You are a no-nonsense man who built a no-nonsense machine. I applaud your ingenuity and resourcefulness! Great job!

I'm an Electronics Technician trained by the US Navy. To prevent ground loops, only ground one side of your shielding. That breaks the ground loop circuit and yet benefit from the shielding because it it at ground potential. Great video.

I like the design of the Y-axis being on top of the machine frame instead of having two big ass aluminum pieces going from top to bottom of the machine. Thanks for the video. It completely changed my idea of building my 8080 machine.

Absolutely the best, simple, sturdy DIY CNC build on You Tube

Wow! overbuilt takes a new meaning! Very nice workmanship. Thanks for filming and sharing - I hope there's more to come!

You did a great job on your CNC machine. I was a tool and die maker in Connecticut for 45 years.i saw you on the Arms Family Homestead channel. I really enjoy your channel.

I am a full time FF in Oklahoma with a small cabinet shop. I really like your cnc. I have been wanting one for my shop for a long time. Good job on the build. And congratulations on the retirement.

Brian, this set you've done is really amazing. I used to be a CNC operator for a cabinet shop and ran a Biesse CNC dinosaur which probably cost thousands more but never ran without tons of problems. With all the mechanical work I had to do on it I could probably build one myself. Anyway, you did build one and you did an awesome job!! It does beautiful work to btw. 🙂

Hey from Canada ! This is sweet! Keep uploading cool stuff like this. I want to build a cnc machine too and its cool to see how other people have done it. Thank you

Very nice build. Great job and great video on the build. Have been looking to build my own and now the fire has been rekindled to do so in the near future. Thank you for all the valuable information. Enjoy your machine.

Great detailed video with loads of great information on the how to and whats required, thanks for putting so much time into this!

Truly amazing that you build your on CNC. I’m at my wits end trying to find a larger platform and feel I might have to build my own.

Really interesting to see this build. I've purchased a lower end model CNC about 5 years ago. I'm self taught and still have a lot to learn. I'm able to limp my way through most of it. I'm a cabinet builder who uses my machine mostly for cutting boxes but I also do some engravings as a sideline. I am wanting to expand my CNC to a 5 X 10 so I can make better use of my material for counter tops. Your build gives me some inspiration to expand my current machine. It looks like it would take some time and planning, but it's doable. Thanks!

LOVE YOUR DESIGN. my next build will have elements of this one. thank you very much

thanks for the video and your service, very helpful video. Currently going on 13.5 years in the infantry US Army branch, cant wait to retire lol

Thanks for sharing. It is cool to see how people build their custom CNCs!

Center bolt is a spreader for removing the spindle. Nice looking DIY unit!

Large, sturdy..& Incredibly nice! Very inspiring to build one.

Thank you for your service to the state of Oklahoma. Badass cnc router.

Great build. I am tackling a 4x8 machine and will be using some of your design and components! Thx for sharing!

Very informative video ! Great build. Stay happy, healthy, hydrated and safe. May God continue to bless you and your family.

this video will change my life. thanks man. I have always known that it can be done the right way at a very low cost

I sincerely thank you for this. I have a small hobby business in San Diego where I need to get things CnC cut every month or two and have gotten to a point of burn-out in trying to schedule with local fab shops who are either too busy to deal with small guys like me who have small orders or worse, they will do it and will greatly overcharge me (like $100 for cutting out large sized pieces from 1 sheet of 4x8 plywood which takes 30 minutes). I had also joined a local DIY shop with a CnC which I learned how to use myself (and I use Vcarve too) but again, they have monthly fees and it's always an issue to schedule time exactly when I need it. Suffice to say I just want my own unit so that I can cut on demand as required. I had also looked at smaller 2x2 or 3x3 systems for plastics and wood but I really want something much more beefy and larger that can also handle up to 36" x 72" of 3/4 plywood. I know pass depth is an obvious factor in all that as far as motor power, but you know what I mean as far as time is concerned in cuts. I also weld too and have recently got into tig for aluminum so everything you've done here is 100% what I need and well within my skill set. I am also looking at a 4x4 plasma cnc but that I will just buy outright as I sometimes need to cut steel as well. You did a great job!

Big kudos to you man really good job explaining what you have and not what everybody else have and should have. Do I have to video I felt your pain and your love for the machine. I built mine over 2 years ago and I love it it's not the best but I built it and it works great keep up the good job

thanks for showing off your machine, it gives me inspiration

I really like your design ! Thanks for sharing ! Have a wonderful day !

Thanks for this info, I like the way it is overbuilt. It is interesting to me that you stacked the X and Y rails horizontally instead of vertically like most machines. I have often wondered about that since I tested several sliding miter saws for an extremely accurate application and went with the one that had horizontally stacked linear rails...it handles side to side deflection better than the others. I am definitely going to follow your build here once I figure out how the computer to CNC interface control works...I am pretty familiar with mechanical and electrical instruction and 2D CAD but the thing in between is new to me. Congrats on your retirement, I patrolled Houston for a while before my wife couldn't take the stress anymore.

I am very impressed. With the build and your presentation. I am supposed to studying for my semester finals but this caught my eye during my break. Well worth the distraction. lol

Thanks for an excellent video tutorial, everybody has different ideas and approaches, everybody always has something to teach you, thanks for sharing your very valuable knowledge

I really like that you linked all the parts to their source.

That's a Beast of a CNC!

First things first, hearing your accent has really made me homesick. Secondly tell that little lady to make some videos! My friend has been leaning on me to help him with his embroidery machine and oddly I just can't wrap my mind around the whole thing like I can CNC or 3D printing.. What I came here to say is GREAT FREAKING JOB on what seems to be an over-engineered and stout router setup! I am going to begin my first build soon and the whole reason I searched KZfaq this morning was to determine what exactly was needed in order to not run into issues with underpowered or overstressed motors etc.. your machine is every bit as nicely made as a commercial machine that would sell for as much as the nice truck I assume you likely.drive.. It appears that you had a vision and we're able to foresee every issue that might arise beforehand and I'm so glad I found your video.. I will be subscribing and I look forward to watching all of your videos AND those your wife makes when she finally sees how much she could benefit others with her wealth of professional knowledge! Thanks again, and next time you're in Austin Texas feel free to stop in and critique my handiwork!

Thanks for the video, I got a store bought machine a few years back and while I'm getting my money out of it, it just isn't good enough. I've been designing my own machine and it really helped to see someone who did one out of steel as I want to do. Glad to hear the 34s might be overkill, my machine is going to be a lot smaller than yours, but I was worried.

Awesome video with detailed information! Thank you for sharing knowledge!!

Love that your rockler clamp has a router gouge in it !!!!

Great video! good on you for having a go, made me feel inspired to build my own... Cheers

really considering making my own, thanks for the insight and inspiration

My hat`s off to you sir! Excellent machine and excellent walk through!

Big Hello from Sydney, Australia Nice Build, I think you have done an excellent overkill job, love you choice for linear rails and ball screws, I would have gone with a water cooled spindle though. My suggestion or ideas to improve/simplify just some minor things are: Get plastics cable drag chains to tidy up your wiring, one day you are going to trip and on a vest case scenario rip out some wires and damage some equipment. PC Cooling, remove the fan blowing out in the computer box, you want positive pressure inside the box, meaning you only have fans blowing into the box, this will prevent dust being sucked in through holes or cracks. I would get rid of the box with the filter and the ducting, place that second fan next to the fan with the silver duct coming in, then make a frame on the outside to hold your filter on the outside of box so the computer fans are drawing air directly through the filter, place an awning over the filter so dust wont fall directly onto the filter. get a squirrel cage blower to suck at least the fine and medium dust particles up you can blow this outside if you are country or you can use a cyclonic dust extractor.

Hey Brian ! Thanks for putting this video together. This is really a fine machine. I have made 3 CNC machines, but whe have been full time RVing for a few years, so i got rid of everything. We just bought a house in Seaside Oregon, so now I'm so excited to build my 4th CNC. I got very inspired by your CNC. It is such a solid machine - and that is so important if you want accuracy. I love the solid steel frame and steel gantry. The wooden reinforcement of the Z-axis is really important as well to avoid deflection, especially when you cut circles. I just love all about this solid machine. I'm curious to hear if you have tried milling aluminum with it? I could imagine it would be solid enough for that. I used to make guitars with my CNC. It had to be very accurate. One trick I can share with you from that is: Put a surface roughing bit in the spindle and let it take of 1 mm of the entire surface of your sacrificial board. This way you are 100% sure, that the surface follows any inaccuracy in your machines gantry and side rails. This trick made a world of difference for my machines. Thanks again for sharing your video - it is really good and I will build a better machine with your inputs and ideas in mind. Thor.

Thanks for proving links to all of the components.

Nice Job looks awesome. The bolt on your spindle mount that you think is cross threaded is for spreading the mount apart in case your spindle is giving trouble going in. Thanks for sharing your build.

Nice build, Thx for sharing. Cheers, Patrick

Thank you for sharing, I appreciate you showing that information, it may take awhile however I'am going to build one. If you have any more to share please keep me in the loop. Woody the Urban 1 Forester

The great part about your video post is the listing of all the parts and/or components you used and where to find them. A small suggestion if I may: If you get inconsistencies on your x or y-axis' check your coupling reducers you show early in the video. Those were initially designed to be a protective release coupler for conveyor systems in the event of a jam so the motor would not overheat. They can be "sloppy" especially when it comes to a task as precise as a part of a CNC system. Other than that, great job. Welcome to the select group of youtube content providers.

Cool gadget. Love the specs and massive drivers. Congrats.

Well done! Great to see your idea on a home build machine!

Great overview and information and good job keeping both the machine and the video simple and straight forward. Wish I could hang out with you. Thanks for the inspiration, I'm not going quite so big but I cant wait to get building. Cheers!

Just the main steel stand support stand, height, length, width. I have started the order of parts on Amazon. Thank you for your all of you help,

Good to watch ,may build it myself how hard to wire up.Thanks Bill

Love the design, this thing looks tough!!!.. Well done sir.

Very nice! Thanks for posting.

this was interesting.....a whole lot of work and thinking went into this...thank you for sharing

Thanks for posting all the info. Way overkill as you say but it won’t be breaking anytime soon.

Awesome build! Thank you for your service and good luck with your retirement.

Awesome video. Great job on the cnc.

Big thumbs up for having a nice video and listing out your bill of materials.

Thanks for the info Brian!

nice job

If anyone (like myself) is designing a CNC, compare prices for linear guides and ballscrews on Aliexpress/Alibaba. This is where Amazon resellers get their products (and profits), so consider ordering in advance as you design your machine. If you purchase some things by mistake you will often still save $ over Amazon, buying twice on Ali (also look for a very reputable seller and you will always be happy). That said, consider the size and optimal speeds, feeds, and loads for the type of machine you're building (router, plasma, et cetera) as this will effect the efficiency of the unit in it's task. There are advantages/disadvantages to having larger/smaller guides or various screw pitches for resolution of cut. Something I'm still trying to wrap my head around. Finally, thank you for taking the time to make a video! I found some very helpful ideas here!

Really good job and nice presentation.Thanks for sharing.

Hi Terry from Scotland here, what a nice job, very strong, but possible for most thinking guys to build, just what I'm looking for but half the size, I'm a fabricator and machinist , electronic parts a bit daunting but I'll use KZfaq for that, cheers pal all power to you

beautiful work there. keep up. thanks for sharing.

FWIW, you can’t fry a stepper motor by putting too much load on it; it’ll just stall and sit there vibrating. This will of course ruin your workpiece, but the motor will be fine. What will kill the motor, however, is setting the drive current too high for the motor (each motor, in the specifications, will list the amps that the driver should be set to).

Excellent job of describing your build. You, like myself chose to raise the Y axis bits and pieces, makes for a much more rigid Machine rather than having the X axis high up on brackets. Yup you overbuilt, but nothing at all negative about that. One thing I would add is positive stops for all axis, just a good safety feature. One other thing, you can replace the plywood brackets and make ones out of one half inch aluminum and cut them on your machine, just take light cuts with an aluminum cutting bit, and use 6061 aluminum, it cuts grate. Some aluminum alloys are gummy stick with 6061. I cut several aluminum pieces of 1/2” in my CNC and I’m running nema 23’s.

I did away with the limits switchs because they kept triggering estops that no amount of shielded wire and ferrite rings could cure. Also, unless you use really expensive proximity switchs they are not accurate enough for homing either. I just made some hard stops at the ends of the travel and drive the machine into them for homing and maintaining the squareness of the gantry which I check often because lost steps are inevitable. Good looking solid build there, good job.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge 👍 well explained

Awesome machine! I’m impressed and loving it. So I subbed. Greetings from Belgium. 👋

Very well done! Thank you

Pretty cool great information and video thanks.

Enjoyed this.

The center bolt on your spindle mount is to press the mount apart for removing the spindle

Great 👍 video! And I subscribed. Thanks for your service. I would love to build one.

great machine

Excellent video, I enjoyed it and it is a great build.... Not sure if anyone told you, but the middle left bolt on your spindle mount isn't suppose to go in, it is there to assist with removing the spindle from the mount. After loosening the mounting screws, you tighten in that "third" bolt which will then force open the mount allowing the spindle to slip out. Keep up the great work. Thank you for sharing.

Nice CNC table!

Great video. Thank you for sharing your set up! Subscribed!

A great video and discripstion, I love DIY CNC machines. Thanks for sharing. I made a similar one but it's only about three foot square.

Looks a lot like sbirdrach's design. I have similar components and will be building a smaller version of this. Great job.

Great explanation and a very cool machine. I want one now !!! 😁

If you are using Mach 3 you don't need limit switches, just set up soft limits. They work great.

Great job this is amazing

Good job well done. I have been thinking about building some thing like that. Congratulations on building it and getting it working. I look forward to seeing more videos from you, Thank you for the video. Great job!

Really great build. Considering to build similar pattern now. Can you tell me how you mounted linear rails to steel profiles? I mean I know general process (drill and screw) except I am afraid it will be problematic to keep tolerances or adjustments later.

great job and video thanks

Cool video... I love it.... keep em coming

Excellent build! I've started buying parts based on your list, but i'm going to up-it to a 5x10 machine. I have a small cabinet shop and I'm looking to this for panel processing. Do you think the spindle you picked has the power to cut through a sheet of 3/4 ply in one pass with the right bit? maybe two passes? Thanks!

Huge spindle! Is the center screw on the spindle clamp a pre set for the adjustment on how much it will clamp the motor? Preventing over tightening it?

Very nice and well explain , thanks !

Thank you for sharing great video 👍👍👍 I love your machine built and setup. Is there a DIY motor/controller kit I can buy thru Amazon that will allow me to succeed in having a functional machine? I noticed you bought everything separate, but I wouldn’t know how to put it together. Thank you

nice work man! i would like to make one but i dont anything about programming

Very nice.

How big of a cutter can you run on this? Is it mostly for etching or can you really cut heavier stuff? Nice build.

Thank you for your public service, cool video!

Great machine! I use wooden hold-downs because they are cheap and sometimes I cut very close to the edge. You might be able to see them in some of my cnc videos.

Nice machine. Did you connect the VFD to the breakout board and control it with mach 3?

For a 'non youtuber' this is a really nice no BS nuts and bolts how or if to consider rolling your own router. As mentioned by another Fusion 360 with a few plugins is well worth a look Free (for business use under $100k) and very powerful and very good export features to Mach3, 3d printers, laser cutters etc. Not so good for artistic work but it can be made to.

Good video , thumbed up !

Great video Brian. I'm wondering, what cam software you use to program?

Nice video. I wonder if there is a good option for updated computer and software and all the electronics to run it. Im looking into building one right now