This is just going to be a place to collect my adventures in low budget CNC.
So, I admit up front that I have veeeery little experience with CNC operations or equipment. I went to a class in Highschool at one point, where we each got to hit the "go" button on the CNC lathe and make some little aluminum souvenir. I have a little more experience with manual mills and lathes, but it's been awhile. I do have a working knowledge of how these things function, 3D printing has given me a decent base set of skills with hobby grade automated tools, components, software, etc...
Always wanted to be able to do more than just FDM plastic though, so a CNC router has been on my wish-list for quite awhile. Anyway, what pushed me closer to the edge recently was a snowball rolling downhill...
- Bought the Relic cocker pump from Lt. head-shot
- Bought a rental EMEK from djeclypse
- Modeled a "relic" style EMEK body
- Modeled some finger-groove EMEK grips
- Said to myself "Gee - these grips would look way cooler in hardwood..."
- Saw the CNC router thready from rawbutter
- Found a $100 gift card I forgot I had from some by-gone birthday
- Had an extra beer one night, and woke up the next morning with a router en route.
The Comgrow ROBO CNC, el cheapo hobby CNC router
The EMEK grips that I hope one day to hold in my hands
So, out of the box this was pretty easy to set up. it basically came in 2 seperate pieces: The table part, and the gantry part. I just had to attach the gantry (if that's the right term) to the table, and plug in all the wires. and Viola! Powered up! Buuuuuttttt, then I had a few hiccups.
- I couldn't get the spindle to run at ALL at first. Turns out there are a couple toggle switches on the main board, and they both have to be in the UP position in order for the spindle to run. It took me awhile to figure this out
- I couldn't get the manual controller to do all the thigs it's supposed to. The buttons on it are finicky, and hitting the "Back" button while in manual control sometimes makes it turn on the spindle, or change the movement increments....? Still haven't quite figured that one out.
- I kmew NOTHING about GRBL, or its interface, so that took some youtubing and manual reading
- I couldn't figure out how to Home the spindle. There are limit switches on all axes, So I figured it must be doable. Turns out you have to change a line in the GRBL settings to enable homing
- When it hits the limit switches during operation or manual control, it locks the machine, and it took me some time to figure out how to "unlock" it. Turns out in GRBL you have to hit "Reset", and then "Unlock" in that order
Anyway, I was able to get the basic functions down, and load up the sample routine for a first cut...
First Cuts made on the router. This is just a sample thingy they provide on the SD card. Turned out pretty decent
Success!
So, I admit up front that I have veeeery little experience with CNC operations or equipment. I went to a class in Highschool at one point, where we each got to hit the "go" button on the CNC lathe and make some little aluminum souvenir. I have a little more experience with manual mills and lathes, but it's been awhile. I do have a working knowledge of how these things function, 3D printing has given me a decent base set of skills with hobby grade automated tools, components, software, etc...
Always wanted to be able to do more than just FDM plastic though, so a CNC router has been on my wish-list for quite awhile. Anyway, what pushed me closer to the edge recently was a snowball rolling downhill...
- Bought the Relic cocker pump from Lt. head-shot
- Bought a rental EMEK from djeclypse
- Modeled a "relic" style EMEK body
- Modeled some finger-groove EMEK grips
- Said to myself "Gee - these grips would look way cooler in hardwood..."
- Saw the CNC router thready from rawbutter
- Found a $100 gift card I forgot I had from some by-gone birthday
- Had an extra beer one night, and woke up the next morning with a router en route.
The Comgrow ROBO CNC, el cheapo hobby CNC router
The EMEK grips that I hope one day to hold in my hands
So, out of the box this was pretty easy to set up. it basically came in 2 seperate pieces: The table part, and the gantry part. I just had to attach the gantry (if that's the right term) to the table, and plug in all the wires. and Viola! Powered up! Buuuuuttttt, then I had a few hiccups.
- I couldn't get the spindle to run at ALL at first. Turns out there are a couple toggle switches on the main board, and they both have to be in the UP position in order for the spindle to run. It took me awhile to figure this out
- I couldn't get the manual controller to do all the thigs it's supposed to. The buttons on it are finicky, and hitting the "Back" button while in manual control sometimes makes it turn on the spindle, or change the movement increments....? Still haven't quite figured that one out.
- I kmew NOTHING about GRBL, or its interface, so that took some youtubing and manual reading
- I couldn't figure out how to Home the spindle. There are limit switches on all axes, So I figured it must be doable. Turns out you have to change a line in the GRBL settings to enable homing
- When it hits the limit switches during operation or manual control, it locks the machine, and it took me some time to figure out how to "unlock" it. Turns out in GRBL you have to hit "Reset", and then "Unlock" in that order
Anyway, I was able to get the basic functions down, and load up the sample routine for a first cut...
First Cuts made on the router. This is just a sample thingy they provide on the SD card. Turned out pretty decent
Success!
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