0.8KW DIY CNC

Finished the majority of the x axis and the surrounding frame.

Lord have mercy on my bank account
The tariffs they got on machined parts… 88% like what are we doing. Now I guess I gotta make everything myself to save money .

Machining Area -

290 x 315 x 88 mm

Do not ask me why it is like this I just put stuff and hoped. Plus the z axis ball screw I am too lazy to change, like im not redesigning ts for like 12mm or smth.

Added -

• Corner braces
• Way too much hardware
• x axis ball screws and linear rails (uses sfu1204 and MGN12)
• extruded aluminum
• overkill mounts for everything

Might do these daily.

Finished spindle finally. I’m like 90% sure that I’m done with this part. I just need to finish the rest which shouldn’t be too hard.

Did a lot of budgeting fixes and fixed some of the centering issues i had when setting up the gantry.

Cost of the machine atp is around 900-1000, but once the base is modelled and I can get estimates. It’d be around 1100, which is ok for this style of machine. Will need to work on that more though.

Finished the entire gantry (except later modifications for HGH blocks)

Changes:

• screws added to every single part (around 138 fasteners currently… my poor loctite bottle)
• small 3d printed part added to make sure the y axis stepper doesn’t move
• improvements to brace structure
  -fixed the pocketing
  -made small extrusion so the sfu nut housing doesn’t make contact
• fixed small parts not being centered (sfu nut housings)

What’s Next:

• finish adding linear rails to gantry
• figure out base material (i.e. concrete filled aluminum extrusion, epoxy granite filled aluminum extrusion
• finalize bed size (i’ve changed it like 3 times already)
• Design base
• add enclosure so I don’t have to clean as often
• fix the screw sizing (I have like 10 different screws atp 😭)
• figure out how my hand isn’t gonna break when assembling this

Went back to finish the spindle setup I had.

Added:

• screws to every single hole (excluding the y axis ball screw, y axis linear rails, and spindle clamp)
• added the nema 17 stepper to the top because I forgot to before somehow

Next things:

• make sure everything is actually machinable and that I can get access to a printer that can print ABS
• finish base and gantry

Finished most of the gantry, but small changes will need to be made once I actually get the parts.

Added/Adjusted:
-back plate for the y axis linear rails (MGN12)
-more parts of the frame
-Fixed the holes of each part (allowing a 0.2mm tolerance)
-Fillets to most parts

Finished spindle setup I’m pretty sure. Switched to sheet metal with some fillets bc i didnt like how thick the old design was and how complex it was.

New spindle redesign in progress. Old one had issues with how I was supposed to attach the y axis and the bearings being like 300 dollars for some reason. Also the spindle choice was poor due to its 220V requirement and me living in the US. So I switched to a better 0.8kW watercooled 110V spindle, which I had to design based off a terrible diagram.

More spindle related work. Made the body that connects the aluminum tubes + ball screw together. lots of pocketing needs to be done so it doesn’t weight 60 lbs. small improvements to the rest of the structure need to be made, but not right now.

I worked on a simple spindle setup based on the one on the Makera Carvera Air. This setup isn’t complete, since the pillow blocks are hanging out without anything attached, and minor changes to the aluminum plate connecting everything will be made.