My new cnc milling machine, nearly finished

[stefang]

Hello together,

In line with building my 3 cylinder rotary engine, i decided, that i need a cnc milling machine...to much similar parts to do them manualy (At least for me).

First plan was to build a complete milling machine from scratch:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6285.0

But..a friend of mine offered me the column and crossslides of an old Deckel G2 engraving machine.
In the car:
http://gtwr.de/DSC00012.jpg
http://gtwr.de/DSC00013.jpg

Moving it down into the basement:
http://gtwr.de/DSC00014.jpg

Assembled:

I was suprised, how sturdy that machine was built, in fact it was only an engraving machine..

After a bit of cleaning and painting:

Now i needed to convert all screw drives to ball screws and mount steppers..and of course, build a vertical head:
I used the spindle housing of an X2 mill and a ER32 collet chuck with a straight shank of 25mm diametre, the bearings angular contact bearings.

Runout is nearly zero...

The steppers:

4A, 3Nm of torque, more than enough

The Z-Axis Drive, ballscrew, stepper and mounting bracket:

X, Y and Z Axis Drive:

First test, using mach3:
http://gtwr.de/DSC00103.jpg
Drawing circles and lines

As the spindle is not finished yet, i temporary mounted a Router to the machine, to do some ligh milling..:
Here i cut a hole for a SubD 25 connector in a case:

And finaly i got a short video of testing the x axis:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwEEaB2MjUc[/ame]

Speed aprox 2500mm/min (~100inch/min)

I am happy

greetings,
Stefan

 

[stevehuckss396]

Very nice!

You plan to motor the knee or do you plan a spindle that will be moved up and down?

 

[joeby]

Very nice, should be a very capable little mill!

Kevin

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

You plan to motor the knee or do you plan a spindle that will be moved up and down?

Looks like a stepper motor mounted just to the right and below the Y motor driving the knee through a belt/pulleys & a nice fat ballscrew.

Wish I had friend giving me nice ol' Deckel goodies! ;D

Stefan you are really doing a job worthy of that grand piece of iron. Not so sure about putting X2 parts on it though. Might be bad karma.

 

[Noitoen]

Hi, Stefang.

Nice build. How do you interface the motors with the computer? Do you use parallel port or USB? I've made some experiments with TurboCNC but it works on DOS and the printer port. I've looked around Mach3 with USB but only found some experimental stuff.

 

[stefang]

You plan to motor the knee or do you plan a spindle that will be moved up and down?

The knee will move.

Looks like a stepper motor mounted just to the right and below the Y motor driving the knee through a belt/pulleys & a nice fat ballscrew.

Correct.
Btw. :the spindle is a new 25x5mm made by Bosch Rexroth (a friend sold it to me for almost nothing..)

Nice build. How do you interface the motors with the computer? Do you use parallel port or USB? I've made some experiments with TurboCNC but it works on DOS and the printer port. I've looked around Mach3 with USB but only found some experimental stuff.

I am using a stepper interface called "TripleBeast" made by Benezan Electronics (small german Manufacturer):
http://benezan-electronics.de/shop/product_info.php?products_id=61

Its connected via the parallel port, can power 3 steppers with 5A max. current, an driver for an fourth axis can also be connected.

Not to cheap, but it is really a plug and play system, I am very happy with it. The steppers move almost as soft as servos...

And finally, a video, milling a cutout for a SubD 15 connector:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5HY41C0bco[/ame]

greetings
Stefan

 

[John S]

Stefan,
Doesn't the weight of the table want to drive down when there is no power to the Z stepper?

John S.

 

[deere_x475guy]

Stefang...nice job. I have Chevliar mill that has the head in pieces......This has me thinking......

 

[stefang]

Stefang...nice job. I have Chevliar mill that has the head in pieces......This has me thinking......

No, the stepper and the belt drive in combination have enough countermoment...

Stefang...nice job. I have Chevliar mill that has the head in pieces......This has me thinking......

Go for it

greetings
Stefan

 

[stefang]

Update:

Got the "real" spindle head mounted:

It can even be tilted:

[/img]

Its a modified spindle head of an Sieg X2, with an ER32 spindle and two stage belt drive (no gears at all ). At 50Hz on the Motor I can get 400 in low and 2000 in high range. A VFD will also be fitted to the motor.

greetings
Stefan