Re Plotter: Yes and no. You would have to beef up a few components as even a dremmel can easily create forces beyond the capability of the plotter mechanics.
But it's the same principle, and with a bunch of tools one can build his own system. Large or small. There are also kit's which would be a good foundation. Usable kit's do start below 2000$ and there are some for about 500$ as well. But once you start....... you will end up with a larger version every few month. And once you understand that the current version you have can actually make the parts for the larger version with the new cool options you thought abut.... you are well on your way down the rabbit hole.... but hey, see the one waving down there.... you got company...

Again, you got the principle right, but the thing must be more rigid.

Lemo

Lemo,
I was a little confused. Is your homebrew a "mechmate" or something else?

Care to share anything about it for us interested parties?

Thanks,
Burr

100% own design. I looked at the compromises others like ShopBot/Mechmate made and then set out to eliminate them.
What is it exactly you would like to know about? In general it's a steel frame with a gantry running on linear rails and a 3HP spindle.
Envelope is 43x77inches and the maximum travel speed is in the range between 2500 and 3500 Inch per minute. Scary fast....
I limited it to 1200 to prevent that the thing attacks me... The servo drives are a collaboration with a few European friends and is sold commercially now with success. The special thing about this machine is that it uses steel loaded timing belts instead of expensive ball screws or rack and pinion drives. The repeatability is within 1/1000th of an inch. I can't really measure it as it's more precise than the dials I have to measure it (thanks china!). 5/1000 are about the thickness of a sheet of paper. So the machine can run 100 times back and forth and still arrives at the point it set out within a 5/th of a sheet of writing paper. The servo motors use a US made encoder on China DC motors which have a skewered rotor to prevent cogging completely.
The new servo drive electronics coming out can drive dc motors with up to 20amps..... For that 30x40ft cnc muhahahaha. Just joking.... maybe... ha...
The trajectory planer is Mach3 from Artsoft. Right now we are building three machines for surprise clients. Below 10,000$ 4x8 bed and with spindle, pendant, tool setter. Rugged like a tank. Seems we are on to something...
Cheers
Lemo

Hi Lemonnado,
I suppose that answers that. I was hoping that it was something other than "you know what your doing"!

I was interested in the monster (very nice by the way) and was researching if I could do it myself. The problem for a hobbiest like myself is there is alot of information about alot of stuff, but I find either a guy making one out of "wood" or "cd drives", or a guy who knows what he's doing and what and where to by 10 hp servo motors and drive them!

I suppose a value would be a "takeoff" of your build (unless your going into the building them business) where a guy like me could say "ok, for $6000 I can buy all this stuff and assemble it and have a monster too!

The mechmate thing is hard to deal with as you said, I'm limited to what I can make on my 12 inch machine so I have to make a small machine, but once I have that I can make the bigger one until I get the monster, but by that time I should have just bought a beisse!

Just envy I suppose. Nice job.
Burr

PS. Nice casting tip. I think I will try that

It's a lot of small steps... I can't say it was easy to build it and there were moments where I rivaled Basil Faulty. Which made the moment when it made it's first steps special... I would be dead by now (considering the Spouse 'monitoring' the progress) if it would not have worked.... lol...
Lemo

Hi Lemo:

Thank you very much for your answer.
You are right. A former drawing plotter would be weak for manage a dremmel. I was thinking too in a Lego Mindstorm, but it´s the same.
The thing is that I really like this home-made devices.
I have seen (also for Burrman) a simply and cheap CNC device. Ideal for beginners.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6drMZqmyXQc&NR=1

I think that it would be a nice start! :-)

And after ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euo8IKf2CuQ

I started life as a fitter and turner (1940s) and, in my 60s, had a neat workshop--tool and die making, in my back shed (making stuff for a son).

I could cry with jeoulousy at those machines--how spoilt you all are!

Brian

Brian, believe me.... I KNOW!!! Hahaha. Go, build one!
Or get something like that:
http://tinyurl.com/6b4luj
That's the one I started with. Lot's of fun for the money.
Lemo

Hey Lemo,
Thats the machine my brother has now. Actually the microproto mill.

1/4 horsepower, very small size limit.

10 HP servo motors make my imagination bleed. Just recently set up the rotary and got the conversion worked out! It should be fun with MoI!

Burr

I still have the ghetto cabling.... But I added another axis.
My old old Bridgeport Mill had to endure another session of computer geek gone bad.
I machined a 4th rotational axis. Sort of a bbq spit rotisserie.
Here's the power supply in it's littl;e red box. The golden (TiN) chuck to clamp the work piece and the rather solid rotational axis. It's three inch aluminum.... Hefty enough to rotate a log.

The tailstock is equally beefy.

And here a sample of my name wrapped around a cylinder.
I would love to use MOI for that but it does not have a lot of projections for that. So Rhino is it for this specialty.

Maybe the future can bring a 'map onto surface' like Rhino has 8)))))))))))).
So... if someone would like to have something cylindrical engraved/carved. Business is open now!
Rainer

Hi Rainer, wow that has come along quite a ways now.

Do you have any other major improvements that you are planning on doing to it aside from the cabling?

- Michael

That work on a sphere?

Michael:
Cabling is now becoming a major issue as the 4th axis is introducing another cable. It's as simple as an investment into those cool cable carrier systems. $500 and it looks like a million bucks. The next and final stage is the 5th axis. That will allow full access for the cutting tool to the material in any angle. Dust collection is working perfectly. I just finished 17 Stair treads which had a very complex nose and back. I made the profile with MOI and used Rhino to create the tool path. Projecting the curves and creating the surfaces somehow was easier with MoI then with Rhino. I use MoI as my Swiss Army Knife and then Rhino for the confabulated and strange modeling tasks which justify the time spend with the slightly awkward Rhino Interface. Awkward because it's stuffed with goodies and thus a tick overwhelming. I use multiple programs and all the power programs like ZBrush or Rhino which have great 'depth' in regards to functionality are not necessarily my friends as it takes a lot of exercise to stay current with their work flow. MoI and Cinema 4D are great examples of complex applications which present the functions in a rather intuitive and easily accessible way.

Pilou: That will be possible with the last of my enhancements which is the 5th axis. That will turn the cutting spindle itself and thus allow the perpendicular orientation of the cutting tool to the material surface in any orientation. The 4th axis as it is allows more freedom already but still has minor limitations. Right now I can create a sphere, but projecting an engraving path on it is limited to an orthographic 2.5d method. If I keep the engraving flat, I can create pretty cool results on a sphere as long as I stay away form the poles. I have the plans ready for the 5th axis and the software as well. Only the money is missing... The 4th axis has to earn the money for the 5th. As did the three axis earn the money for the 4th. Unlike the US financial system, this machine has to earn it's keep.

I'll keep you updated. I plan to cut some real exciting stuff on the weekend.
Rainer


PS: Any chance for a cool surface following wrap tool Michael? ;}

I have seen that exist 13 axes!
;)

Hey Pilou, not the pipe bender again ? ;)
You need 13 axis if your bending pipes, maybe you should get yourself one.

Cheers

Hi Rainer,
What software are you considering. If toolpath from rhino, sounds like VisualMill?

I use RhinoCam V2. The big brother of Visual Mill. VM does not have the full set of modeling capabilities. So Rhino and RhinoCam is pretty feisty combo. Add MoI and making stuff is only limited by the imagination. And the size of the wallet... Vectric also has nice software but all the software including 4th and more axis support are in the $3000 upward region.
R

Hi Rainer, it will be cool to see the 5th axis added as well!

> PS: Any chance for a cool surface following wrap tool Michael? ;}

Yeah, this should be possible at some point, but I think probably won't fit in for v2 though.

Are you talking about a tool that would take 2D planar curves and then map them to follow a surface? That particular thing is not as difficult as trying to morph a whole solid to flow along a surface, so it will probably be able to happen sooner than solid deformations. But I don't think that it will get squeezed in for v2 though.

- Michael

Nice! No hurry. But a nice prospect.
If you send me a model I'll mill you a foot tall MOI in Wood.
Rainer