New to all this

Hi all I'm new to all this, and I'm wanting to build a CNC machine, based on the tb6560 driver board, I'm hoping someone can point me in a good place to start I'm hoping to mill wood, the first thing I want to make is a some personal for my daughter, as she passed away 3 years ago and I want to make something special for her and help would be grate eg threds I should read or projects I could clone, I will say I'm not the most well off person, I seen a lot of old printer motors used could this be a good idea or a no no, I'm hoping to stay around the 12v side of thing as I have a few old PC power supplys sand they are a good amp rating so thanks for any help and advice.

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I'm not sure you'll find much information on this site for TB6560 builds as most people on here are building larger routers and these control boards don't have the best reputation. Shame really for you, I just sold a TB6560 board, 24V PSU and 3 steppers on fleabay for £40 a couple of weeks ago after having it for the last 5 years sitting in a box. Running things at 12V will give you no speed, conversley you don't want to run the TB6560 at any more than 24V or else the dreaded magic smoke comes out.

To be honest you'll be best off buying a cheap 3020 Chinese CNC router off ebay...

Not really worried about speed, its more of a case of just a little project more than anything would it be better to step up to 24v then??
Just my luck that is, maybe if I'm lucky I'll get an offer fingers crossed

Not wanting to put you off but don't go the TB6560 route if at all possible. Forget Printer/scanner steppers for anything other than 3d printer they just haven't got enough guts.

You'll be much better waiting and watching for some cheap M542 type drives to come up and running them of a cheap 36V supply with nema 23 motors. This will give you ok speed and some reliablity.

But well before this lot is needed you'll be better advised to put time into the machine frame and what your going to build it with.!
Unfortunatly it's double edge sword when it comes to building on the cheap.! . . . Doing it cheap often means using higher friction linear components, like threaded rod, skate bearings etc which conflicts with lower spec/power electronics has they are stickier so require more Umph which you haven't got.

Think about the design first and then build the frame before buying any electronics.!

I was thinking along the lines of aluminum box tube. I did see them made with wood but I think this could be a bad idea

Could a 3d printer be a better way to go (cheaper)???

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Originally Posted by jmh474

I was thinking along the lines of aluminum box tube. I did see them made with wood but I think this could be a bad idea

Could a 3d printer be a better way to go (cheaper)???

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Yes much better than wood based machine.

Regards 3D printer then to be honest they are so cheap these days I wouldn't build one. You'll buy a fully working basic entry level machine for £150.

What size cutting area are you looking for.? . . . Like neil says cheap chinese machines are ok for learning and cutting your teeth on.

So I've been doing some reading and looking about to get more of an understanding of thing, and I've decided to start simple by making a plotter out of old printers and a flat bed scanner to help me get an understanding of coding and the building of CNC first and then go from there
Just got to find the bits first, I have looked at the cheap ones and thinking that is a good place to start as well.