Since my last post, I have completed my junction box and I have prepared 3 motor/speed controller assemblies. I have acquired a second leadscrew to use for my Y-axis, and the electronic portion of the construction (except for limit switches) is complete. Now I can focus on the physical construction of the machine.

Update [6/12/11]: I now have all 3 motors up and running with leadscrews, and parts for both an X and Y linear bearing setup (pillow block on precision ground rod for Y axis, heavy-duty precision angle iron and captive rollers for X-axis). The Z-axis is still up in the air for now. I’ll post more information about materials in the near future.

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I’ve started constructing the basic electronics for the CNC machine I’m working on. It’s going to be a cheap machine made with what I have on hand, so accuracy won’t be great, but it should be an interesting experience. The leadscrews I’m using are less than optimal, requiring much software backlash compensation, but should work well enough for basic CNC work. Some early build photos are included below.

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I’m currently working on building a EMC2-controlled CNC machine with mostly parts I have on hand. I decided to use Victor 883′s to control my servos, but EMC2 does not put out the RC-style PWM signal that victors are driven with. Thankfully, hardware in EMC2 is configured with HAL, allowing the software to work with nearly any hardware. Below are the values and configuration I used. If you are planning on using other RC-style motor controllers, you’ll need to calculate these values yourself.

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