Comments on: CNC Router Table Initiative Completion

By: Howard H

Howard H — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:33:59 +0000

Fantastic project. Love that you used a CNC to make the CNC router.
My question is, what CNC controller program on the PC did you use or did you write your own?
Keep up the excellent projects.

By: tanawoot

tanawoot — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:34:51 +0000

thank

By: jeff-o

jeff-o — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Looks fantastic! Did you keep notes during the build so that the CNC machine can be replicated?

What kind of precision can you achieve with it? Enough to mill surface mount PCBs?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Jeff,

I did keep detailed notes and hope to write it up when I get some time. I haven’t done much testing yet but I don’t think it’ll have the precision to mill tiny surface mount PCBs. It’ll probably be better for larger things.

By: DW

DW — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dude! That is **AWESOME!** You completely rocked that project. Love your build pics. Nobody takes better build pics than you, sir.

@jeff-o: I went on a blitz last weekend reconfiguring my mill and tuning it, and I’m now getting a consistent and clean 0.24mm cut in FR4. I’ll bring in for TON a few of the boards I’ve cut in the last couple of days. I got the stamp of approval from James yesterday, so I know I’m almost done.

By: jeff-o

jeff-o — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hey, that’s not too shabby!

Well, I’m looking forward to seeing more details as you guys have time.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is so interesting – congrats on completing it!

A few questions on usage

- what the maximum dimensions that can be milled?

- Are the different bits (tools) coded in or do you have to manually tweak for each bit

- Do you have to manually align this CNC machine to the workpiece each time? (x/y position of the work and z-zero) or is there feedback from the motor to detect loads such that the milling software can sense when contact with the piece has been made (self calibrating)

[magic future thinking... between this and the PCB router where he had been pre-milling the working surface, how hard would it be to build a standard laser distance measuring device to automatically identify and re-calibrate for each piece or raw material... which could allow milling of non-flat, especially unique surfaces]