CHEAP, CHEAP, EASY ACCURATE CNC FOAM CUTTER! THE CNC CONSISTS OF 4 MAJOR PARTS

Transcription

1 CHEAP, CHEAP, EASY ACCURATE CNC FOAM CUTTER! THE CNC CONSISTS OF 4 MAJOR PARTS Before we do anything, because of a couple of jerks I have run into over the last few years I have to post about the copyright: All plans sold through our publications are protected by The United States Copyright Act. Reproduction of these plans, either in whole or in part, including any form of copying, distribution, dissemination, preparation, of derivative works therefrom, for any reason without prior written permission, is strictly prohibited. The purchase of a set of our plans in no way transfers any copyright or other ownership interest in it to the buyer except for a limited license to use that set of plans for the construction of a project. Copyright and licensing of our plans exists to protect all parties. It respects and supports the intellectual property of the original designer and writer. Copyright law has been reinforced over the past few years. Willful infringement could cause settlements for statutory damages up to $150,000 plus attorney fees, damages and loss of profits. COPYRIGHT D.Ray Construction INC. 1. The axis's (these move up,down and back and forth) 2. The Stepper motors (these control the movement of your axis's) 3. The Control board (the control board interfaces your computer with the stepper motors) 4. The hotwire. Please read the whole thing before getting started to familiarize yourself with the parts etc Part 1 the axis's GO GET THIS STUFF: 1. 1/2 sheet of 3/4 MDF or particle board (HOME DEPOT, LOWES ETC) foot pieces of threaded rod 3/8" Coarse (HOME DEPOT, LOWES ETC) 3. 4 nuts that fit the 3/8 threaded rod 4. 4 good drawer 24" (2 come per pack) (HOME DEPOT, LOWES ETC) 5. 4 good drawer 18" (2 come per pack) (HOME DEPOT, LOWES ETC) 6. package of small 5/8" wood screws (for screwing down the drawer guides) /16 to 1/4 X 1 1/2" machine screws w nuts and washers (for mounting motors) 8. a 4-5inch piece of 3/8" water hose or fuel hose or some kinda hose (for connecting the motors to the threaded rod)

2 9. 8 small hose clamps (for connecting the hose to the rod and motors) 10. now go home and check out rcgroups for new planes in foamies section. If there arent any new ones read the old ones 10 more times 11. ok lets start building P.S. DONT FORGET YOUR ELECTRONICS SCROLL DOWN TO THE ELECTRONICS TO SEE THE DIFFERENT OPTIONS. Ok this is what its gonna look like in a couple hours! OK get your MDF out were gonna start cutting

3 ok this is 4 pieces but we need 2 of each CUTS: cut 2 blocks at 8" X 32" cut 4 blocks triangles at 3 1/2 " X 3 1/2" cut 2 blocks at 6" X 6" now put them together like the above picture, I glue and nail them with small brad nails, you can use CA or Epoxy if you dont have a small brad nailer and wood glue. MAKE 2 of them. OK NEXT!!! =P

4 Ok now we are going to add the 24" drawer guides, these guides will be set in from the sides 1", so get a couple marks at 1" in from the sides.they will butt up against the triangle pieces and slide outaway from the triangle pieces (see the arrow on the guides) now slide them open and screw them down on your marks. Make 2 like this! NEXT STEP

5 This is our vertical axis's the "Y" axis made of 5 blocks CUTS: 2 blocks at 6" X 8" 2 blocks at 6" X 19" 2 blocks at 3" X 6" 2 blocks triangles at 2" X 2" 2 gusset blocks at 5 1/4" X 15" then cut the angle on Then lets put them together like the above picture NEXT STEP:

6 Lets now add the 18" drawer guides to these axis's These drawer guides will go flush with the sides and slide up. Hold them flush to the bottom as well. Make sure that they will slide up passed the top block without rubbing or you may need to slightly adjust them outwards. MAKE 2 OF THESE! Next STEP:

7 Now stack the Y axis on top of the X axis like this and push it up to the triangle pieces and get a couple pencil marks on the other end then slide open the X axis guides and screw the Y axis to the X axis using your pencil lines as alignment. MAKE 2 OF THESE, BUT!!!! MAKE SURE THEY ARE OPPOSITE OF ONEANOTHER. LIKE THIS.

8 OK!! Now we are an hour or 2 into this and we have 2 very very nice X, Y Axis's! At this point we can barely control ourselves and we must slide them around and call our family members and friends over to come look at our creation. So do that. OK, Next Step!

9 PART 2 STEPPER MOTORS! Mine and most systems use 6 wire unipolar stepper motors around 30 oz in size some people have used as low as 25 oz inch size stepper motors. I personally use the Vexta model #ph264m-31 4v 1.1 amp. You can scower your local electronics junk store or ebay. Also look at these places below: (best bet) The holes drilled below are for the vextas that I use but any small steppers around the 30 oz in should be close enough.

10 LETS DRILL SOME HOLES!!! SO go get your trusty spade bits out, we need a 1 1/2 incher and a 5/8 incher! Now drill both X,Y axis's like shown! Next Step, MORE HOLES =P Should be self explanitory, OK NEXT STEP!!!!!

11 Lets mount the threaded rods (LEAD SCREWS) to the motors ok now on the big axis's we will use the full 3 footers, lets do them first.. Cut yourself 4 pieces of your hose at around 1" and now spit on your 3' threaded rods and screw the hose on about a 1/2 inch then clamp that sucker down with your hose clamps. Then slide it on the motor side and clamp that on. Ok now go get yer rusty hack saw and cut the last piece of threaded rod in half and mount those to the motors. You should have all your motors with threaded rod on them now. Next step!!

12 Cut 2 more 6" X 6" blocks and mount them on the Y axis guides as shown, make sure they are flush with the bottom of the guides and not touching the X axis! Next Step:!!!!!

13 Now slide your short sections down through the holes and get them centered, mark the holes on the motor mount and drill them out then mount the motors as shown. Next, center lines each way on the 6"X6" Y axis block, now thread a nut on the threaded rod thread it up to the center of the block and epoxy or CA glue it there. LAST STEP!! PHEW

14 Ok now thread your other nuts onto the allthread and carefully epoxy the inside of the 5/8" hole on the y axis and slide the y axis over the nut and add a lil bit more epoxy with a small toothpick or piece of wood etc, and let it cure. Now measure 1" up from the bottom of both of the 6X6 blocks and screw in a 1 1/4" or so screw, (leave them out around 1/4" to 3/8 for the wire and spring to wrap around) Ok, Now the 4 axis's are done! At this point we have a few choices for electronics packages! STEP 3 CONTROLLER BOARDS! I had a request for more information about building your own electronics so I will add the

15 information that I have. I am personally not capable of etching a PCB or soldering the mini components on the board and with the time that it would take I decided on buying a complete ready to use package. I bought my electronics a full package from www. foamlinx.com full package of their electronics runs around $170 (Theyare currently not selling these) There is another guy that sells a full electronics package with many options at Here is a guy that sells the MM2001 (cnc foam control boards) circuit boards already printed for you And finally here is a link to the electronics to build them yourself List of sources for controller boards: (expensive but high end) (decent prices but boards come in kit form) (currently not selling packages) Ok now on to the HOTWIRE SETUP! This is what I currently use and it is variable and suits my needs fine! I bought a second hand car battery charger a 12v 6 amp for $3 at a garage sale and I added a household dimmer switch to be able to vary the heat for different cuts. For the hotwire I use 80 pound steel shark leader (Berkley catalog noss8br.020 dia) it is inexpensive and readily available at any tackle shop. This is my simple setup.

16 I cannot take any responsibility for you wiring up your hot wire cutter or for any of the above as I am not there to over see what you are doing. If you are not a licensed electrician or the likes I suggest that you call one over to help you wire up your hot wire cutter as it can be dangerous and can hurt or kill you. Many people use the same setup and mostly the only thing that varies is that some people use different stepdown transformers and some use router speed controls in place of the dimmer switch. And Lastly the software!! What I had always used in the passed is Giles Mullers Software found here: At the time I tried FoamWorks it was in beta and I was already used to using the Giles Muller software but I have many friends using FoamWorks and I suggest you give it a shot as an easier software to use they can be found at

17 Now I hope that I have covered everything in this guide. If I have missed something please-please me with your concerns and I will update it promptly. My goal is to make this easy easy and complete in every detail. Thanks Again for purchasing my guides Danny L. Ray II And once again the legal: All plans sold through our publications are protected by The United States Copyright Act. Reproduction of these plans, either in whole or in part, including any form of copying distribution, dissemination, preparation, of derivative works therefrom, for any reason without prior written permission, is strictly prohibited. The purchase of a set of our plans in no way transfers any copyright or other ownership interest in it to the buyer except for a limited license to use that set of plans for the construction of a project. Copyright and licensing of our plans exists to protect all parties. It respects and supports the intellectual property of the original designer and writer. Copyright law has been reinforced over the past few years. Willful infringement could cause settlements for statutory damages up to $150,000 plus attorney fees, damages and loss of profits. COPYRIGHT D.Ray Construction INC.