MDF CNC Router plans / parts for home build beginners

[HiltonSteve]

I have started work on something which I believe will be a big help to the many people out there who want to get into building their own CNC mill / router.

I am putting together a 3D CAD design for a router which will be able to be manufactured out of MDF and cheap materials to give people a starting point into this hobby or should I say obsession which some of us have!

Why am I doing this? Let me explain...

I am a time served BREL (British Rail) machinist with plenty of manual and CNC machining experience and always wanted a milling machine at home (like quite a few of us) so that I could 'make things!'. When I initially thought about building something I started hunting around the internet and it all seemed quite daunting and very complicated but the more I read and the more questions that I asked (especially on this forum!) the more I started to realize that it should not be too difficult to put something together. I began designing my machine which took about 2 weeks based around the help and advice that I had been given then 3 months later I had a finished working router.

But, i had a slight advantage which made life a lot easier....

I could do the drawings, I am a machinist by trade, I had a friend that had a manual bridgeport milling machine which i used to make a lot of my parts and I bought myself a lathe to make the rest. Oh and JohnS helped me out a bit.....!

So I now want to come up with a complete design and full set of drawings so that it will be possible for more or less anyone to put together a basic cnc router with as little difficulty as possible. I will be making the first machines myself to prove the designs and will tweak them along the way to fine tune them before any drawings or designs are released. I want to be happy with them first!

Also I will be prepared to either manufacture myself or get components made that people are struggling to make, not all the components but just the parts which will be difficult to make at home. How much will these cost? Not as much as you think! I am not here to earn a living from this just give people a chance to get started.

The design so far consists of a 18mm and 25mm MDF frame construction, M12 leadscrews all round with M12 plastic leadscrew nuts, homemade linear guide system. Steppers to be decided but probably 23's. I have a bit more to do on the design and still yet to build a working model so if anyone has any 'sensible' suggestions then my ears are open, just remember though that the key to this is to keep the price down, we are not looking for accuracy just a starting point for people to get going in CNC machining.