the making of a diy cnc milling machine

The Goal

A DIY milling machineInexpensiveEasy to buildGood precision

The Tools

The Expenses

400€160h

Existing toolsOdds and ends

Years of DIY experince

The Method

Use inexpensivebut precisely pre-cut

MDF platesto achieve

parallel edgesand right angles

The double layer plate base

Loose spacer

Pre-drill thru and thread for

Spax!

Putting the side walls an

Loose spacer

Mounting the back wall

Loose spacer

Right angle

(loose)

Fixing the back wall and the gantry pillars

Gantry pillar

Putting the gantry in

Gantry

Spacer (fixed)

Right angle and

reinforcement

The X-carriage

Mounting the X-carriage to the gantry 1

Gantry taken out again and upside down

Gantry bottom

Slide flush to gantry

Mounting the X-carriage to the gantry 2

Gantry

Use non-bevelled head!!!

Not attached

yet

Gantry top parallel to

gantry bottom

Slide flush to gantry top

The Z-carriage

Epoxy glued, very messy!

Mounting the Z-carriage to the X-carriage

Epoxy glued to avoid bracing, flat non-bevel headed screws would have been better!

Hole for screw driver to fasten slide to

X-carriage

The gantry had to come close to the front

Spacer parallel to back wall

New, second pillar

Preparing the frame forthe Y-table

Balsa wood spacer (glued)

The Y-table from underneath

(and a leadscrew and nut)

Putting a working table on the Y-carriage

The stepper mountings

drill file mount

Preparing the leadscrew bearings

Epoxy glued since no

radial forces occur

Make sure to get the other side parallel!

Preparing the leadscrew nuts

Fasten nuts to be glued in, protect the thread!

Gluing in the mounting nuts is not so easy

Leadscrew nut

Putting the leadscrew in the bearing

Teflon band

Self-retaining nuts

Chip and dust protection

Leadscrew and slides will die otherwise!

Iron and aluminium foil to bend the Plexiglas

The protection goes between the X-carriage and the slides

Z-carriage with leadscrew

All leadscrews assembled

The stepper adapter

Fixed from top with sunken head screw

Flex plastic tube and ziptie

Paper bellows to protect the slides and leadscrews

Bellows guide

U-profile to seal the sides

Mounting the router

Pipe clamp and wooden jaws

Zipties keep the world together

Vacuum hose

The arduino running grbl and the three pololu stepper drivers

ATX power supply, 12V is not much but sufficient for now

Limit switches

X-limit

Z-limit

Jog wheel encoder and abort button

Recycled timer switch as a TLL SSR housing

Don’t forget the varistor, motors are

inductive loads

Thank youand good luck