Hi all !



I'm a cabinet maker by trade and have been making cabinets and kitchens for several years. I've also worked in electronics using a soldering iron etc and also in computer programming writing accounting software so I should be alright making a CNC, but I'd need help at times too I'm sure! I've never owned a CNC machine and so I've always deliberately made furniture that was hard to mass produce. So I make a lot of solid wood cabinets, from pine 8x4s mostly but also using beech for doors and faceframes,... the cabinets have 'in frame' type doors, and they're often handpainted.


CNC wise I'd like to build a router for wood, as a hobby firstly but I'd also fully expect to use it in work once it was working. I already have some ideas for low cost cabinets made primarily from MDF but the CNC would obviously have many uses in a commercial workshop !



The size of the CNC is tricky. I'd like it huge but that's unfeasible for the moment I think. So I'm thinking of having a working size of approx 1,100mm x 700mm, with a Z-axis of approx 125mm. (Which is tiny obviously... ) I'm not too fussy about the design and I'd happily use someones else design if they didn't mind! I'd like the X-axis to be infinite.. in other words that I can do one pass on my workpiece, and then move the workpiece using index points of some sort, and do a second pass. Working size of 2,200 x 700 in two passes in that case which would cover virtually all cabinet making jobs.

I'm also considering mounting the CNC on a base 8x4 panel, and not on a massive base. I can make what I think is called a 'torsion box',.. which is basically two 8x4 sheets, about 4 inches apart, with bracing between them. This is pretty simple and would mean the machine could be stored or moved easily. My current workshop isn't huge at all.



I'm more or less ready to start ordering my linear rails and ball-screws!! On the credit card of course, ha ha. Chai seems to be recommended so that's great. I checked him out and he seems very cheap. I know there may also be import charges.



My main question is whether my size of 1,100mm x 700mm x 125mm is feasible and if there's a previous design of about that size that I could copy ! If it's bad ethics to want to copy a design then I'm sorry for mentioning it and I'll come up with my own. It's just reinventing the wheel and all that.

My budget is what it takes, 1,500 to 2,000 I suppose.

Cheers so
Joe