I needed a better CNC router so I took to FreeCAD to create a workable design. I sourced up all the parts and welded the frame together. I slapped a 6-axis GRBL build onto an Arduino Mega 2560, piped it into a breadboard and out to some Nema23 steppers. They roll through 3D printed gears to ballscrews that drive the whole mess.
When it was all done, four months had passed. I routered up some softwood, then engraved some acrylic. I wrote an autoleveler into my CNC controller software, then probed and milled a circuit board. Finally, I stumbled through trying to mill 0.25” aluminum with a HSS bit. Darn near didn’t get that done.
In the end, I have a new CNC router that should be more than capable of doing the things I need done for the next few years. I hope you enjoy the video. If you want to look at the CAD file, or try to make one of these, visit this web page:
whitman.tech/ferrouscnc
Good times! Quite an adventure.
Video Sections:
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - CAD Design
3:09 - Welding and Painting
8:17 - Decommissioning ProtoCNC
11:04 - Wood Stand
11:29 - Ballscrew Straightening
12:40 - Assembling Frame
14:41 - Firmware and Wiring
18:05 - Cutting Wood and Acrylic
20:54 - PCB Autolevel probing and Trace Milling
22:13 - Aluminum
25:06 - Outro
16 июл 2024
