Hello everyone this is my very first time building a cnc and i wanted some help. i just bought a new 3d printer and i have my old ender 3 laying around. i want to try cncing some pcbs or some parts from aluminum so i thought of making a cnc from the vslot extrusion and the electronics of the ender 3( motors, mainboard, screen, stop switches etc.). this is the design that i have come up with so far. my only problem is that the working suface is only about 20x20 cm and i still havent designed the tool carriage so that will probably get smaller. Do you guys have any suggestions on what could i improve. Also do you thing i can make it work and if it works will it be a useful machine or it isnt worth the trouble?
If you're only looking at doing PCBs, I wouldn't stray far from how the Ender 3 is already framed. You'll probably want to increase the depth of the X-axis beam to at least a 20x40 to give a spindle a wider grip. You'll also want another Z-axis motor to aid in raising both sides of the X-axis uniformly. For PCBs you may also want to change the Z-axis screws for something with a substantially lower lead to get better resolution. Finally, there are plenty of options in small DC engraver motors to use as a spindle. If you're wanting to do anything more than engraving PCBs, start from scratch. The existing system doesn't have sufficient strength or power to do any level of proper CNC work. As an alternative, your current system offers a pretty fair start on a laser engraver.
