My Home-Made CNC Machine

This machine is great.  What it does is you have to design your project in 3D in a CAD program such as AutoCAD.  Once you are finished the design you then take it to another program for creation of the tool path.  This is a bit complicated but it takes everything into account such as tool diameter, teeth, cutting speed, direction of cut, just everything.  Once the tool path is created you have a file designed for your machine to understand.  this stage is called CAM.  you then take your files and upload into the machine and it is all automatic.  It will create whatever you have designed out of what ever material you place in it.  This stage is Called CNC.

Thus CAD, CAM, CNC.

Don't get me wrong, there is tons to learn on this, and setting your tools up are a bit challenging.  If something goes wrong, it really goes wrong.  I have broken so many bits because of one bad line of code.  I buy all my bits surplus from Princess Auto, so it not so bad, but if you had to pay full retail for a bit, it can be quite expensive to learn.  The small 1/8 " bits I like to use cost about $14.00US retail.

I have got most down to a science though, and am able to create simple projects.  It is really neat to watch this thing run.  Someday I will buy an industrial machine, but when that day arrives, I will understand everything to make it run!  This does not change at all and in fact I will be able to take my G-Code files directly to the new machine.  So this is a very good way to learn what it is all about, and master it.

this machine is built from scrap.  I mean scrap.  just like everything else I build, I love to build things from raw material, or other peoples junk.

I am trying to sort the pictures out, but take a look, they all enlarge.

Below is a project I had built for my boss at work from my CNC machine.  It was a Christmas present.  I like to build things for Christmas because it mean more than just buying something.  I guess my boss really likes it and placed it in his trophy case at home.

 

LED Christmas lights Going to cut my LED Christmas lights apart for this project, its the cheapest LED's I can buy.	LED LED after I remove the bulb, you can see the bulb top right	LED 's A bunch of LED's, Ready to go	The base of project / Display This is actually a piece of wood from building my house, I don't let anything go to waste.	Base Took the torch to it to give it some color
LED's wired LED's are wired in series with a current limit resistor	Base / LED's Testing to make sure they work	Base / LED's Another angle	Base / LED's These puppies for how small they are pretty bright	Display This looks pretty cool. I copied the logo from work, traced it, and put text on it, then ran the G-Code in the CNC machine.