Dremel CNC?

[Swingman]

your heart out, Morris! :)

[Morris Dovey]

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|||| Eat your heart out, Morris! :)

It looks like a good learning project. I lean toward beefier machines with more spindle power - but this is a good confidence-building exercise...

Why don't you build one?

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Swingman]

Wish I had the time, and I don't know how much use I would get out of a dremel cnc, but I thought you'd get a kick out of it.

I am going to follow the segments in any event, just in case ...

[Eugene Nine]

I built one in 1995 for my college senior project. Used an old IBM XT system board that I bought for $1, stepper motors from dot matrix printers, threaded rod like that one and some drawer rail bearings I found surplus. Had to put my code in via a 5&1/4" floppy but it worked.

[Morris Dovey]

Good enough. The basic principles remain the same regardless of machine or spindle size.

First caveat: There's a minimum "cover charge" that applies to these things - and while you can substitute time for money for a significant part of the project, even a little machine like the one shown will cost between $1K and $2K (in some mixture of $ and hours) before you can do anything with it.

As you follow the developments, look for elements that you're confident you can reasonably make/do/scrounge yourself - and recognize those that you'll need to spend for.

Second caveat: Machine design _can_ be art. Machine fabrication _cannot_ be art. Plan to spend at least as much time building fixtures to produce the parts as you plan to spend making the parts themselves. Every axis of motion will need a minimum of two (and more probably three) parallel components - and for these "almost perfect" isn't good enough.

Final caveat: The most recently-built machine is _never_ good enough. :-D

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA