3D printers are all the rage, but there’s still space for more traditional CNC machines. For their Hackaday Prize entry, [Andy], [Tim], and [Chris] are building the Sienci Mill – a simple desktop CNC mill that’s able to cut drill and carve everything from wood to circuit boards.
As far as desktop CNC machines go, it doesn’t get much more simple than this. They’re using steel plates for the rails, NEMA 17s for the motors, and a simple stepper motor driver Arduino shield for the controller. The more complex parts are 3D printed, and the BOM doesn’t add up to much.
Right now, the guys are testing their mill on wood, plastic, and aluminum. With 3D printed parts, they’re also able to test a bunch of different spindles from the ubiquitous router to the smaller Dremel. It’s a great project and should be fantastically cheap when the guys finalize the plans, making this a great entry for the Hackaday Prize.
Looks great. Gotta check the documentation – I’d love to build something like this myself : )
That may be lacking a little bit of rigidity. Just a little bit.
Yes it sure is. But I’d like one for artsy stuff that isn’t mission-critical.
My cheap Dremel would live and die on that rig.
Wobble, wobble. use something with more side stability. sigh…
I imagine the design detail of mounting it onto the cutting bed would help w/ rigidity just find for anything < metal work
Oh no Brian chose the wrong photo for our project! It looks totally different now. Here’s a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QukwNML1kk
I should think using angle stock rather than flat stock for the rails would fix the wobbles.
Indeed. I guess a T-Bar would help quite a lot, and you would not have to change much on the design.
looks very design’y but at least the shown flat-iron construction will simply not work. 3D-printed parts where mechanical stress will occur is another problem. Besides that, the thing is basically a shapeoko. The pictures on their project page show however quite some different designs and driving techniques but nothing fundamentally new. Will keep an eye on the project.
Is anyone making a hobby grade CNC that can actually handle metal?
If 4 floppy drives can manage it I don’t see why a CNC wouldn’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIc3XKVfYI4
Ha!
Depends on what you mean by handle metal. Leaving aside casting (which uses softer materials to make molds), there are laser cutters, and three approaches which can be tackled by a hobbyist to build their own. I am currently building a cnc plasma cutter. I have plans to convert an old bridgeport type mill to cnc. And I have been studying options for a welding wire 3d printer (At the moment I am leaning towards tig in a kiln).
I like that flex-o-matic frame
Yeah, the flex issue has been pointed out above.
Wouldn’t you be able to pick up 3 of these and they should be able to provide the rigidity
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-THK-CNC-LINEAR-RAILS-4-THK-HSR25CR-BALL-BEARING-BLOCKS-610mm-X-25mm-/201596859627?hash=item2ef01bf4eb:g:Z7oAAOSwnNBXUcF0
There a various thickness and lengths that can lower cost.
Oh hi everyone! I didn’t realize that we had an article written about us! Just wanted to let everyone know that the design you see on the post isn’t the actual machine right now. Please check out our page or website to see the actual design!
Never mind thanks it’s fixed