# DIY help for desktop, CNC mill



## cutslikebutter (Oct 6, 2013)

Greetings forum,

I'm somewhat new to the world of routing, and am in the beginning stages of building my own DIY homemade CNC router. At this point though, I need some good advice as to what parts I should get.

Ultimately, I would like for this machine to be able to cut wood, pcb, plastics, and (if possible) aluminum.

I've been doing some research and acquiring some parts, but need more specific advice.

I found this old Black and Decker Workmate 225 at a thrift store for cheap 










and I thought that, with some modifications, it might be used as a kind of work surface. I took off the jaws and two leadscrews/plastic knobs controlling the moveable jaw, and was going to put linear slides for Y-axis gantry. Do you think this will provide sufficient support? It has a 450lbs rating as was doing dips on it this morning.

I have some stepper motors I got off of craigslist and ebay and was wondering if they would provide sufficient torque for what I want to do. I have... 

2 x stepper motors I got from Craigslist that the guy purchased from sparkfun. They have the following specs: Step Angle (degrees) :1.8; 2 Phase; Rated Voltage : 15.4V; Rated Current : 0.28A; Holding Torque : 2.4kg*cm; Detent Torque : 120g*cm)

1 x stepper motor. Sonceboz 6500 (pulled from a Mitsubishi DPX with specs as follows: Bipolar step motor, type SB6500-20 (1.8 degree step angle, 200 full steps per rev., 600mNm torque)).

What's the minimum torque you'd want to machine aluminum? Will these be sufficient for my x-y-z axis? 

CutsLikeButter


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## bgriggs (Nov 26, 2008)

cutslikebutter said:


> Greetings forum,
> 
> I'm somewhat new to the world of routing, and am in the beginning stages of building my own DIY homemade CNC router. At this point though, I need some good advice as to what parts I should get.
> 
> ...


The stepper motors have 80 ounces of torque. Kinda on the light side for many operations. Start at 400 in/oz. for aluminum. Stepper Motors | HobbyCNC

Why not build from a set of plans? You don't have to discover quite as many thing building from plans. 

Bill


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## dumbforumname (Nov 14, 2013)

Hi,
I'm new here but not new to cnc routers. I built my own about 12 years ago because there wasn't anything affordable at that time. I started out with a motor and controller set from Maxnc. It came with proprietary software and worked OK for a few years. At this time, the one or two Home Duty routers available were made from High density Polyethene and MDF. Designed my own using both materials. I used drill rod for rails and 1/4" wide aluminum angle for linear bearings. Allthread was used for the lead screws and I made delrin bearings. This whole setup worked but lacked in the accuracy department. When I started to lose steps and ruin work, I decided it was time to buy a real machine. I currently have a K2 2515 bare bones platform and bought a prewired Probotix motor setup for it. Nowadays there are plenty of materials available to buy from linear guides and motors. 

I can tell you that you want a sturdy work table to put it on and a rock solid machine. Use the workmate for something else. K2's lower end is now Veloxx and you can buy individual components from them. I'm not affiliated but just a happy customer. I really would like to move up to a 36" length. The 15 width is fine for what I rout. 

You probably want at least a full size router to accommodate 1/2" bits. My home built machine used a trim router which was OK...but not great. It all depends on what you want to end up with as a result and how accurate it needs to be.


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