the makers guide / 9 posts found
The Warp Drive Project Story – Mach3 Motor Tuning Video
Mach3 Motor Tuning Video The Warp Drive Project Story – Faster CNC Router Part 3 I just found an old video I planned to post to Youtube a few years ago when I was developing the Warp Drive Project. For some reason I never published the video then, but I decided to do so now. I was doing motor tuning to find out how fast I could make the Z axis go. Back in the early days this seemed fast. Since then I have increased the speed by a factor of 3. The original Warp Drive project parts were made […]
Making a CNC Milling Machine -Ballscrew mounts
Making a CNC Milling Machine -Ballscrew mounts Converting a Grizzly G0704 milling machine to CNC – Part 2 Making a CNC Milling machine requires a lot of metal working. Most people will use a manual milling machine to do the metal work. I was lucky to have access to a CNC machining center so that is how I made my ballscrew mounts. A Ballscrew (sometimes spelled Ball Screw) is a type of linear actuator that translates rotary motion into linear motion. It uses ball bearing in a helical groove to transfer the motion with very little friction. The ballscrew mount […]
Motion Control
I recently had a hard drive controller failure on my CNC computer and had to decide to either replace the motherboard or get a new computer. Most new computers don’t have a printer port anymore so it is getting difficult to find a replacement computer. The old CNC computer used a parallel port (printer port) for Motion Control. You either need to purchase a separate Motion Control add-on card for the computer or you had to try to make a USB adapter work. USB converters by themselves don’t work with Mach3. Mach3 needs to be able to control the […]
Edge Lit CNC Sign Project
Recently I made an Edge Lit CNC Sign Project for a school musical. The theater director asked if I could make a lighted sign for the production in a short period of time. The curtain would raise in 3 weeks but the materials couldn’t be purchased for a week and a half. I took on the task and decided to get a head start on the project. I took the artwork the play director provided and began the design work for the sign using Vectric Aspire. I scanned in the image and then created vectors for the artwork. Then I […]
Warp Drive Project Story.
MY CNC JOURNEY IN THE BEGINNING I have been building CNC Router tables since about 2005. I wanted a CNC Router table to make it easier for me to make model airplane kits and custom parts. Commercial CNC machine were very expensive (and still are) and were out of my reach. So I decided I would try and build my own after I saw a set of plans on the internet. My first efforts were made from MDF, Gas pipe and roller skate bearings. I soon realized that my MDF machine was finicky and too small. So I began design […]
Lego CNC Project
LEGO CNC PROJECT Lego genius Arthur Sacek just created another Lego CNC Project, a Lego CNC RCX lathe. The Lego RCX Lathe is extremely easy to program. You simply draw the shape you want to cut onto a sheet of paper ad the Lego RCX Lathe uses light senors to follow a line to create the shape. When the light sensor sees a dark color it moves the cutting tool, when it sees a light color it doesn’t move the tool. Using this technique Sacek is able to create very complex turnings in floral […]
Make Stage Props With a CNC Router Table
Make Stage Props With A CNC Router Table My kids are very involved in the Theater Programs at school. Each year, I get asked to help make Stage Props with a CNC Router Table. Using my 3 axis CNC Router Table to make props is a fast way to create an intricate design fast. It also allows us to make slightly more elaborate decorations than we usually do. This year’s project involved making some Wild Geese for a painting which hung over a Giant Overstuffed couch. The Geese were simple silhouettes but when painted looked fabulous. I created the silhouette […]
The Makers Guide
The Makers Guide Hello everyone I am Bill Griggs and I love building and designing CNC Router tables. I have been researching and tinkering with CNC Router tables and other CNC machines since 1995. Finding information about how CNC worked back in the early internet days was extremely difficult and time consuming. I spent nearly 3 years learning before I felt I had enough information to start building a CNC project. It took a lot of hard work and research before I could grasp the difference between the things that were important and those that were not. As I gathered […]