Saturday, March 2, 2013

CNC Router

The past month I have started another project. This is a CNC Router based on plans from Solslyva. The plans were very detailed and easy to follow. The harder part was building the electronics and wiring up the (3) stepper motors to control the X,Y and Z axes. I bought a kit from HobbyCNC. The kit comes with all loose parts. You have to purchase a case and transformer separately. I am experienced at through hole printed wiring board assembly and soldering so building the driver board was fine. I took my time wiring up all the components and motors. When it came to plugging it in to test it out, I was anxious since any miswire or short could damage or destroy any or all of the components. Everything did work out fine and I was really happy about this accomplishment. The motors all worked through jogging on the computer keyboard. Today I set everything up and loading a table leveling g-code. It took a little while to get the motors traveling smoothly without hanging up or sticking due to tight hardware. I did run (2) passes over the top of the table so now it works great and is ready for cutting out some parts.



My wooden bandsaw is ready for varnishing but I can't do that yet since it is still cold out. I will wait until the temperature gets about 50 degrees and then I will have picture of that completed.