Kyle's Woodworking

Well I just turned 17 years old today, February 23, 2011, and I have always wanted to make a CNC router. So for my birthday, I asked my dad to get me a CNC hardware and plans kit from www.buildyourcnc.com. Then I went to Lowes and the Home Depot to get a sheet of MDF, aluminum angles, threaded rods, and various other items I needed to make the machine. So the whole weekend last week, I’ve been working on cutting all the parts I need and then drilling all the holes in the pieces. Here is my progress so far:

Plans and hardware I got from www.buildyourcnc.com:

Parts I cut from a single sheet of 3/4” MDF:

I used my small dremel tool drill press to drill all the pilot holes, since I don’t have a real drill press.

Then I drilled all the holes:

In the plans, this is how it shows to attach the nuts for the threaded rods to go through:

I did not think this method was strong enough so here is what I came up with:
First, I got a piece of plywood and cut a hole in it to fit the square nut and glued it down:

Then I cut another piece of plywood and dilled a hole a little smaller than the nut (so it wouldn’t fall out) and then I glued it to the other piece of plywood:

Here is the CNC all done:

...And here is a video of me assembling the machine:

Now I have to save up about $400 for all the electronics to get it running. Will post when I get that far. (May take a while. haha) Let me know if anyone has any advise/questions/comments/suggestions! By the way, the table size is 2’x4’ and the cutting envelope is about 19”x38”

Thanks,

Kyle