Make your own cnc controller

Build your own CNC controller for next to nothing from rubbish
You can build your own CNC controller for a HM30 or Junior mill. The CNC controller is able to move the table at a max rate of about 200-300 mm/minute.
The controller is built basicly from parts from a fisher and pykel washing machine from the tip. Three motors are required.

Step 1 Connecting stepper motor to milling machine

Finding the stepper motors
The motors from a fisher and pykel washing machine are removed along with the control board. Three motors are required.
Connecting the stepper motors to the HM30 machine
The hole at the end of the plastic housing the motor spindle, slips over the end of the x,y axis on the mill table. The spindle is shortened and drilled to allow the shaft from the table to slide into the shaft from the washing machine. A tapered pin and hole, hold the two together.

Comments

[alexis_4315]

Very Impressive Idea...

[nicolas.k]

Excuse me ,r u a university student? oh , Trick or treat, haha!

[amcmahon]

YOU FAIL! haha

[alexis_4315]

what ever.

[CNCmakers]

Cool, you are better, how about the accuracy after your work done? what we do is just replace the original CNC control and AC servo motor & drivers. here is our work of retrofitting a second hand Mori Seiki CNC lathe: http://www.cncmakers.com/cnc/Tech_Support/CNC_machine_retrofitting.html

[SubMicro]

Great instructable but seems to leave out allot of detail needed to replicate.

[Jkirk3279]

"So I added a couple of input contacts that are activated from a sliding rod that give feed back as to when the table is moving, and it virtually gives me no error (step size is 0.0179mm)."

You mean you bought an official kit, like from NewAll ?

That would explain the precision. About the only way to beat the backlash in an older machine.

[djinn1987]

good guy so good i am from China ,"come on" chinese is<  ¹- jiayou>

[Mudsucks]

Great Idea charcoal999, But I looked at your driver circuit and don't understand why you didn't use the washing machine driver itself. It takes mains ac and rectifies it to a dc bus voltage then chops it up to drive the three phases of the motor at up to +/- 1200rpm. The input to the driver section could be cut free from the washing machine cpu and fed directly from a breakout board or cheap micro-controller. Regards Mudsucks.

[keioku]

Great Cool Instructable

I hope more information about  your comment.
How does it (a sliding rod) works ) ?
----------------------- your comment -----------------
So I added a couple of input contacts that are activated from a sliding rod that give feed back as to when the table is moving, and it virtually gives me no error (step size is 0.0179mm).

[whitworthsocket]

Charcoal, "Im Inspired". I am familiar with the Fsher And Paykel motors. Through research on using them as wind generators. There are a few different models what model did you use? Where can I download your CNC software? Keep up the good work REgards Whitworthsocket

[SeaCaptain]

I absolutely love Instructables, because of people like you who are willing to share their excellent information! Thank you! This looks like a great project which I just might try.

[fgleich]

Why did you not use the linux software, EMC ? FREE FREE FREE

[charcoal999]

I Don't think it was around while I was doing this project. I will look at it when its available.

[mrwolfe]

A switching current regulator would be better. You could use a 555 or an LM317 to turn M1 off for 10us or so when the current hits 2.1A. If you get it right the average current will be 2A, and it will have a high risetime.

[charcoal999]

That would probably be more efficient... but the stepper is a bit sensitive to any bumps in the voltage and all though not as elegant or as efficient , the output is smoother using the above. I did try a switching regulator and when I put a scope on the pulse train going to the stepper it was not quite what I was after.

[4star]

does and one know how how the 2axis cnc can be controll through a high level prog language like C/C++.

[JorLouJr]

What´s the motor resolution (how many steps per turn) ?

[charcoal999]

The motor resolution is 0.0178 mm per pulse, and I think there are about 48 coils in the motor which is used in a half step mode. I should say the motor resolution is much better than the mechanical resolution of my milling machine which lets me down.

[JorLouJr]

TurboCNC would fit the bill pretty nicely ... it´s free and can run on very old PCs ... www.dakeng.com

[charcoal999]

Yip... I must have tried about 20-30 software packages and found that most of them are to involved to do anything quickly, also I had no control over things such as speed ramping and optomising the cutting time, I kind of wanted something that I could manualy draw in the cutting path and then just have it do it in 3-D

[bishopdante]

All those lovely old machines that can be robotised. Yeah. The future lookin' GOOD.

[ivanirons]

Cool Instructable. You are very creative and technical. I like the electrical schematic. Very helpful.

Good work,
Ivan Iron
CNC Video Tutorials
http://www.cncinformation.com

[panic mode]

it is a cool instructable and i don't mean to be negative but schematic is not complete and it has few things that need to be corrected. for example shown diodes in bridge rectifier are way to small for the job and AC is not connected properly to bridge.

[charcoal999]

Pointing out errors is a constructive comment, thanks. You are correct the schematic shown was actually from a microcap simulation program to check that it was going to work(I could not put in diodes required in the program but the program does not blow up). The actual bridge rectifer used was one of the box type that can handle 50 amps.And yes one side of the AC should not be connected to ground it should be connected to the other side of the bridge,not sure how that happend I must have tidied up the schematic and changed it.

[charcoal999]

Not so creative, just didn't have the money to spend but had the time and inclination. Hope it helps someone.

[gkimber2]

I know this is off topic, but did anyone notice that if you use a wheel mouse to scroll paste the first picture the disk on the right side of the photo appears to rotate? You have to hold your eyes still and roll the page up and down.

[wbreslin951]

ur on crack lol. jk bro.. i tried it and didn't see nothin

[davebrown]

you're right... good call

[GorillazMiko]

Oh wow... dang... nice job, this is very nicely done. Great schematics, great pictures, looks like A LOT of work.

[charcoal999]

Hi, Yes it is a bit of work but very satisfying once it works. And if you enjoy making engines etc, it makes the task fun instead of mundane.

[guyfrom7up]

I've made something similar, instead I used some 4-axis divider and I used 4 PicStep drivers. Etching the boards were terriable. transfering the toner, soacking it, hours hunched over the sink removing little bits of paper between fine traces with a tooth pick. Hunched over the sink more, swishing the etchant. Hunched over, drilling hundereds of holes. sitting, soldering hundereds of joints. soldering 160 leads for data and power cables, it was terrible. Hopefully when I'm done with my 36 volt, 8 amps power supply I can finally test all of my stuff!

[charcoal999]

I used to do process control so I think the PICAXE chips are "better than sliced bread" and very easy to program and use. I did the same thing with the printing then photo-copying to get toner on photo paper and then wash off the paper(took ages). But if you check out jaycar they have a system which uses the toner which is a lot less hassle. My system evolved over time so it was not that big a drama to make. At 8 amps sounds like you might be able to drive FLATTOPS bicycle

[thebboy]

what does cnc mean

[wiml]

it stands for "computer numerical control", it just means a computer-controlled milling machine or other shop tool.

[thebboy]

oh thanks. this looks really cool, but wouldn't serve someone like me any use.

[Trent The Thief]

It might not. But learning how to program one using Logo or other controller language could come in handy sometime. I once took a part time job and ended up writing scripts for a machining laser that cut out pieces for microwave filters and amplifiers. Anytime you can get a chance to learn something cool you ought to take it. Ya never know. Besides, you could build it and sell it to some woodworker to run his router.

[thebboy]

too complicated for a kid like me.

[flattop]

Are they stepper motors or brushless DC, kinda like an enormous CD-ROM motor? Or are the two pretty much the same thing? You've got me wondering if you could make those into hub motors for an electric bicycle or cart.

[charcoal999]

They have ring of alternate N/S magnets in a plastic rotor on the outside and coils (as in pic) on the inside(stator). They could be used for an electric bike, the one with wire size 1.2mm is best (would probably work with 12 volts) as it has less inductance and allows current to flow quicker for faster rev's.