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Thread: Goal: a desktop cnc machine Level: Beginner

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  1. #1
    thinBasic MVPs kryton9's Avatar
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    Goal: a desktop cnc machine Level: Beginner

    I was wondering if there were any electronics experts on the forums that can be a mentor?

    The goal in the end: I would like to build a desktop sized cnc machine and I thought perhaps others on the forums would like to also. This is just to give an idea of what a low cost cnc machine is: http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy...lling-Machine/

    The steps I had in mind are:
    1. pick an electronics learning kit that we could all buy and go through the lessons.
    2. move to a microcontroller, arduino, beagleboard, teensy, pic etc. We could discuss all of these and select the one that the majority agrees on.
    3. go through learning kits for the selected micrcontroller
    4. get into controlling various motor types. Almost all of the cnc I see use stepper motors, but it would be neat to learn about dc motors as well as they are cheaper usually.
    5. come up with a nice design, for a cnc machine on our own. They sell plans, but what is the fun in that?
    6. building a machine is only the start, then comes the software side. Again they sell programs and there are even open source ones, but it would be fun to write our own.

    Another major goal would be to keep the cost as low as possible.
    Here are some prices in dollars to give an idea, again I want to stick on the low side, but will leave it the group and mentor:

    electronics learning kit, ~130 in 1 about $40 to 500 in 1 for $250 http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi...ion&key=PL130A

    microcontroller $16 to $200, http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/ to http://pandaboard.org/

    Stepper Motors: Too many variables for me to judge which we need to use, but they range from around $15 to $100.

    Rotary Tool $11 to $80 http://www.harborfreight.com/80-piec...kit-97626.html dremel http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CJABEPMCMAM

    They say the first cnc is the low cost ugly one and then you use it to build your bigger machine next.

    After we get a cnc working, then we could move on to making robots with parts we make from our cnc machine

    Let me know of any other ideas and hopefully we can have someone on the forums to guide and mentor us.
    Last edited by kryton9; 16-02-2012 at 01:35.

  2. #2
    i have made experiments with simple electronics only, so i can't be an adviser for this project, it seems complex for me.
    the electronics learning kit from ramseyelectronics.com you have referenced seems amazing.
    i know some valuable resources:
    the best free online lessons (descriptive with full illustrations, without math, or very little math) is:
    Lessons In Electric Circuits /by Tony R. Kuphaldt
    http://openbookproject.net/electricCircuits/
    electro.jpg
    can be downloaded as html (29 MB) from
    http://openbookproject.net/electricC...iechtml.tar.gz
    also as pdf files. not all lessons sections are complete. use google to search the lessons.
    the best section is the last section :
    Volume VI- Experiments
    don't forget the Socratic Electronics Project from the same author:
    http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/socratic/index.html


    the best author for simplified electronics is "Forrest Mims" such as his book "Getting Started in Electronics" and many others.

  3. #3
    thinBasic MVPs kryton9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zak View Post
    i have made experiments with simple electronics only, so i can't be an adviser for this project, it seems complex for me.
    the electronics learning kit from ramseyelectronics.com you have referenced seems amazing.
    i know some valuable resources:
    the best free online lessons (descriptive with full illustrations, without math, or very little math) is:
    Lessons In Electric Circuits /by Tony R. Kuphaldt
    http://openbookproject.net/electricCircuits/
    electro.jpg
    can be downloaded as html (29 MB) from
    http://openbookproject.net/electricC...iechtml.tar.gz
    also as pdf files. not all lessons sections are complete. use google to search the lessons.
    the best section is the last section :
    Volume VI- Experiments
    don't forget the Socratic Electronics Project from the same author:
    http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/socratic/index.html


    the best author for simplified electronics is "Forrest Mims" such as his book "Getting Started in Electronics" and many others.
    Thanks Zak for the links, I will check them out. I had some Forrest Mims books awhile ago. I read them, but it did not stick with me.

    I heard this great Chinese Proverb quoted by an Indian Professor teaching electronics on youtube. I really agree with it.
    I read, I forget
    I see, I remember
    I do, I learn

    So I need videos and to do and have a place to ask questions and get answers. I guess will have to give it a week or so and see how many people are interested first of all.
    Thanks again for the links.

  4. #4
    thinBasic MVPs kryton9's Avatar
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    John, just watched the video of the lego machine. That was neat how you think he, oh my he got junk marks after so much time has lapsed. Then the surprise, won't give it away.

    This is just a little too weak to work with hobby materials like thin plastics or woods and it is too slow. But still very impressive project and if you needed to make stuff from foam, worth looking in too. The results he had were pretty remarkable! Thanks I enjoyed watching that.

  5. #5
    thinBasic MVPs kryton9's Avatar
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    I agree John. Something a little stronger than the Lego in terms of stepper motors and perhaps that size or a little bigger, but not made out of iron or galvanized pipe as in the instructable video. We want something that will look OK on the desktop in a house or apartment and not meant for workshop as his iron one. We can all iron out the design later and perhaps come up with multiple designs that users can build then we can evaluate them.

  6. #6
    thinBasic MVPs kryton9's Avatar
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    I added a poll to keep count of those interested and to see if we get enough people to go forward.

  7. #7
    thinBasic MVPs kryton9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Spikowski View Post
    Ken,

    Have a peek at what LEGO Power Functions has to offer.

    John
    Thanks John, I had not heard of those but only the mindstorm robot kits. These would be interesting for the robotics intro perhaps?
    Just saw your edited post, will look at that video now, thanks!

    Something sort of similar but only remotely that I have come across are:
    Microsoft Gadgeteer
    http://www.extremetech.com/computing...ive-to-arduino


    Sun/Oracles:
    http://www.sunspotworld.com/index.html
    Last edited by kryton9; 16-02-2012 at 08:15.

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