Homebrew CNC Engraver

[kd8wdave]

For my 'second' post, I guess I can show my "homebrew" CNC machine. A little unsure how to show the pics
here, but will give it a try. The machine frame is made of 1-in black-iron pipe. Saw this style from THIS website and decided to give it a try. My machine uses the 'Arduino-UNO' module. It uses the 'grbl' software ver 9. The step/direction commands from the Arduino are passed to three controller cards that I made using PIC processors. The PIC's pass the necessary driver step sequence to some "Dual-H-Bridge" drivers that in turn, drive the stepper(bipolar) motors.
I found quite a few interesting issues that had to be dealt with, and found it quite enjoyable to work on. Shown is an very old 'dremel tool' that I had, and used for a bit for testing and checking out milling/engraving . I have received my new 3-speed spindle , but don't have it mounted yet. Other more important things to do first, but hope to have it done in the next month or two. My X axis(left& right) is about 450 mm. The Y axis (front&rear) is about 150 mm and the Z axis is about 75-80 mm.





I use a program called 'inkscape' to do the drawing of the work-piece. There is a plug-in on the software that converts this image to the required 'g-code' file for the machine. I have found that I do have to check the file for 'grbl' compatibility and I'm still learning how this should work for best results.

Here are a pic of my new spindle mounted on the machine. I just finished this up today after
getting caught up from the last weeks 'ham radio' field day operation.


Hope this all shows up okay.
cheers