wait,,,, huh??? I thought you were some 100-300k subscriber channel. That was your first video?? Gawd Dayum man

One suggestion when wiring stepper motors. If you have four wires, then they are in two pairs. If you don't know which pairs go together, you can easily figure it out. Just connect a two wires together. Then try to turn the motor by hand. If it turns easily, then those two wires don't go together. When you get the correct pair, the motor will be hard to turn. Also, if you have a motor that is going the opposite direction, you can simply swap how one of the pairs is connected to your controller board. For example, if you have a black/green pair and a red/blue pair, you can just switch around how the black and green are wired or how the red and blue are wired. You only have to do one pair and you don't swap between pairs. Of course, you can also change direction in the software that you use to control the machine if you don't want to swap wires.

Thanks Ben! Your contribution to the hobbyist community is much appreciated!

Great build. Well done indeed :) . When I began designing and building my first CNC router, I had no idea that CNC machines even existed. Yup, I was THAT ignorant! That stated, this 1/4 ton machine is 13 years old, and still runs like a dream, even though it is made from components that you'd find in hardware stores. It is amazing what you can build, if you are truly determined to make it happen :) .

Great video and kudos for the tons of information given for building your own. Most of all thank you so much for no distracting music especially the over played and over used royalty free music. You gave a lot of information in a short amount of time. Very well done. Thanks!!

Thanks for both videos! Great job on making the machine.

You dont want your Y longer than your X, because of accuracy. You cant support your Y while you can support your X. A longer Y will give you less acccurate results. You can level your X over the total length (adding support). Thats why all the big CNC are also build this way.

Thank you very much for all your hard work and the clarity of your explanations! I'm so new to CNC that I haven't even started yet, but these posts were very understandable. You said you're considering adding a second Y-Axis motor and its associated hardware to prevent wracking of the X-Axis gantry. Replacing the aluminum cross-bar with one is 180mm wide (the Y-direction width of the gantry) ought to greatly increase the geometric fidelity. Looking at the Autodesk model it may be that cut-outs where the ball screw ends or altering the gantry's limits would be necessary, but this is a lot less expensive and complicated than all the hardware land electronics for the additional motor. Just a thought...

Looks like I get to be the first to thank you for sharing all this! Building a diy cnc router I would have considered to be foolish until I saw this (and your first video). Excellent work!

Thank you for the video series! Very inspiring. You sir are an engineer. Its not about the credentials, it's about the projects under your belt. They speak volumes on a resume.😊 Interesting design. I would like to try using one stepper motor for the x-axis on the extruded aluminum. Use some type of belt system with Gilmer pullies. Like a timing belt for an engine. I think it would save you a buck or two to have these round rails drilled and tapped along the length. Something like the rail system of a roller coaster. Utilizing the same c-shaped sliders you have. Drill them all the way through, use allen head threaded rod and your t-nuts. Had to add my two cents like a real troll 😅

Thanks, I got a really good perspective thanks to you. I will look forward to your next project.

Great work, fantastic tutorial. Thanks Ben!

Thank you for a very nice and clear video and I think your mechanical set up is much better than many other machines you see here on YT. I am considering to build one machine of my own instead of the Chineese one that I have. To get a stabile mechanical frame is essential and it's not necessarily making the design more expensive. Having two Y-axis ball screws is a good idea and also to attach the Y-rails directly to the table, as you have done, is good for stability. I would also use linear rails but I would choose roller guides instead of ball guides. Hiwin have linear roller bearings as small as 15 mm (RGH or RGW) to a reasonable cost. I would also make it possible to have the option to install double ball nuts on each ball screw and here by be able to do away with any clearance. It is important to get the ball-screws as close to the centreline of the spindle as possible in order to minimize the length of the lever that the cutting forces will exsert on the linear guides and the X-axis cross beam. I am even considering to have two Z-axis screws moving the entire X-axis up and down. Double screws makes it possible to fine adjust the right angle between axis. You didn't mention what type of axial bearings you use for the ball screws. Double row angular contact bearings I believe is a good choice (I changed to 3200 in my machine). Thanks for chairing your build and as a mechanical engineer I appreciate the structure of your build.

Incredible job, I’d love to be able to do this someday.

Great explanation. Thank you.

Thanks for sharing again!

The machine you built has made some lovely work = it is good enough for what you need. Personally, I wouldn't upgrade it if you want a better machine. Build the next one with this one. You can never have too many machines, especially if you want start production. If not, sell it as is, as I say it is a great machine and someone would pay good money for it.

Thanks for the breakdown! This (and the original video) are my absolute favorite content on KZfaq - keep it up! Would be great to know what the actual $ spend was in any future similar videos of whatever you build next!

Absolutely incredible work, now you just have to master your audio 😋

An axbb-e running uccnc is a good upgrade on controller boards. It’s what I’m gonna use on my large machine

Mr. Ben, you have a predicament on your hands, it's what we call one o' them "good problems": you have an entire audience waiting for content, vs a bunch of content waiting for an audience. Make some more "everything" please, this is good stuff.

thanks for the info friend... and putting up the stl files and stuff ty a lot !!

Thanks for this heads up in the comment from the other video man. Brilliant stuff here.. I priced 6060 from the UK and it's bloody cheap. I'll be buying that soon while it's cheap as chips and I've already looked at a .8kw Spindle & VFD so it'll cost around 5/600 euros which is great.. Thanks for all this great information man..

opto-isolators are for electrical isolation not noise suppression. You can have earthing problems or voltage spike pick-up which can damage (kill) the Arduino or other controller. As you discovered shielding is the answer for noise but does not mean the optos are redundant.

Thanks Ben. Please more videos :-)

Thanks a lot

Thanks!

Sculptris is also a good free 3d design program as well I use for all my work and blender. If you can still find it that is.. I have not used the z brush basic, but that maybe a a good program as well.. But don't quote me on that one.. Doing a diy build on one of these my self.. Your build guide is great to use for reference.. Thanks for the vid..

When I designed my machine (very similar but with more aluminium extrusions and bigger machine) I noticed the flat plate gantry sides were my main source of problems. Plates offer surprisingly little rigidity for their weight. So, I ended up using extrusions for the gantry verticals as well. Same weight, much more stiffness.

thanks ben!

👏👏👏Its good to see someone build their own from scratch, it aint easy but it is rewarding and you get to know how a CNC works very well this way. Well done👏👏👏 Now the fun really starts , add a 4th axis and do some real advanced 3d carving 😄Swap out that board for a 4 axis 32 bit controller, about 50 USD , add the chuck and carve away. It's a lot more fun , then you can add a tool changing head eventually if you want but that is really another league. You could also add a Laser head by just swapping the spindle for when you need it, a good 20 Watt diode will be perfect forit, just watch your spoil board though! Add a Probe and E stop as well. Try and stick with GRBL and dont bother with Mach 3/4 , the main hobby community uses GRBL and although Mach software is far better you can do pretty much anything you want in GRBL and its easier to get support when you need it. Mach 3 & 4 is for professional users mainly and while I do use it on one older CNC machine my newer ones all run GRBL.and work just fine....

Looking at what features you want to use for your improved CNC does a pretty good description of the PrintNC project. If you want plans for a lot of the features you mentioned, look up PrintNC.

Awsomw z brush skills. the carvings look great

Thank's Ben. You got so much "right first time" with this machine. The Wishlist for next time will predictably cause "Budget-Bulge", but not every item needs to be included at day one. For example, swapping the router for a spindle shouldn't require a major rebuild, if done later. I understand the appeal of exchanging the X and Y axis dimensions; would the greater span of the gantry still be OK in terms of rigidity? Chris, on his iforce2d channel, made a CNC Router that uses a single stepper driving two ball-screws by a GT15 toothed belt (I think), moving the gantry. This appears to work really well, and should be cheaper than doubling up on steppers, drivers, homing switches, and the requirement for a homing routine to square the gantry at each startup. Again, thanks for these videos; I have filed them in my "Workshop & Tools" folder, as reference pieces for the future! 👍 😃

Forget half the comment I’ve made on the previous video. You seem to have gotten it sorted except for the ‘live’ audio. I’ll be more than happy to send you a rode wireless lav mic though I’m based in Australia. Good luck brother wish you all the best.

The Arduino Controller (ATMEGA32) only has an 8 bit architecture. That means the biggest number it can handle is 256. If you want to calculate with larger numbers, it has to do some extra steps that cost time. STM32 has a 32 bit architecture, meaning it can handle much larger values (2^32-1) without doing extra steps. It also has a higher clock speed, meaning it can do more operations in the same time. The MEGA32 is a pretty old processor and there is pretty much no reason to use it anymore as a hobbist. It was a solid component with a low price, but its time to move on to more modern parts.

You should try to sell that one for the price of "what you you would differently" and make your ideal CNC Machine. Great info!

Very informative and well built videos. I didn't read all the comments if it was mentioned but I highly recommend to get a portable or any wearable microfon for the scene shots. The echo in the room makes the video hardly understandable. Great job there anyway!

I completely forgot you're brand new to KZfaq! So excited to see the kind of content you put out next. Just here to give more support. Your content inspired me to finish some projects I'm working on that I've been putting off 😅

Dual Y motors essential unless you set up a crossover tension wire like you find of traditional draughtsman's table. Many projects do this, though dual drive is worth it if you have the budget. It would be good if you ran some test peices and measured them to check for perpendicularity and dimensional accuracy. (Though you may have good reasons not to show that :) )

Well, thank you for doing the heavy lifting. I designed and built a CNC router nearly 15 years ago using Nema23's and Stepper drivers making use of Mach3. I am an E.E. (retired) so that wasn't much of a problem. I've since built/designed a CNC Laser, CNC conversion for HF Lathe and likewise CNC converted a HF Mini Mill, again all make use of Mach 3. This is NOT my hobby however, these are tools I use for my RC Airplane hobby. My CNC Router is seriously deficient compared to modern types. It was ok in its day but now there's better due to the availability of better rails and such. My suggestions to better your build, or rather keep it a bit more affordable, would be to replace some of the machined aluminum parts with other materials such as HDPE, Carbon Fiber and/or G10. Certain parts can be machined from these cheaper materials and done so more easily. In my case I will be doing some of your parts likely in HDPE using (ironically) my older CNC Router. Additionally, the couplers you used are prone to wear over time and have some serious issues with lash. A better choice would be zero-lash couplers. I'm keeping my electronics and of course Mach3. I would recommend to buy and use a Variac to slow the speed of your spindle when necessary. It would be nice to have control of that in the programming but as you mentioned the cost can be quite high for the motor and speed controller. Further, the extrusions can be purchased to very precise lengths (to a couple thousands) from a company in Illinois named Misumi and so too the corners, angles and couplers needed to assemble the frame. Variac: www.amazon.com/Mophorn-Transformer-Voltage-Automatic-Regulator/dp/B07ZH95TGN/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1D599CSQETYI0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QkmsTJrNwgmqmhadJoYu6tULVyuAELovvrvngXTaj1jbayDGQUFD4vVKgF4oGOzquygMB3pmBg39WdWGtdTIsUHvsccZ935NHjtz4gu-SW7A19HCnL_3xP_Z4xeCjFs2hHrOmSlKSmxHgrxE3zbrBciKNjmWlx4wIYlfegaZ3dj_kArVgaLH5UDxr0ddOvDSaH20DewNeNtwre1U7c3RhD7SQ3b9V9wMp7UKsyu22L4.rFCxCcszH1cl-SVr68ET0S2g6jXPf5_aESdSk6RBl1k&dib_tag=se&keywords=variac+120v&qid=1711036971&sprefix=variac%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-3 Misumi: us.misumi-ec.com/

I have used Mach4 based CNC and grbl ones... I 100% prefer the GRBL ones! One issue with Mach4 (besides the price) is that the PC is doing the calculations and sending data to the controler card. This leads to way more back and forth between the machine and the PC than with GRBL which is basically self sufficent. A good example is probing, with GRBL, you can go probe VERY fast as the probing happens in the card and can stop in a ms (assuming deceleration is faste enough). With mach 4, you can have upward or 20ms of delay between the moment when the card sees the probe signal, sends it to the PC, the PC reacts and send a stop signal to the board... Newer 32 bit based GRBL are just wonderful in comparison!

While this is incredibly impressive and would be fantastic for me to have, I absolutely won’t be building this any time soon. That being said, I would love for you to use your CNC to make something I created and have made a few of now (the hard way). I don’t really know why I want you to do it other than it would be nice for the idea to be out there. The idea is a chessboard with a sort of topographic surface instead of a flat surface. If this intrigues you at all, please let me know and I can send you some more details.

I hope you will make some improvements to this machine. Plenty of great video material there. :)

Really well done for a first attempt! Did you know about the PrintNC before starting your own design? It's a very mature DIY design at this point.

Just a thought, the closed loop steppers will not really close the real loop, it will be good a tracking where the shaft is but completely unreliable at knowing how far things are off due to backlash, slip, or any mechanical issue. To close the real loop you want linear encoders on the axis to know how much error you need to correct. The closed loop stepper will allow you to correct speed, the encoders will allow you to correct position. If budget allowed, I would look at correcting position first.

Instead of Mach, it’s worth considering LinuxCNC and a Mesa controller board like the 7i96s.

Hello Ben, I wish to thank you for sharing the Video on the Router machine you have built .The information you provide is excellent.I am building a manual one for time being and will upgrade to a CNC like you have built in a short time to come.Need your advice, can the Stepper Motor be use for Routing in heavy use like production, which please advice. Thanks & Regards, Richard Yap

Do you have issues with random stops, or some wierd lags? As i can see you using arduino with ch340 converter(that 16 leg ic near usb port ) you need arduinouno board with atmega16u2 as converter ic. Great project!

i see for first time an isolator board for limit switch, they are harmless. to get rid of interference twist the wires, connect capacitor between GND and signal, and 1kOhm resistor between 5v and signal.

Hello. I love this video, I am currenlty in the process of building my own CNC router very close to your plane. I was just wondering. What size guide rails did you get (SBR-XX)? How much does your machine weigh?? Thank you and keep up making those great videos.

Where can I buy "limit switch isolator board" as in the diagrams

Hey Ben, For wood carving it does not impact much if x and y is not perfect square, but for a 2 part mold it would.🤓 What is the measurement for the x y diagonal for your holes? I quess your holes a layed out square, so should in theory be identical. If you have a spare spoilboard, flipping it over on top of the existing would also show if you have issues with squareness. I have a china 900x600 and it needed some shimming to get adjusted. 🧐 Anyway, super good video and detail level 👍👌

Doesn't look like a >$1k Edit: agree with all the "better options" in the end. 👍🏼

Thanks Ben so much for the plans, its good to be able to take a look at them, did you ever finish the plans for version two with the twin ball screws on the bed at all? I would be quite interested in building that one over this winter as a project for myself. I would scale it down as I want a smaller desktop model but I want it to primarily machine Brass or Copper. Cheers, keep up the good work thanks from Spain.

Any plans to publish the files for the designs you made yourself? That skull thingy looks awesome! I'd be happy to buy it for a few bucks

Thanks. I don't know anything about electronics. Could you make a video on how to configure the arduino? Thanks?

Hi Ben, Thanks for the inspiring videos! I'd like to ask you, or anyone who has successfully built a *reliable* and *dependable* CNC machine, how much tweaking and fiddling you had to do before every project? Put another way, what percentage of time is spent fiddling with the machine to get it to work reliably and with confidence over actually using it in its purpose as a tool? My past experience, and I am not exaggerating, 99% trouble 1% success. I bought a "Bobs CNC E3" router based on Arduino/GRBL/Universal G Code Sender and spent at least 100 hours in frustration, troubleshooting, tweaking, tightening, calibrating, back and forth to learn Gcode commands, troubleshoot the GCode etc. and never got the machine to make a basic test pattern cut, without a problem, like the Z axis plunging through the work piece for no apparent reason, leading right back into the circle of problems. I do not have these problems with other CNC type devices I own, which are NOT GRBL based. At this point I am skeptical of any Arduino based CNC using GRBL.

Where did you terminate the shield for the shielded wire? On my build I shielded mine at DC ground inside the enclosure.

How do I gett from paper planes to G code, could you please show a video on what software is needed and how to transfer drawn paper planes of RC plane to code to use on CNC machining

Have you heard of OpenBuilds? I think you’d really enjoy their build guides for future projects, and their shop for picking up supplies! I’m actually shocked you didn’t just follow an OX variant build guide and invested the time to design your own machine

You might want to try FluidNC with a esp32 control board.

I have a question on the design of this CNC machine. Would it be better to have Y axis mounted solid and have the plywood bed be driven in Y? It looks to me that the mass of the entire X & Z assemblies will affect performance. Just a thought...

I am looking at doing something very similar but using a 3018 router as a sacrificial equipment, basically because the 3018 router has a offline controller that has a SD card reader, my question I have is do you think the Arduino controller may converse with the stepper drives, it seems I may have a newer one than you have, it has an output for a laser module (bonus). I also am sitting here looking at my benchtop drill press and thinking of putting linear rails under it with these controls, it can drill 3/4 holes in steel. I have a 3d printer so I can make adapters for the spindle, but just looking at it for now with an evil laugh.

Just wondering with water cooled spindle do you have ideas of what to change so can machine steel too? I don't care if just machine at like 0.1mm depth on each pass just like to have one with the ability if I need it

Out of interest how did you find the process of calibrating the machine? For example, how to ensure that 10mm on screen translates to 10mm on the workpiece? Was there a lot of manual measurements and offset adjustments etc required? When I began 3D printing I found this process quite tedious with printing calibration cubes and trying to measure fractions of a mm and adjust the firmware (Marlin back in those days) to get everything dialled in just right

0:58 What is an industrial surplus store and how do I find one?

Hello I have seen your video and I find it very interesting Sorry for my English (I use a translator) I am a mechatronics student in Mexico Can you share the arduino program you use?

Want one, was not looking to build right now, but now I'm itching...

Hi. Where did you buy the limit switch isolator board? I am having a hard time sourcing one.

Could a raspberries pi be used instead and if so is there a firmware/software out there

Sir can you tell If I want to increase size of the machine can I do so and is it suitable for foam cutting ?? Please answer my question .

Great project. You don’t appear to have pull up/down resistors on your logic outputs from arduino. This would be why you are having interference issues where your opto isolators didn’t help.

love the project! can you tell me if yours is Linux-compatible? I don't mean Adobe Fusion or the sculptor, but whether it works with linux-based g-controller apps.

Ben, is a verry good video and construction! How can I download the Fusion file? I'm waiting of the next video!

One question I was hoping to see was, how long did this take you? Both in terms of "I started in March, and it was done in September", and the approximate number of hours you put into the build (since presumably you didn't work on this non-stop.)

I am sorry but do I need for each stepper motor 1 additional supply? 4 steppers = 4 supplys?

Mind elaborating just a bit more on the limitations of the Arduino? What software do you use to talk to the CNC, and how is the performance limited by the Arduino?

What program do U use to make yur design on yur CNC router,,, cause that is where me is lost at,,, program it on my PC to do the cutting ok,,,,me i hope,,,???

Is it possible to have the Arduino configuration?

Would you use pi to run your cnc

Save your self the pain and get a customizable kit. Having the machine is the first tinny step in this field, years of future learning ahead.

What is the maximum thickness can cut in your cnc

L I K E 👍👍👍👍👍 💥🤩💥🤩💥🤩💥🤩💥💯💯💯

How can i dawnlod a shape on cnc ?

Do you have dxf files of gantry plates

Can you share the design you are showing in 07:00 ?

What would you do differently? ... Everything 😂

I also had high hopes for closed loop. After actually trying them I'm disillusioned... SO many wires, delay in step actuation, delay in enabling, whenever they aren't happy they just shut off and need to be power cycled. Take more space and don't even have more power than a regular stepper! Not a fan for now.

8:58 those are called bellows

I would suggest anyone learning from this re-examine a few areas. Number ONE rigidity. Flat plate is very poor rigidity for the weight use some kind of hollow section like the ali extrusion or stiffen those risers with 1" steel tube. There are calculations you can find on line for simple sections, this is worth studying before starting. The motors are way too big and big is not always better. Larger motors have bigger coil inductance and this limits step speed and slows the whole machine down noticeably. Look at the winding impedance in the spec sheet when buying. Carving is not very demanding but your ali milling speaks for itself, you are an order of magnitude too loose on rigidity.

Hello do you have the prints for this nachine

Where are the dimension plans?

Linux CNC + digital ruler (encoder)

I would have a suggestion for improvement on your videos for e.g. 0:31. The other voice recordings (0:17-0:26) sound clearer and better. Here the space is unfavorable. This is very annoying for people sitting at the PC with a headset. 😃

When is the next video coming

Hallo. I cannot open some files. But i wann to bild IT like yours abd than milling aloy. . Do you have Drawings or other little helps? BR from an old German Garage kid.

Are you selling any of them? I need one the size you have made already... and it would be for what I need for my new start up business.. let me know if you are selling them?

Hi Ben, awesome video you've shared! Not sure if any CNC parts or custom PCBs are required for your upcoming DIY content? If so, will be an honor if our services could be one part of it! Appreciated if there's any chance having any cooperation together! Thank you. (PCBWay zoey)

It would not let me see your details and design