completely new to all this!!!

[dickieto]

hello to everyone, i am a total beginner to cnc machining planning to build a router table capable of working with wood and aluminium,i have saw stepper motor and driver packages from zappa on ebay would these do my job motors are 3nm. and does mach3 work with this system
any help would be much appreciated
:wave:cheers Tom

[wires]

hi tom
i am new to this as well. just in the design stage of my first build at the moment. from what i have learned so far you need to really think about what you need to cut and to what tolerances. you need to be ruthless here as cutting aluminium requires a very well built machine with costly components.

it was suggested to me that controllers with stepper drivers built in are ok for the pros but drivers are easily blown be someone who doesnt know what they are doing (like me:whistling:) i think i will be going for a controller and seperate drivers. there seems to be a good selection of packages available like that. on the all-in-one boards if the driver is blown the whole board is toast unless you are skillful enough to do some fault finding and replace blown components.

i cant comment on compatability of various boards with mach3 but it would be strange if they didnt as mach3 seems to be the standard for hobby cnc, at least from what i have seen.

good luck with your build.

[dickieto]

thanks for the info wires.
was passing local scrap yard today popped in to see if he had any usable alloy,turns out he has a whole shed of the stuff!!!!.:clap:
had a rumage about and found piece i thought might do the gantry,it is about 200mm deep with rack for pinion built in,no idea what it was off,but it solid made about 2 metres long and weighs 14kilos.
also he has tonnes of 50x50 alloy box (to long for van need another trip back!!)
i will try to attach photos but never done it before.so here goes nothing:confused:

[dickieto]

:rolleyes: told you i was new to this, i'll try again!!
oh! by the way the snow was free with the alloy:heehee:

[irving2008]

:rolleyes: told you i was new to this, i'll try again!!
oh! by the way the snow was free with the alloy:heehee:
welcome.

Looks like a similar earlier idea to this (http://www.igus.co.uk/wpck/default.aspx?PageNr=2003)

[dickieto]

thanks for info irving2008. saved site to favorites now i'll need to measure up alloy, when it stops snowing:beer: