Home made CNC router

Techible.net engraved with CNC router

Ever wanted to cut some wood with very, I mean VERY high precision?  Or just want to do some cool engraving? I have what you need. A home made CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) router.

This is a router that can be controlled by computer and depending on the mechanics with a very high precision. The engineering and actual building of the machine took me several months. But is was worth the effort and the money. Yes, this isn’t a zero dollar project. If you want a good machine you’ll need good components. And these cost money.

The whole machine consists of 3 main components:

• The mechanics
• An electronic controller
• A PC running LinuxCNC

A first step in the engineering process was to find the right components for the mechanical part. I had some old laser printers available to take the stepper motors from. An old laptop, equipped with a LPT port will be used to run LinuxCNC and send the commands to the controller.

Things I had to buy:

• The linear slides where ordered from http://www.isel-cnc.fr/hobby/ in France,
• the stepper motor controllers and a micro controller development board where ordered from http://www.futurlec.com,
• the router, wood, lead screw and small components where bought in a local hardware store.

An other thing needed to be done was to place some limits on the footprint and cutting area size. To minimize the footprint I’ve chosen to build a gantry setup. In this setup the workpiece doesn’t move, it’s fixed to a fixed table.

The CNC router

Box with stepper motor controller

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