CNC Router
About 2 years ago I caught the CNC bug. It bit me hard.
It did not help that Nuts & Volts magazine had this article on the Probotix Fireball CNC router.
I could not afford it (or maybe just foolishy did not want to afford it)... so I research what was going on in the DIY community with CNC routers. The best thing I found was a web site called buildyourcnc.com, which at the time was a fledgling site featuring a guy building a CNC router in his bathroom (he is married with children too). So I downloaded all of the videos and began the process of putting together a parts list. I think he might have had plans for sale however I am too cheap to buy them. I ended up buying a bunch of parts to make one however I found an even simpiler design that promised to be less expensive to buy parts for and easier to build.
Enter the Slosylva 13x13 CNC router.
http://www.solsylva.com/cnc/13x13x5.shtml
The plans (pater version ... digital is less) are $25. It promised to cost roughly $100 USD to buy the basic parts for (minus the motors and controller, however most CNC router kits/plans are priced that way). And guess what. It cost just a little more than $100. I think I ended up paying about $123 because I bought the rods twice. More on that later.
So this is my page recording my adventures in DIY CNC routers.
Resource List:
- CAD Program - Inkscape
- CAM Program - PyCAM
- Stepper Driver - HobbyCNC EZ Driver Board (Kit)
- Steppers - NMEA 23 1.8 Degree per Step - Vexta 5V 1A
- CNC Router - Slosylva 13x13 CNC Router (plans)
- CNC Controller Program - KCAM or Mach3 Mill