Looks great .

If you would, please provide a Sketchup file saved in v2016 or lower for those of us who don't have 64bit systems. Thx.

 

Very nice build. I can see a micro mill like this being very handy to have around! Well done, a excellent addition to the Openbuilds line up.

 

First and foremost, I would like to thank Mark for giving me the opportunity to work on this wonderful project. Being able to work and collaborate with Mark was a great experience, and the result is an amazing little machine that I'm sure will fill the needs of many hobbyist and builders out there

I started my build almost a year ago, so I’ve had the pleasure of playing around with this my little beauty for quite a while now (time flies with you're having fun) I've gained a lot of knowledge about the machine and it's capabilities over that year, so please feel free to hit me up if you have any questions, concerns or ideas.

Stay tunes, as I’ll be posting my build soon with what I think are some great upgrades, a few Do's & Don'ts and some super fun projects.

Sonny

Here's a little teaser of my baby



Too be continued...

 

Thanks Anthony!!

I might be a bit bias but I think this is the perfect machine for just about anyone, even if you already have an OX, or C-Beam XL, or whatever. Adding this to your stable will open up so many fun projects for an avid builder/maker. I've made everything from Dog Tags to Car Parts, and with the bundles added Y Axis travel (mines a bit less), well, it just increases the possibilities!!

Here's a T-Slot Table that is a bit longer in Y to utilizes a little of that extra travel

For anyone curious, I'll being posting the T-Slot Table in the Projects section soon

Getting ready to cut some "Screw Type" Tie Downs to replace the ones in the photo...



Another few (the slots are a tad big on this one, next time the fit will be much better



Screw Type Tie Downs...



Sonny

Edit:

Here's a quick shot of the Screw Type Tie Downs holding more stock of Standoffs...

 

That's the true beauty of this build, it is very easily modified or extended to a large milling volume. I would love to try a true spindle on my baby, but for now the DeWalt is doing pretty darn good ;-) Love, love, love, those Clearpath Servos

 

Nice build Sonny and Mark!

Due to the simplicity, this might THE kit for starters that are on a budget but want a machine that is precise and has enough balls .

-Ronald

 

Yes. YES.




11/10 OB Team.

 

Thanks Ronald,

Another great aspect of this machine is how truly portable it is. When I first built mine I would carry it outside onto my deck, machine away and then bring it back in the house for storage. As you can see from my first photo, I now have it in an enclosure, which is living happiely in my storage room, so no need for a garage or work shop either. It is an extremely versatile machine in many ways

Sonny

 

Julius,

It's more ridgit than it might appear, although I've not machined aluminum I have machined 360 brass, here a short video of a brass fidget I made. The first video doesn't show a lot of actual machining, but it at full speed, the second shows a bit more machining...

Fidget

OB FIdget

Here are the machining parameters, I have since started roughing at 1.5mm DOC and 550mm/min

Bit Size:
1/8" Carbide 4 flute Flat End Mill .375" LOC
Feeds & Speeds:
Spindle Speed setting #1 on Dewalt DWP611 (~16,000 RPM)
Roughing was 0.75mm DOC 100% step-over at 500mm/min.
Finishing was 4.83mm DOC (full thickness), material removed, .1mm at 200mm/min.
Materials:
360 Brass Flat Bar

 

This design looks perfect for some fast desktop PCB milling of antenna arrays we've been working on. The portability is a huge plus so one doesn't have to be in a shop setting to get rolling or use up machine time on a larger machine for board prototyping. Especially for fast PCB production this looks like an amazing build. One thing I could recommend to help keep chips, etc out of the C-Beam cavity are bellows from McMaster-Carr. it can be easily cut and glued to the ends of each X/Y actuator. One could also probably find this stuff on eBay too.

McMaster-Carr

 

There should be no reason you couldn't extend X that far, it might be a good idea to add a little support to the end though!?!? As far as the mod, the easiest way to go would be to buy the MiniMill bundle and add a 500 mm Lead Screw and C-Beam Rail. You would simply cut both to your desired length.

Sonny

 

Steve,

I can't compare the two as I've only built the MiniMill, but I can tell you why I built the MM instead of a C-Beam (I'm sure Mark can jump in on this one). However, for me the MM was about being more of a conventional style CNC VMC. More of a 3D Contouring machine vs a "plate maker". Here are a few design bullets points that we worked toward...

• Small Form Factor/Footprint
• Light Weight
• All Stock Openbuilds Parts
• Modular/Expandable
• No custom plates required
• 3D Contour Machining

The OB MM does all of this very well and I believe I'm only touching on it capabilities as milling center so far. Can I say for sure I would build both a C-Beam and MM, I can't, but I can surely find merit in both machines and they have dissimilar enough capabilities that I'm convinced I could justify it

Now compare it to the C-Beam XL and that's another story (it's in my build queue ;-)

Sonny

 

Lim,

I think I can answer most of this for you, but I'm sure Mark will chime in as well.

1. I have cut a lot of 1/4" 360 Brass (no Alm yet) and I can say I gotten results within 0.02mm (maybe closer). For instance, I can circle interpolation the 16mm hole in my brass fidgets and the bearing will press in with no need of glue or have any binding on the bearing. I've not check the actual roundness of the hole though...maybe on the next one!?!? As you know circles are one of the hardest find to machine as there are no straight cuts, the machine is constantly moving in X & Y. They are always a good check of a machine accuracy, one we use at the SHOP all the time

2. I would think as long as you're willing to limit the DOC you can cut pretty thick parts. The more limiting factory might be the endmill itself. It's hard to cut 1" thick alm with an 1/8" endmill regardless of the machine, there is a lot tool push-off. All of this can of course be lessened by adjusting feeds and speeds.

3. Yes...for the most part I do this all the time, it's how a skim the top of my spoiler plates. You do need the Job Knobs on all three axis. The only limiting factory is locking the axis you are no moving!?!? So far that has not be an issue for me as side load has always been minimal. Depending on your control software of preference you might be able to "lock" a given axis!?!? That would definitely change the game Another method would be to add a small tapped block and set screw (or even better, some of THESE) attached to the gantry plate that would allow you to manually lock that axis (like a conventional machine). Great!!! Now that upgrade is running through my head, I guess I know what I'll be designing this evening

Hope that helps,
Sonny

 

I've done a LOT of aluminum on mine (Yeah one of the perks... got access to one prior to release )

Here's a quick glamour-shot style video of it in action cutting some 3mm Alu sheeting (with 1/8th straight single flute router bit, Dewalt 611 router)

 

Definitely!!!

Make yourself a jig to hold the necklace bar and this would be super easy to do and super fast. If that's all you do, you could even run a much smaller spindle like THIS ONE.