Building My First CNC Router, Looking for Advice & Other Info

[AlexDoran]

Ok so bit of an update, i spoke to KJN and he gave me some tips on how to do it by hand and said that is best to use a Fluted Spiral Tap, managed to do the threads EASY and used the cordless drill to do it in no time at all, just goes to show with the right technique things are made easy!

However i am really pissed off with the M12 bolts i go from ACCU Group, they are A2 Stainless (55mm Long & 75mm Long), but they only thread 30mm of the bolt, this wouldn't be a problem if the un-threaded part of the bolt was smaller than the threaded part, i honestly don't see how you are supposed to use that bolt in any kind of normal application, i didn't order a bloody shoulder bolt, but that is pretty much what they supply, if you attempted to screw the bolts in, it simply squashed the thread in the extrusions. So i have had to thread the rest of the bolts myself - never again, they are just too tough!

On top of this, i ordered some M5 x 20mm "Precision Spacers" from ebay, well i will let the pictures explain:







I dont have a lathe so what i decided to do was clamp each one in a pillar drill and drive it into sandpaper until the faces were square / true and they were the correct size.



I began to mock up the router using the 3D Printed parts today, found a few things that need sorting already so im glad i went this route of the dry build first.







One of the problems that really made rage was that i need longer spacers (yes the ones i painfully re-worked are no good LOL), the couplers are 5mm longer than the suppliers drawing of them, so i will need to source some longer ones and also longer M5 bolts to match.

Still waiting to hear back from a lot of useless engineering companies regarding prices and lead time for the aluminium plates, i noticed whilst scanning through a build the other day that a guy on here had supplied the aluminium plates for the build and they looked great - however i now cannot find the thread, can anyone point me in the right direction of someone on here who would be able to manufacture them?

Thanks

Alex