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Mini-OX

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by James Gao, Mar 12, 2015.

Mini-OX

Mini-OX

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by James Gao, Mar 12, 2015.

An OX-inspired mini desktop mill. Designed in OpenSCAD, these parts are fully parametric and can be customized to your liking.

OX CNC mill gantry PCB light duty
  1. James Gao

    James Gao New
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    James Gao published a new build:

    Read more about this build...
     
    #1 James Gao, Mar 12, 2015
  2. illconn

    illconn New
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    I just recent cut some plates out of Acrylic(Extruded) and although they look great, they have a bit too much flex for me. I can move the gantry by hand(Y) hold one plate and move the other. I am going to re cut them with 3/8" cell cast this time and hopefully eliminate the flex or at least make it strong enough to cut some aluminum plates.

    Thank you for sharing the files, will keep an eye on this build :)
     
    #2 illconn, Mar 12, 2015
  3. James Gao

    James Gao New
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    Thanks for the feedback! I was afraid of the acrylic plates flexing as well, so I have an alternate design that doubles the plates to further reduce flex. See the updated build. However, keep in mind that the Y-gantry is moved in step with a pair of motors, so the variety of flex you're talking about shouldn't affect the build quality.
     
    #3 James Gao, Mar 12, 2015
  4. illconn

    illconn New
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    Agreed, mid job I paused the calibration drawing and it did not flex much. let the drawing continue and flexed while moving and the lines were not straight but it did not throw the drawing off At the end.

    Not bad.
     
    #4 illconn, Mar 12, 2015
  5. illconn

    illconn New
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    Also, I am really liking the Spindle.... I have some of those NTM motors and spare GT gears laying around. May have to give the spindle a go :)
     
    #5 illconn, Mar 12, 2015
    tore micaelsen likes this.
  6. Florian Bauereisen

    Florian Bauereisen Well-Known
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    Hi,
    now that you have stiffend up the gantry sides your z-axis now is your weak spot.
    I would originally suggest to lower your z to the minimum you may think of ( pcp milling only needs a few mil), and change your z to something more stiff, but as you already did produce your side plates....
    In order to use what you have i would recomend to "raise" your bed as high as possible. Simply use stacks of mdf.
    Like that your milling motor will be close to the support rail and this hopefully enables you to mill your pcb´s with the desired acuracy ( less flex in z)

    Keep it up

    greets

    flo
     
    #6 Florian Bauereisen, Mar 12, 2015
  7. James Gao

    James Gao New
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    I'm actually taking apart one of my existing 3D printers to put all the parts into the CNC mill. I'd like to retain the ability to 3D print by attaching my print heads to the Z axis-- this is why I left my Z axis so tall. I think my first project will be to mill 1/4" aluminium plates as an upgrade for this system. Thanks for your recommendation!
     
    #7 James Gao, Mar 13, 2015
  8. Bertrand Roy

    Bertrand Roy New
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    HI,
    Very nice build. I've been following it for a bit. I'm curious to know what software you are using. Are on on Windows or Mac? I just built my OX and am at a complete loss to know what to use. I am on Mac. I have a Smoothie Board to control the CNC.
    Just to tell you home much of a newb I am, I don't even know how to do the pen test...
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks.
    Bertrand
     
    #8 Bertrand Roy, Apr 27, 2015
  9. BismarckDon

    BismarckDon New
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    Hi,
    I really like your machine design. I'm currently building a machine of my own. (Custom OX) I also have a MyDIYCNC Bigfoot machine that I started with. My plans are to disassemble this machine and upgrade it to either a smaller desktop CNC or a 3D printer. I was thinking of trying to mill gantry plates and connector plates from sheets of acrylic. Your spindle idea is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
     
    #9 BismarckDon, Apr 27, 2015
  10. James Gao

    James Gao New
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    I'm on linux. I've carried over a bunch of knowledge from building and running 3D printers, so this wasn't too bad. As for software, I'm using TinyG2 for the controller firmware. TinyG has an excellent interface, http://chilipeppr.com/ that lets you control the mill via a web interface. It requires some extra software to be installed on the computer, but it's pretty straightforward. It should work with Mac just the same.

    Unfortunately, I've never managed to play with any smoothie hardware yet -- they've generally been extremely expensive. The pattern is the same though -- you have the smoothieware firmware that actually runs the steppers, then your computer runs some software that sends out the Gcode line by line. This should work on mac: https://github.com/winder/Universal-G-Code-Sender
     
    #10 James Gao, Apr 27, 2015
  11. James Gao

    James Gao New
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    The acrylic plates are surprisingly pretty good. My plates are super tall, so there is a small amount of side-to-side drift. However, the belt stretch is much larger than the plate bend! My only complaint with the design is mostly the weak Z axis. The spindle can shift quite a lot in the +/- Y direction, because the wheels can't apply as much force in that direction. Hence why the aluminum plates will have the extra spindle mount plate!
     
    #11 James Gao, Apr 27, 2015
  12. Daniel Dumitru

    Daniel Dumitru New
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    Hi !
    Nice machine and heavy documented !
    Could you please share the design files ? I would like to modify it a bit. I mean to use only 20X40 profiles.
    I am thinking of a PCB making machine with a Dremel like tool.

    Kind regards,
    DAniel
     
    #12 Daniel Dumitru, Apr 5, 2016
  13. Ronald van Arkel

    Ronald van Arkel Veteran
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    Hello Daniel,

    For the gantry you might look into a 40*40mm V-Slot instead of 2x 20*40 V-Slots; this will improve sturdiness and makes the build easier without breaking the bank.

    -Ronald
     
    #13 Ronald van Arkel, Apr 7, 2016
  14. Kaustubh Tripathi

    Kaustubh Tripathi New
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    Really great build. I would like to make one to suit my needs. Can you please share the openscad files?
     
    #14 Kaustubh Tripathi, Oct 10, 2016
  15. lunknowl

    lunknowl New
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    hi is this compatible with the 625zz bearing round
     
    #15 lunknowl, Nov 1, 2016
  16. lunknowl

    lunknowl New
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    hi can i get the openscad file of this?
     
    #16 lunknowl, Nov 18, 2016
    crazerico likes this.
  17. eifelfloh

    eifelfloh New
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    A really nice and clean build for millign small parts! Has anyone have the real frontplate? Cause fronplate and backplate X-Axis are the same...
     
    #17 eifelfloh, Aug 28, 2020
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  18. slow_bear

    slow_bear New
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    Is there any chance that we can have the 1:1 scale of the files in .pdf format? I do not have access to a milling / laser machine and I would like to cut them "by hand".
    Also the front plate and back plate are the same from what I could tell.
     
    #18 slow_bear, Sep 5, 2020
  19. JustinTime

    JustinTime Veteran
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    Why don't you convert them yourself? Google how to print .dxf files 1:1 or how to convert them to .pdf
     
    #19 JustinTime, Sep 5, 2020
  20. eifelfloh

    eifelfloh New
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    Ok...I´m not the greatest designer. But I´ve managed to draw two different front plates. Perhaps someone can take a look on this. The frontplate_test file was a scaled down frontplate from the OX design.
     

    Attached Files:

    #20 eifelfloh, Sep 5, 2020
  21. Giarc

    Giarc OpenBuilds Team
    Staff Member Moderator Builder Resident Builder

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    Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists and can open the .dxf files. You can then print 1:1 drawings in the drawings section. Of course you will need the ability to print on larger sized paper (maybe), or you will have to split the part. There may be free online tools that can do this for you as JustinTime said. I often use this function to print parts before I cut them so I can see if they will fit properly, or I will email the PDF file to someone that asked me to cut the part for them so they can check it first before I cut the part for them.
    upload_2020-9-5_10-13-29.png
     
    #21 Giarc, Sep 5, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2020
  22. eifelfloh

    eifelfloh New
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    Ok...the story continues.

    I´ve reworked the plates a little bit to fulfill my needs. At the moment I own a Shapeoko 2 without any updates so far.

    Because I´m not sure about milling aluminium and in the first step check if the design will work I´ve cut the first parts in multiplex birch (12mm).

    IMG_0096.JPG IMG_0097.JPG

    So far the parts fit right well. At the moment I need M5x80 screws :(
     

    Attached Files:

    #22 eifelfloh, Sep 12, 2020

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