Luthier CNC

[bluesking]

Hi guys,
Have not been on for a while as have been busy sorting out my new workspace and stocking up on parts. Thanks for everyone's various messages - don't have time at the mo to answer everyone individually.

Its all go on the CNC front now my space is sorted and I have all my parts, so I wanted to post an update.

Today I built a table for the CNC. 18mm MDF & C16 CLS timber from B&Q. About £30 worth of materials:

1 Cutting to size


2 Table top is 900mm x 1220mm; Supported by a timber frame:


3 700mm legs screwed on to table top:


4 timber base frame for support and shelf:


5 MDF shelf for base frame, and a few corner supports for increased rigidity (may need more of these in the short-dimension in future)
Table finished, ready to start assembling the machine itself:

[Doddy]

Looking good. Just a thought - is MDF the best, most appropriate worktop for something that could end up working with water (if only a failure-case for the spindle coolant, for example). My point - I have a sacrificial MDF layer on my "electronics" bench - and that's suffered some small water damage from an ultrasonic bath - and the surface is now perpetually feathering and impossible to flatten. My personal preference atm is ply, but most of the shops are stocking cheap eastern boards with large filled voids. The bench I've used for the mill is steel framed with ply top, sheathed in 1.2mm steel sheet (I had a bit lying around) - that's tough as boots.

I'm assuming that the bench is entirely separate from the machine? (it doesn't form part of the machine build?)

[bluesking]

Looking good. Just a thought - is MDF the best, most appropriate worktop for something that could end up working with water (if only a failure-case for the spindle coolant, for example). My point - I have a sacrificial MDF layer on my "electronics" bench - and that's suffered some small water damage from an ultrasonic bath - and the surface is now perpetually feathering and impossible to flatten. My personal preference atm is ply, but most of the shops are stocking cheap eastern boards with large filled voids. The bench I've used for the mill is steel framed with ply top, sheathed in 1.2mm steel sheet (I had a bit lying around) - that's tough as boots.

I'm assuming that the bench is entirely separate from the machine? (it doesn't form part of the machine build?)

Yes it is a separate bench - not connected to the machine - though I will probably mount the X cable chain directly to it. I will mount the electronics to the lower shelf for now and see if this causes any problems.

I'm using an aircooled spindle so hopefully no issues with moisture.

[bluesking]

Minor update today as I have not made as much progress as I hoped.

Cut angles into the side plates using a table saw with a cheap aluminium blade I got from screwfix. Worked perfectly:


Started assembling machine only to realise I still have my paper templates on my aluminium plates. Started peeling these off and immediately realised using spray on contact adhesive was a huge mistake. Paper wouldn't come off. Used a Stanley knife blade to try to coax it off with limited success. Spent most of the day trying to clean the leftover gunk with acetone - managed to clean off half of one single plate (and not very well).

After dinner I realised I have lots of lighter fluid which I use for cleaning gunk off guitar finishes and tools. Thought this may be worth a try and it worked fantastically. Finished all of the plates in about 1.5 hours!

1 Douse the paper with lighter fluid


2 Leave for 1-2 mins to let it soak in and peel the paper off; dead easy


3 Kitchen roll doused in lighter fluid to gently wipe off any gunk - keep adding lighter fluid rather than elbow grease (avoids smearing the gunk around). Here are all the clean plates and extrusions ready to assemble: