet itself, not any of the components within it.
Thank you Richard! I got it directly from Vevor (tinyurl.com/bdh9bske). This link should take you directly to the one that I got, but if not, it the 60cm x 50cm x 23cm one. They are all pretty expensive for some reason. I bought it in March of 2022 and paid $144 including shipping. I just checked and it is $169 now. I don't know if it will still work, but I used CART5 discount code to get $5 off. It's not much, but every dollar saved helps. - Ed
Hello Mr Wolf
Which board, motors, and drivers do you recommend from you experience? I want to get something I will not want to replace in 6 months
I'm using a Mesa 7i96 for the controller, Nema 23's for the stepper motors, and DM556's for the drivers. I honestly don't see me changing any of those components out. I hope that helps, but if you need more assistance, please drop me an email. - Ed
Hello, what is the linear rail and car you use?
Do you have build video for CNC ? My daytime job is in IT and my hobby being woodworking, I have been planning to build a CNC for almost 3 years...and have been scavenging parts from all sort of places. At this point I have lot of 5050 aluminium ( from a European machine at work that was being scrapped) about 30 feet of used 20mm linear rail, and from my other hobbies i also various Arduino boards, stepper motors etc. Also have computers with parallel ports etc.
At this point, I think what has been the hardest to decide, 1. size of the CNC I should build, 2. What kind of drive mechanism (ball screw, lead screw, or belt) ....so I suppose my question is, how did you decide on these two things.
Thank you for watching Gurpreet! IT is also my day job so the computer part is the easiest for us. Unfortunately, I do not have a build video, but I've seen a few that I learned a lot from. One in particular is Project by Brian (www.youtube.com/@ProjectsbyBrian). I had originally wanted to go down the route you are thinking. The more I looked into it, the more I realized it was a bigger undertaking that I wanted to do. That doesn't mean that you cannot design and build your own. I would recommend taking a look at the PrintNC site. You can download a Fusion 360 model of it to see how the components fit together. I'd also suggest looking at Avid CNC's website. These are places I was looking at when doing my research. Best of luck in your CNC adventure! - Ed
Does anyone know how this compares to a Bulkman QueenBee CNC or to an OpenBuilds Workbee or Lead CNC ? Thanks :)
Thank you for watching! I'm not familiar with those CNC's. Hopefully someone will be able to respond. - Ed
Did u design that graphic interface for LinuxCNC?
Ed, I like it.
Thank you George! - Ed
great video. Id love to build oneslightly larger 4x8 myself. Ill be mostly using it for planing table tops. Any idea where to find drawings and list of products needed?
Thank you Rudi! I originally started out wanting to build a 4x8, but I went with this one instead. The cost would be more and I don't have room in my garage. I have seen builds on the site that are larger. They require more beefy components. I recommend checking out the PrintNC website linked in the description. There is also a Discord for PrintNC where you can look through the post or ask others what they've done. It is a very helpful community on Discord. - Ed
Hello
i would start my work with CNC wood cutting and aluminum job, could you suggest which one should i buy to start with business, plz
That's a tough question to answer. I'm no expert when it comes to CNC's. It will really depend on how big the jobs are and how long it will be operational. If you are just doing small things to sell, something like this CNC would be something good to start with. - Ed
I'm a college student and eventually I want to build m own CNC. What resources did you use to learn how to go about making your own CNC? Like what was your starting point? Finding the right parts and software seems daunting.
For software:
- Fusion360 is probably the best for the price for CAD/CAM
- LinuxCNC > Mach3/4 for 3 main reasons:
1. Free,
2. Better in terms of configuring to your machine, and general fine-grained control over stuff
3. Driver boards that aren't chinesium trash, in my build I started with an ebay Mach3 board which had the "feature" that if the host PC turned off or was disconnected while the machine was powered on it would turn the spindle on and set the speed to 100%, great way to mill yourself if you ask me. In contrast the Mesa boards are fully customisable, so at least it'll be you're fault if you decide to make the machine default-dangerous.
The main downside of LinuxCNC/associated hardware is that it does require a bit of configuration and technical knowledge on your part, although it's not that hard to learn on the fly & there community is pretty active and helpful.
- Spindle, drive motors, ball screws, linear bearings, etc: Ebay is fine, just expect long lead times, you can also go for name-brands from tiwan, germany, etc, but expect to pay 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars by the time you're done.
- Electronics: Digi-Key tends to have everything you could ever want.
- Opt for 24V for all sensor/signal wiring over 12V or lower as it is less subject to signal degradation and interferance, and you'll find more industrial-grade parts at this voltage
- For limit sensors: get inductive proximity sensors, and protect them from getting crushed with rubber stops, they are much more reliable and repeatable than switches and might save your fingers from getting crushed in a pinch point
- ESTOP circuitry: Anything that can cause death, serious injory, or catestrophic damage to the machine should be at least double redundant and fail safe. This means:
- There are expensive safety controller modules you can buy, these make dealing with the folling easier & safer, so if you can afford them I think they're worth it, but you technically can deal with all this from a cnc motion controller board if it has enough inputs,
- Use 2x Guided Contactors/Relays in series anywhere you want to cut power to hazardous things like the spindle and drive motors in an E-STOP event. You sould also include as part of the estop circuit a failure event if one of the two contactors welds, and force an e-stop (most contactors have a whole lot of IO so just have a line from 24V high through one of those to an estop controller input)
- ESTOP buttons should always have 2x NC switches inside, so if either wire gets disconnected, cut, etc, it will trigger estop
- Cables & wires:
- Only use "flex" cables, those designed for residential use in walls and stiuff have 7 thick strands that are dificult to route in tight spots and subject to fatigue, automotive cables that are also designed for static installation tend to have fewer, thicker strands that have similar issues.
- At least in Australia, all electical cables must be insulated to a rating the same or higher than the highest voltage in the system, i.e. I had 400V spindle, so everything from cables in the control panel that never got anywhere near the main electrics box to (obviously) the 3-phase mains inside the box had to be rated to 400V. This adds a suprising amount of cost to the machine, it's up to you if it's worth upping the voltage from 110 to 240, 400, or even 800 if you care to comply to that regulation should it be the same wherever you are (or if you're ok with ignoring it given a proper RA)
- DIN rails & terminal block: use them. get some large color coded ones for neutral, live (all three if using 3 phas), and most importantly ground. Also make sure the frame of the machine is properly grounded
- Lockout/isolate: if you're working inside the electrical cabinet, always, always, unplug the machine, have a lockout/isolator switch that is off and locked, and be careful of capacitors in the spindle drive.
I really don't want to scare you or anyone with all this electrical and safety stuff, its all things I learned during the course of my build and in my opinion is 100% worth it.
Stay safe and have fun.
@@thomasmiles9306 thank you!!
I actually learned the mechanics of CNC concepts with a 3d printer. It's the same concept, but one melts plastic and the other cuts with a router. Then I started with my first CNC which was a MPCNC (www.v1e.com/). I read through everything there and on the forum. It was a great and cheap learning device. It lacked rigidity which is crucial for precise cuts. I graduated to what I have now which is a PrintNC (threedesign.store/). There is also a forum there where I read a lot plus they have a Discord channel with a ton of useful information. Another thing that I found helpful was taking a look at Avid CNC assembly guide (www.avidcnc.com/support/instructions/pro/4896/20.2/instructions/?mr=20.2&ms=4896). It showed me a lot of ways to build a robust CNC. The parts can be found on Aliexpress, Amazon, eBay, McMaster Carr. I hope this helps. If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to reach out over email. I'll do my best to help you out. - Ed
Neat Ed.
Thank you Jack! - Ed
Hi mate just wondering what controller board and aio your upgraded options are? Also if you have them up and running now?
I’m new to this and want to learn more, the link for the new cnc what all would you recommend on all the options to build a machine like yours? I build guitars as a retired hobbyist and use a router with jigs but cnc looks way better for me. I could carve body’s and necks once I’ve built the file(which is something I will have to learn. If I use a round tip bit to measure or duplicate can I build a file that way?
My machine is considered a standard size. If you wanted this machine, download the Fusion 360 files and then adjust the parameters to the size steel you will use. Wait until you get the steel so you can measure the sizes with a set of calipers. When I do my designs, I typically use Fusion 360 for complicated designs and Ventric VCarve for more simpler designs. You would always design to the dimensions of what your end product will be. Drop me an email if you want anymore details or assistance. - Ed
Very cool!
Thank you! - Ed
LinuxCNC cool man almost forgot
I'm glad I happened upon your video today. I have an MPCNC too, but lately I've been getting frustrated with using Estlcam and Repetier-Host. the other day I finally bit the bullet and got VCarve Pro but realized I needed to use a hacked-up version of a Postprocessor in order to make it work. It's not perfect, but neither was Estlcam (which makes doing inlays REALLY tough). So seeing your video makes me think it may be time to do a similar upgrade. Seeing as it's been 9 months since this video, do you still recommend going the PrintNC route or would you have gone a different direction? Would love to see a "lessons learned" video too (haven't looked at your video catalog yet, but I will do so next).
Thank you! I am still very pleased with the decision to go this route. It will do everything I think I will ever need to do. When I built the enclosure for the CNC, I did put a hinged lower door in the back. That will enable me to work on longer items. I'm still restricted with the width, but I think that will be ok. Please drop me an email if you have any questions as you build your PrintNC. - Ed
Great video Ed! I’m getting ready to order a printnc. I had a question I about “work area” I’m guessing that’s the actual cutting area. I need to be able to fully cut in both directions 48”. I’m assuming I need to order a 48”x48” work area? Also approx how much extra space do you have outside the “work area”? 2-3 inches per side would you say? More or less? Also approx how much did your Z axis plates cost? I think I’ll order some of those.
I joined discord but I’ll be honest it’s a little difficult to navigate and find the answers I’m looking for, that’s why I figured I’d ask you lol😂
I struggle with ballscrews and rails getting dust all over always cleaning afterwards and sometimes clogging.
Probably a silly question on my part, but do you have dust collection on your CNC? If I have mine off during recording, dust goes all over the place. I don't know of a way to prevent the ballscrews and rails from getting dusty. I would like to hear from anyone who has that figured out. - Ed
@@WolfRidgeWoodworking yes I have the shoe but I don't use it when cutting aluminum and whatnot only with wood but still the mechanism gets dust all the time even just sitting I'm still looking into adding an enclosure between the bed and the moving parts.
I spent less than 1000$ on my CNC, definitely easy
There is no way this cost you about 1000, can you please share what you bought and what you had on hand? The average cost of a printNC is about 2k
Thank you for watching! I bought them over a period of a couple of years. That's why I didn't give an actual cost. That said, I'm pretty sure that it was less the 2k and certainly lower than any commercial CNC in a comparable size. I apologize if you feel that I misrepresented the cost. Have a blessed day! - Ed
What Software are you using?
Thank you for watching! I'm running the latest version of LinuxCNC (2.9) on Debian 12. - Ed
"its still not complete" - Every single person who has built any cnc..EVER.
13:36 coat of what ?
😎
Thank you! - Ed
when the dust collection system is worth more than the spindle and controller and stepper motors? time to make a youtube video shilling them with amazon referral links am i right?
Thank you for watching! - Ed
If water cooled spindle is loud, i see you never used router or air cooled spindle before 🤦♂️ 04:11