In this tutorial I will show you step-by-step how I built this all-aluminum DIY CNC router that I machined with the help of my DIY 3D printed CNC router from my previous video.
That’s right, I machined all the parts for this CNC build, out of aluminum using my DIY 3D printed CNC router.
Then I disassembled it, and build this one using the same components, the aluminum extrusions, the linear rails, ball screws and the motors, so that we can make a direct comparison between the two CNC machines.
The 3D printed version was already quite rigid and capable of cutting aluminum with high accuracy within 0.05mm, but how much improvement we will get by replacing all 3D printed parts, with aluminum parts, can we get down to 0.02mm accuracy, can we cut steel with it now and how accurate it would be with it?
Well, here’s how it looks cutting aluminum with 5mm DOC, 1.2mm WOC, at 3000 mm/min feed rate. It literally eats the aluminum, and with a finishing profile pass, I got the accuracy of part within 0.02mm in the X and Y direction.
And as for steel, here’s how it looks cutting steel with 2mm DOC, 0.4mm WOC, at 800mm/min feed rate. Cutting steel is much harder and complicated than cutting aluminum. It needs suitable cooling and spindle RPM and torque, which this hardware store Makita router certainly doesn’t have. But still, after the finishing profile passes and with some appropriate profile offsets, I managed to get the steel part within 0.03mm of the target size. If I may say, that’s pretty impressive for a desktop DIY CNC machine, which can be built relatively easy if you follow this step-by-step guide.
3D Model and STL Download Files
You can view the 3D model of this DIY CNC Machine..
This article is still under construction. Please check tomorrow.
Bill of Materials
Below is the complete list of components needed for this DIY CNC build.
This article is still under construction. Please check tomorrow.
Assembly
You can follow the following video for a complete step-by-step guide on how to build this DIY 3D Printed CNC machine.
Rigidity and Accuracy
This article is still under construction. Please check tomorrow.
