General pointers for a CNC router

[scott88]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to start a build soon so I'm after the help of you clever lot please.

I like the style of Toomast's machine, and I'd be able to manage this sort of welded frame etc.


The beast built by Toomast


The machine will be used mainly to cut sheets of MDF, Plywood etc, so needs to be an 8x4' beast. And I do love to tinker, so cutting aluminium and steel is also on the wish list.


My rough plans so far are to basically use the style of Toomast's for the frame, rails and gantry. Do you think 75x75x3mm MS box section is sufficient for the rails and frame? And 200x100x5 for the gantry?

I'll use 25mm square rails and carriages.

I'm not sure on the drive system yet, I like the idea of using ballscrews but at this size I'll either need thick screws or possibly a driven nut (which I won't be able to machine myself)

I was going to go for NEMA34 12kN motors on each axis, as once it's up and running it will be used for extended periods each day.

I plan to level critical surfaces with epoxy, as it seems to work well for most who've tried it. Although I have inquired about having the surfaces milled, but I imagine that will be a costly job.

Any pointers you can give me is greatly appreciated, I am doing drawings in scketchup currently so I'll post some when done.

TIA