This is the servo prototype and the cutting range is 43x77 inches. The odd size is the result of the space I could give it in my development cave. It can cut aluminum as well. The forces are laid out so it can even mill mild steel. It's a monster. The motors can dish out 10 HP on each axis. The power supply is hefty.... 850,000 gerbils.... took a while to get them to run in that wheel... but in the end.... it all works out ;). And if not, I got the government to bail me out... The system I am building for a client now cut's 6 ft by 18 ft. Architectural wood working.... I need his fork lift to lift the gantry.... Nothing is light on that machine.... Thanks for the compliments, once I put some lipstick on it I'll show it off again ;).

Lemo

Sounds like a great place to have a beer at the end of a day!

Hi Lemo, please post pictures as you tweak it more, it would be great to see it as you make progress.

And that big one sounds like a monster!

- Michael

It's also called 'The Draw-Bar' amongst friends....
;) hick...
Lemo

Here is a link to a small clip of the machine routing a moi boolean into pink foam:

http://www.onesmall.com/stuff/MVI_4792.AVI

I took the foam, dipped it into a slush of fire proof cement and then packed it into sand.
Then I used my little foundry to melt aluminum and filled poured that into the foam form.
The foam vanished instantly when the molten metal touched it and the product was an exact replica of my foam piece.
The test worked very well and my next experiment will be something more substantial.

It's almost winter now and casting outside is fun.
You face is nearly boiling off while the rear is frozen stiff...

Next improvement is a cable management system. With the high speed movements the cables really start to swing.
It's impressive how quick the machine can go considering that the gantry is about 200lbs.. My design efforts paid off.
The router in the first images is still in the shop but I did not use it any longer as I got hold of an industrial spindle.
The difference is that the spindle is driven by 0-400 Hz frequency and the router motor works like a vacuum cleaner motor.
Running the spindle 8 hours is no problem. The hobby router will die sooner or later.

Cheers
Lemo

Nice! Next time, try picking up the hot crucible with your rear. I think that will solve the problem :)

jonah

EDIT - just kidding. please DO NOT try this at home! :(

lol... hot pants....

Lemo,

How are you getting from GCODE or whatever you are using to control your machine?

Amazing!!!

A question. Would be posible to convert a classic plotter (the firsts plotters from 15 years ago, at least, those plotter that worked on the table and they must to change the pens) in a small CNC machine for details of a models, with -by example- a dremmel in the head?

I invested a few bucks and bought Mecsofts RhinoCam. One can go and create the toolpath directly from MoI or RHino models.
If that's a budget breaker, then Vectric.com (cut3d etc.) has a few nice packages which can produce useful output. Not as fancy as RhinoCam regarding the strategies, but useful nevertheless.

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