Comments on: Team Hack-A-Day CNC

By: asley

asley — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:29:45 +0000

no tengo nada k desir jajajaja xaoo

By: devil

devil — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:45:21 +0000

i from iran i like hack this website http://www.nahad.net
(website is for lider SURVEILLANCE in iran university and ANTAGONIST students and people iran
please fucking this website
thanks

By: Eric unterhausen

Eric unterhausen — Wed, 03 May 2006 01:10:13 +0000

there are dxf to gcode converters. Lots of cad programs will generate dxf. Not so good for 3d, but pretty good for lots of things. You may still have to edit the output to get emc to handle the file. That is one of many areas that Mach3 has over EMC. However, it costs money, it’s maintained by one guy, and Bill Gates can decide he wants to break it with the next automatic update, and you’re screwed. You can find it at http://www.machsupport.com/artsoft/index/index.htm You can download it for free and use it for limited length input files.

For those who don’t know, EMC can be found at linuxcnc.org There is a selection of live CDs and install disks that install a linux distribution plus the EMC software. I’m not up to date on the best distribution right now. It’s not a good idea to try to install it from scratch unless you know how to install RTAI or RTLinux.

By: Brandon Kinman

Brandon Kinman — Wed, 03 May 2006 00:18:08 +0000

Man! That would be awesome! I would love a hackaday CNC thread! I am also building my own CNC machine.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 02 May 2006 19:16:23 +0000

I trashpicked a couple daedal linear slides, bought another one, scrounged motors, bought a few parts, and put together a machine. Total cost was probably around $400, plus a couple hundred worth of free parts and stuff I already had.

I’m using the brain dead install of EMC to drive the mill and various little java apps I wrote to generate g-code. I’ve played with using qcad to make DXF and Ace Convertor for dxf -> g-code, that works fine, though Ace Convertor only runs under window s (for now…)

What are the rest of you using for software? One of my goals was to use all open source code, but there’s a read lack of CAM programs. sagcad is supposed to have NC output, but I haven’t been able to get it to work, or at least EMC doesn’t like the files it makes.

By: ivan256

ivan256 — Tue, 02 May 2006 17:24:17 +0000

Everybody interested in homebrew-CNC should check out John C Kleinbauer’s site. (http://crankorgan.com/) He’s got lots of designs. I built his ‘Brute’ a few years back. It wasn’t very difficult, and it only cost me about $350. If you buy his plans you get access to his forums which are full of very helpful people, all of whom have experience building homebrew CNC.

By: Jimmyd7

Jimmyd7 — Tue, 02 May 2006 16:29:58 +0000

You can’t find a better hobby cnc website than http://www.cnczone.com. There isn’t a need for an additional forum when a website like cnczone.com exists. Go there and check them out.

By: Javamoose

Javamoose — Tue, 02 May 2006 14:14:46 +0000

I’m almost done building my CNC machine, from scratch. All aluminum construction, servos, Gecko brand drivers, THK ballscrews and rails. I’m using a 2-1/4 HP DeWalt router as the spindle, the working area will be about X-22″; Y-22″; Z-5″. I’ll be able to cut plastic, aluminum, and brass/copper.

All told I’m in about $2,500, which is way less than it would have cost to buy a similar machine. You can cut the price by using scavanged steppers, basic hobby controller (or roll your own), and a laminate router for the spindle. Use all-thread and gas-pipe with skate bearings, instead of ballscrews and rails. MDF for frame, instead of aluminum.

By: linix

linix — Tue, 02 May 2006 13:28:06 +0000

im going to try this. ive got a little pic controler i just need the programer for it. i also have a stepping motor, but, i need 2 more. i will see about building the x/y/z plains out of an old modified slab mill.

By: folding_from_canada

folding_from_canada — Tue, 02 May 2006 09:38:20 +0000

yay come join team hackaday!
we’re a generally nice bunch.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 02 May 2006 08:01:31 +0000

About eight months ago my FIRST robotics team aquired a a 1960s bridgeport NC mill. Both the mill and the controller were in excellent condition, considering that we found them in a junkyard. The problem, of course, was that the mill controller looked something like this (http://www.wimb.net/sec_slosyn/img13/01mnc.jpg) and ran on punch tape. Not having an idea where to start, we started to call slo-syn (the maker of the controller) and bridgeport (the maker of the mill itself) asking for the syntax for running the mill over punch tape. We more or less got laughed at by everyone. Finally, as a last ditch efford, we emailed the webmaster of http://www.wimb.net. He promtly emailed us back with a full PDF copy of the mills originally manual. With this information in hand, we have designed and built a replacement controller for the mill that is roughly the size of a desktop computer. It is basically a bunch of relays that can communicate with a computer over USB which emulate the punch tape moving through the reader, and a microcontroller which emulates the logic of the original controller. We are currently in the process of writing a piece of software to parse gcode into the binary to which emulates the punch tape.

Why do I tell you this story? A few reasons. One, if you want a low cost CNC solution, ressurecting an old machine may be a good idea if you have some time. Our project has cost our team a little over 1000 dollars, most of it going to initial mill purchase. The project could be made much cheaper with a smaller mill. Secondly, if you are trying to do this, the guy who runs http://www.wimb.net is a great resource, use him. Third, when we eventually reach some sort of finished state, expect a much better writeup submitted here.

By: Eric unterhausen

Eric unterhausen — Tue, 02 May 2006 07:59:30 +0000

I waste tons of time on this subject. I really like CNCZone.com

There are very few limits on what you could make.

By: mastershake916

mastershake916 — Tue, 02 May 2006 06:55:02 +0000

Come, and look around!

By: Crash

Crash — Tue, 02 May 2006 05:53:59 +0000

I was just considering building one of these yesterday.. -Odd..- Out of a crane game setup.

http://hackaday.com/entry/1234000510073660/#comments
- Called him on his bullshit.

By: navtiidia

navtiidia — Tue, 02 May 2006 05:42:37 +0000

hey cool we made it…
consitering this made it on here… my thread on the forums about the AQUILA-L1 tablet might be post-worthy i guess. i mean it was on digg. im also sooo happy to see one of our projects getting up on here… YAY THAD