I want to DIY.. some questions please!

[m_c]

Digressing just a little.

Moslty fabrication costs/equipment.
Alu profile just needs cut, bolted together with suitable brackets, and with a bit care you have a pretty accurate machine.
Steel needs cut (more expensive/time consuming to do accurately than cutting alu), joined, be that via welding or drilling and brackets, which both take longer than doing similar with alu profile. If welded, you then have to deal with distortion.
Plus alu profile is also more accurate out the box so to speak, as extrusions are usually accurate within a thou, unlike steel which can vary quite a bit.

I've used alu profile for frames before, and cost wise it is more expensive, but takes less time to assemble, and for what I used it for, resulted in a lighter stiffer frame than using steel. Plus it looks cool ;)

[Tenson]

Hi Ant,

I knew you got a CNC machine but only after reading about it on here as I haven't been reading DIYA much lately.When I read about your machine I thought 'oh, you too!'.

I'd love to go for a bigger machine but I just can't find the space. I moved a couple months ago and have a smaller workspace. But I did get a wife and a bigger listening room in exchange. I'm going for 2ftx4ft as sheets commonly come in that size, and also they fit in my car so I can collect myself. I thought about vertical mounting too, but I'm worried about the practicality of clamping work pieces in place, and I also want to make a dust/sound cover.

I got the spindle today actually :) I was unsure if I should get the 1.5Kw or 2.2Kw motor, but decided to go for 2.2Kw firstly because it was available from CNC4U at the same price as Chinese sellers, and also because I don't want to limit my cutting speed for the sake of £100.

So what are you doing for a water-pump, and does it need a radiator to cool the water? If so, I thought I might run the water through one of the alu extrusions.

By the way, Mr. ZappAutomation, please don't use the shredded paper for packing my floor is all messy now. At least get a paper shredder that makes long lines of it rather than flakes. :) Other than that thank very much for your great and fast service!

Fudge me, that's a big motor!! I hope my Z-axis can cope with 16mm rails and ballscrew.

[Jonathan]

I got the spindle today actually :) I was unsure if I should get the 1.5Kw or 2.2Kw motor, but decided to go for 2.2Kw firstly because it was available from CNC4U at the same price as Chinese sellers, and also because I don't want to limit my cutting speed for the sake of £100.

You made the right choice, but for the wrong reason! The main reason to get the 2.2KW spindle is that it takes ER20 collets which hold up to 13mm (i.e. 1/2") cutters, whereas the 1.5KW spindles are limited to ER11 which is only 7mm. I'm surprised CNC4YOU was cheaper than china - did that include the VFD?

So what are you doing for a water-pump, and does it need a radiator to cool the water? If so, I thought I might run the water through one of the alu extrusions.

Just get a generic brushless submersible pump, something like this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Water-Pump...ht_2757wt_1037

(seach around - you'll find cheaper ones)

No need for a radiator since if you have a decent volume of water the natural heat conduction to the atmosphere is sufficient. Just find a good size (20L ish) tank and ideally use de-ionised water with antifreeze.

By the way, Mr. ZappAutomation, please don't....

What did you get from Zapp?

Fudge me, that's a big motor!! I hope my Z-axis can cope with 16mm rails and ballscrew.

It will if done right - do post the drawing first.

[Shinobiwan]

Hi Ant,

I knew you got a CNC machine but only after reading about it on here as I haven't been reading DIYA much lately.When I read about your machine I thought 'oh, you too!'.

Aye. I'd been looking longingly(as you do) at them for years but things fell into place the middle of last year and I suddenly found myself with a decent size workshop.

But I did get a wife and a bigger listening room in exchange.

Simon, it seems like we're in the twilight zone here. We've both bought a CNC, we build speakers and now we've both saddled ourselves with partners who moan about all the MDF dust we walk into the house or that the dinning room isn't an assembly area.

I'm going for 2ftx4ft as sheets commonly come in that size, and also they fit in my car so I can collect myself. I thought about vertical mounting too, but I'm worried about the practicality of clamping work pieces in place, and I also want to make a dust/sound cover.

You can build in a cover and have it vertical. Its more work in the design stage but can make for a really neat machine when space is an issue(when isn't it?). If I'd DIY'd I'd have likely done something very similar to this:

http://www.denfordata.com/pdfs/produ...cal-router.pdf

Very tidy package that would easily allow for a 4x4ft bed. All the crap falling into a pan at the bottom rather than all over the workpiece or into you rails etc. is another plus. Really there's not many downsides aside from increased build complexity and more awkward clamping. You could add vacuum bed later to solve the latter.

If your spending the sort of money I think you are then its worth considering.

I got the spindle today actually :) I was unsure if I should get the 1.5Kw or 2.2Kw motor, but decided to go for 2.2Kw firstly because it was available from CNC4U at the same price as Chinese sellers, and also because I don't want to limit my cutting speed for the sake of £100.

Good stuff but the ER16 collet might be a bit limiting. Can I ask why you choose that over the ER20? I looked around long and hard at cutters and most of the extra long series cutter are 12mm shank. These cutters allow thick(ie. 100mm) baffles to be safely machined.

So what are you doing for a water-pump, and does it need a radiator to cool the water? If so, I thought I might run the water through one of the alu extrusions.

Absolutely no need for a radiator/fan setup in this country, maybe the Sahara. I'm going for simple so that means a bucket with about 25ltrs of water, a dash of anti freeze and a regular submersible pump in the bottom. That's all you need and anything else is additional expense and not warranted. The only thing you need to watch out for is the pump head height capacity something like 3m is fine.

By the way, Mr. ZappAutomation, please don't use the shredded paper for packing my floor is all messy now. At least get a paper shredder that makes long lines of it rather than flakes. :) Other than that thank very much for your great and fast service!

Yep can't say I'm a fan either. No matter how carefully you try to remove things from the box that stuff still goes everywhere. I'm sure Gary is laughing whilst he's packing these things.

[Tenson]

Simon, it seems like we're in the twilight zone here. We've both bought a CNC, we build speakers and now we've both saddled ourselves with partners who moan about all the MDF dust we walk into the house or that the dinning room isn't an assembly area.

Eunji doesn't mind too much, she just wants me to sell lots! She is very understanding about hi-fi stuff too since she works in music. Actually she is very helpful in blind testing stuff since she did 3 years of critical listening training.

Just for fun, a quick photo of the table in the living room right now, lol.

You can build in a cover and have it vertical. Its more work in the design stage but can make for a really neat machine when space is an issue(when isn't it?). If I'd DIY'd I'd have likely done something very similar to this:

http://www.denfordata.com/pdfs/produ...cal-router.pdf

Very tidy package that would easily allow for a 4x4ft bed. All the crap falling into a pan at the bottom rather than all over the workpiece or into you rails etc. is another plus. Really there's not many downsides aside from increased build complexity and more awkward clamping. You could add vacuum bed later to solve the latter.

If your spending the sort of money I think you are then its worth considering.

Ooooh that is nice! I don't think it will save alot of space for me though because the gantry height, plus z-axis motor and machine frame end up about 65cm, and the width is only about 85cm. I think I'd prefer easy clamping. That said, I could easily turn the machine on it's side if I want.

Good stuff but the ER16 collet might be a bit limiting. Can I ask why you choose that over the ER20? I looked around long and hard at cutters and most of the extra long series cutter are 12mm shank. These cutters allow thick(ie. 100mm) baffles to be safely machined.

All the router bits I have are 6mm shank, and I have a fair bit of money in that. I also thought it was possible to just buy an ER20 collet... nevermind!

So are you doing custom built speakers professionally now?

I still need to have a go with Acourate!

[itsmillertime]

Tenson that looks like my front room, my wife reckons it won't be long till I've got it looking like delboys flat in only fools and horses. Minus the inflatable dolls of course ;-)

I wonder if we should start a thread on "How diverse are the things that we make?" That could be an eye opener! Got a few good ideas of my own.

[Shinobiwan]

Just for fun, a quick photo of the table in the living room right now, lol.

Looks familiar :)

Ooooh that is nice! I don't think it will save alot of space for me though because the gantry height, plus z-axis motor and machine frame end up about 65cm, and the width is only about 85cm. I think I'd prefer easy clamping. That said, I could easily turn the machine on it's side if I want.

The gantry is offset by you being able to go upto 4x4ft. Generally a 4x4 will stick out at least 1400mm from whatever wall its pushed up against. Vertical would be less than half that.

All the router bits I have are 6mm shank, and I have a fair bit of money in that. I also thought it was possible to just buy an ER20 collet... nevermind!

When you say router bits do you mean the regular 1/4" collet types with straight flutes? They'll work fine but you might want to consider getting yourself some end mills. These are generally better quality, plunge much better, remove material better and last longer.

Use up what you've got and once they're starting to dull get yourself something like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1405488812...ht_3253wt_1163

They're really cheap for what they are and were recommended to me by folks like Jonathan and Jazz who've used them to cut aluminium. They'll eat MDF and ply for breakfast and last ages.

So are you doing custom built speakers professionally now?

Pretty much but nothing official. Its mostly word of mouth but I hope to bring a small lineup of speakers eventually. There's a lot of planning involved before that can happen not to mention prototypes, listening tests, crossover tuning, auditioning. I had hoped to have a floor standing speaker available before the end of this year but I've recently taken on a custom project for Arthur(Ackcheng on DIYA) over in Hong Kong and its scale is very ambitious. A total of 8x 10" drivers, 4x 8", 4x 5" and a pair of ribbons all housed in 2100mm x 320mm x 750mm cabinets. Its the audio equivalent of the Deathstar.

And last year I designed(not built) a huge OB dipole line array with seperate ripole sub stacks for a guy in New York. 8x 21", 18x 8", 16x BG Neo10's and lots of Mundorf AMT's. I believe he's now taken the CAD files to various machine shops in the US and is in the process of having them manufactured. Materials are alu and acrylic and the project is about the cost of a new mid range Benz.

[Tenson]

Mine has an ER16 clamping nut. I guess I can't use ER20 as the part the collet goes into (spindle shaft?) will be too small?

[Jonathan]

Mine has an ER16 clamping nut. I guess I can't use ER20 as the part the collet goes into (spindle shaft?) will be too small?

Yes the dimensions of the taper for ER20 are completely different so you'll have to use ER16, so upto 10mm:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FULL-ER16-...item231b785020

[Tenson]

Has anyone done this before?

Linear bearing - £6




Bearing taken out, and Ballnut put in:







Now it's not quite a perfect fit because the top of the nut is slightly ~0.5mm) taller than the top of the bracket housing. So one could either fit a thin sheet on top of the bracket, or trim the top off the nut if you can figure out how to do it. Or just account for it on the plate you are mounting.

Anyway, seems better than paying ~£35 for a ballnut housing? Isn't it?