mini CNC routers/mills

I got a late start today in the shop. I's still working on the necklace for the cameo project, but I stayed up until 3am the night before getting the CAM ready for it. I also wrote CAM for the match boxes so I'm excited to go into mini production run mode on those. Today I started the necklace milling and while that job was running, I started work on a mini CNC router that I'm building for when I teach workshops on CNC and need to travel. This CNC is built with 3D printed parts and basic hardware. It's a simple little machine that will be good for milling foam and plastic molds and parts. I did decide to put an aluminum plate bed on it. It should turn this thing into a little tank. As I was making it I was thinking that most of the printed parts could/should be built in metal. 

Anyway as I was making this one, I started scrounging for some parts and came across a bunch of linear motion parts that I had along with some aluminum extrusion. I decided to start making an even smaller but super heavy duty version of my larger CNC router table but completely out of metal and with NEMA 23 steppers. I already have a Gecko G540  box to run it and I even have some ball screws that I can incorporate. The last picture is a teaser photo of the spoil board for the heavy duty CNC. I decided to give it a grab handle for carrying vertically. Stay tuned for more pics of these machines as they come together.

Again, it feels really good to just be doing manual layout and building on the fly. I'll CNC mill the parts I need to, but for now this allows me to build while my CNC cuts other things.

charles babbage

I showed this video to my Machines that Make course this past week.

waterjet

low cost waterjet

1" belt grinder

I've been working on modeling this little 1" x 42" belt grinder (still need to finish modeling the belt tensioner though). I already have one of these and it's my favorite grinder. My Dad and I built it a long time ago and I've used this thing like crazy. I used it all through my grad years at U of I and I know many other people used it while I was there, including friends and students. My Dad and I have built other small grinders over the years, but this one is just always been my favorite design. Right now it lives in my home studio, but I really want one for my main studio as I sometimes want something a bit smaller for some of the contour shaping that I do. While I'm on sabbatical, I'm thinking about building a few of these little grinders to sell. The grinder is a light enough that's it's portable, but strong enough that you should be able to lean into it without damaging anything. Mine has seen a lot of abuse and it still running strong. If anyone out there is looking for a strong little grinder, drop me a note (and let me know you might be interested in purchasing one) and I'll see what it would take to bust one of these out for you. I'll determine pricing after I get a list of a few people who might be interested. If there is enough interest then I might even start to develop some attachments for it. A platen is definitely on the list of things to add, but I've been using my current one without a platen for many years. I'll create one to include with this one in the next couple of days. Personally, I'm sick of all of the new small delta and craftsman grinders that seem to break when you look at them. Our studio on campus has one, and it's nothing but a cheap piece of junk. If you're looking for a robust little grinder let me know.

bird song