DIY mill...

[amen23]

I was thinking about doing somthing with this one:



Cost me 40 notes or 50 from Aldi, always find good deals in there !

To me building a cnc machine is like commiting suicide ...it just cant be done in half measures ..you either succeed or you dont. We've all tried to out think the existing technology ... you may be able to build something resembling a cnc with this drill ..but believe me ... after a week you going to be dismantling it to improve it with another idea ... this will continue for the next year .... 2000 notes and 1000 hours later ...you will be buying what you should have bought in the first place!

How do i know this --- been there --- thats is basically how we all started and hind sight can be a b****.

[irving2008]

eBay got to me again.... picked up a brand new Dewalt D28885 500W 1.7kg die grinder as the basis for my milling spindle for £40, bit cheaper than the £100 asking price for a 500W Kress. There are a couple of places on the Net doing spares for the Dewalt and they list the spindle bearings as type/size 608VV so should be possible to upgrade them later if need be...

Still havent decided if this is going to be a fixed or moving gantry machine... I'm tending towards fixed gantry, moving table in X, moving spindle in Y & Z

[wiremonkey]

Ha! Words of wisdom amen23! I built an aluminum extrusion machine and it works really well on plywood and acrylic and could certainly do some engraving, but I've started down the path to milling 6061 aluminum and I can do it, but not well. So, I thought, heck I'll just do some stiffening here and there and... flush... $$$... swirl... Anyway, I'm contemplating how to upgrade or keep this machine for wood and build another much smaller X/Y table type out of steel for milling. I can't really decide the way to go and my budget is very limited. Or maybe I sacrifice cutting area and use the parts from the existing machine to make the mill. Hmmmmfffff! Anyway, I'd love some input from y'all who have been down this path. I love CNC and making stuff, but I'm growing a bit weary of making stuff for my CNC.
If any of you would care to see my video saga on youtube, please take a peek and offer all the jabs and sneers you can muster. I can take it!
https://youtu.be/2QTZa2Ge9A0
Cheers!