How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily)

Step 6 Gluing Down the Pattern

Next step is to Glue the pattern to the MDF stock and Aluminum Tubing

1.Glue the tiled pages to your sheet stock (MDF) ensuring the edges match up
2.For the aluminum tube the pattern must be glued to two sides. If the Tube is laying flat on a table and you glue the side A patterns to the top side B can be glued on either of the side faces.

Tips:
-Use lots of glue
-Have something near by to help push down each piece
-Patience
(if anyone else has tips on doing this I would love to hear them)

Comments

[outland86]

Hi Everyone

We have a set of pre cut wood parts avaialble for this Router with all the edge boring done and cut professionally on a KOMO CNC..absolutely precise parts.
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some minor improvments and modifications have been made to the original design.

also for FREE....FREE....FREE

you can download free from our site an extensive and comprehensive set of plans for this machine that includes the DXF files of all parts drawn by a professional draughtman with dogbone fillets added to allow you to cut the parts uisng a CNC router..as well as a set of drawings ready to laser cut.
a parts list and indervidual part drawings including metal parts belts etc to make building this cool little machine a breeze..hindreds of hours of work went into these plans and cut files and they are your for free..no obligations.
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[abadv8]

If you plot the drawings on a laser printer, you can simply use a hot iron to transfer the details to your substrate as the toner is thermally activated... 

[Bellimor]

Just a note on this for anybody who wishes to use this method. It will be a mirror image of what is on the paper so if you have parts that are unique i.e require being cut on an angle or only partial depth keep it in mind as your left will become your right so flip the image before printing. Though from what i can see of the pattern it appears that it shouldn't really affect it, just thought I'd mention it as it is a common method used for etching PCB poards and I've seen many a board scrapped due to this

[rossjima]

Good point. You could also have it printed as a mirror image

[jperi]

Hi guys can anybody tell me how to  print this so its bordless that I can glue it one for one widouth cutting paper

[AllenKll]

For sticking down the paper, you could use rubber cement. I used to use it all the time for temporary gluing of paper patterns. It works quite well, and peels off with no residue. I've used it mostly on sheet metal, so the MDF may react differently. But it may be an option.

[wulfhardt]

Regular ol' 3M "77" spray adhesive also works well. Lay down a non-overlapping layer of wide masking tape/painter's tape over your work piece, then spray the backside of your pattern with 77, then stick it to the tape layer. After cutting is completed, the tape makes it easy to remove the pattern.

[ddl5290]

Trust me..  wulfhardt is right on.  
I layed down the masking tape, then sprayed the 77 on both the tape and back of the paper..  it dried in a few minutes and worked very well..  stayed on well for the cut process, and 
I had to go back and make some different motor spacers (to fit my motors) and just glued it to the mdf..  and wow I'm really glad I did that.

[rhymed]

I've tried this a few different ways and here's what I came up with.

About the gluing -
Attempt 1) Glued down with Duro All-purpose spray adhesive. It stuck very well, but was still able to be peeled off if you were very careful. Even after a week. I had sprayed only the board. Turned out the strength wasn't good enough because my saw pulled it up off the board which obstructed my view of the cut lines.
Attempt 2) Tried again with hard-core spray adhesive (3M 90-something) and sprayed both paper and board. This is a permanent bond, and it shows. The paper is part of the board now. It went on more bumpy than attempt 1, even after pressing it out (I used a roll of packing tape as a rolling pin to press it all out). However, when it dried, it was totally flat and tight. It might have helped that I brought it in from my garage to let it dry. It's not a damp garage, but the air is definitely more humid than inside my house.

The real problem I had with both glue attempts was just getting the pattern laid flat and in the proper location. I had the 1-page version printed (in two pieces) at the local FedEx/Kinko's, and I was laying it down on a 4'x4" piece of MDF. It was too hard to get the pattern lined up for gluing because I wasn't able to be precise enough. This was a lot easier the second time because I used an 8' x 4' piece of MDF (it was only $15). Then I cut out large chunks of the pattern in easy to handle sizes. I was able to spray the whole board and lay the, now manageable, pattern pieces wherever they fit easily. Once the glue had dried  roughly I cut away the unused MDF and was left with easily manageable MDF planks. That made it a lot easier to do the actual detail cutting of the machine pieces.

[Mansheep22]

Heya, I am laying the pattern down on the MDF as I speak (or am trying to) and I am having difficulty lining them up. In the picture above I notice reference lines, how did he get those on there? Do i need adobe writer to add those lines, or am I overcomplicating it?

[CADapult]

A possibility for sticking the patterns down would be a spray adhesive. 3M makes one that can be applied to either make the attachment semi-permanent, or easily removable. I've picked it up at Walmart.

[oomlout]

Spray adhesive is a great idea the applying the pattern with a glue stick can be a tad laborious. Regards Stuart

[Padlock]

some spray adhesives dissolve certain types of foam... I learned that the hard way.