Category Archives: Woodworking

CNC Build, Day 4 – parts ordered

I put in 2 separate orders this morning; one to Pointe for ~$50 and the other to BuildYourCNC for about $450. The Pointe order includes 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 bolts and nuts, and a couple pieces of 1/4″ allthread. I found … Continue reading

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CNC Build, Day 3 cont. – Testing the CAD

With the CAD drawings all converted to the cuttable area of the Book machine, I needed to confirm that all the parts were placed properly. I scratched my head about how to do this, and then hit upon an easy … Continue reading

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CNC Build, Day 3 – hardware pricing

I more or less know what I’m getting into this time; the structure will be built of 1/4-20 bolts and cross dowels, with a small smattering of larger bits (to hold on bearings and stuff), some angle aluminum, and a … Continue reading

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CNC Build Day 2, The Rhino in the Beetle

The plans for the 4×8 machine require 4 quarter-sheets of ply, so I went to McLendon’s to pick up some 3/4″ Birch. Their stuff is really pretty compared to Home Depot. $19/sheet, though. I briefly considered getting 4’x4′ sheets and … Continue reading

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CNC router mount finally gets shifted

Because of the way that the original router mount was designed, I lost a lot of usable router bit length. So I redesigned it immediately; it was the first real job I ran on the CNC machine. But, because the … Continue reading

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CNC update – endmills

I have a DeWalt palm router (I’ll get the model number later). It has a collet, not a chuck, so it can take 1/4″ shank bits only. Speed change bits don’t work. Just round-shank router bits. I ran the endmill … Continue reading

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Dust, there’s a new Deputy in town

I didn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about sawdust before I built the CNC machine. Now, I think of little else. Everything in the garage is covered in a fine layer of sawdust. So, I have been thinking … Continue reading

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CNC – 3D, baby!

… well, 2.5D anyway. This is by far the most complicated design I’ve even attempted on the CNC machine. I learned a lot. In particular, I learned that the machine is *slow*. This carving took about 14 hours to cut … Continue reading

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CNC – fully functional

I finally brought all the pieces together today and cut my first “real” project on the CNC machine. To this point, I was hamstrung by a variety of startup costs, both financial and temporal. I wanted to really see how … Continue reading

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CNC Build, Day 22 – parts is parts

The X-transmission nut has really been giving me a hard time. It hangs in there for about 15 minutes, then pops loose, and I end up spending 20 minutes fixing the silly thing. This part of the design really needs … Continue reading

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