Its alive !

A small form factor machine in a soundproof enclosure

So I am employed in the automotive industry and I walk by thousands of dollars of CNC products daily that are no use to me due to being a Technologist and not a machinist. So therefore with some research I found openbuilds and their great selection of products to build my own CNC. This CNC will consist of 4 axis one removable 360 degree axis for turning alongside a x axis table Y axis stationary gantry and a Z axis attracted to the Y axis linear actuator.

Similar to C-Beam Machine build, but with inverted Y-axis assembly to shield drive screw. Integrated XZ gantry can be fixed to any solid surface. Build dimensions are 36" x 36" x 6".

A complete noob stumbling thru his first cnc build in winter.. and trying to find the time with 2 toddlers..

So Instead of buying a CNC Router which can cost thousands of dollars I ventured on the quest to design and build my own. I have multiple parts to this series. Hopefully all of my information I share helps!

This build will be based on the C-Beam Plate Maker, with additional changes based on other builds and ideas.

Using basic standard components, beams, motors, belt drive on x and y, z is a screw. Using Grbl Panel on Windows 10. Really basic router, had trouble getting the controller to turn on the router and set speeds so it is currently wired to a power bar switch so it runs full speed and I just use the switch to turn it on and off. Just getting x, y and z control working properly for now and likely going to switch the router to my dremel 4000 using a 3d printed mounting bracket I got from thingiverse

I built the lathe as a dedicated rotary axis, but I soon realized I could have a back up CNC for very little expense.

A Journey on the WorkBee Build...

Based on the WorkBee CNC, this is an oversized router built with a specific use-case in mind, for manufacutring beehives, and beehive components

The idea was to use materials from previuos failed projects into a succesful one. I have build this tiny but powerfull CNC machine mainly using the universal gantry plates for the X and Y axis. Also another innovative part is the fact that I assembled the Z gantry with 2 aluminum sections of 20X40 and one aluminum seccion of the 20X20. I used NEMA 17 stepper motors with GT2 pulleys. This was designed on Fusion360

Update a 20-year old bench top milling machine with OpenBuild Ecosystem electronics.