Mini CNC Engraver

I decided to collect myself a small machine for engraving.At first I wanted to do everything myself, but I thought that I would forgive buying it in the form of a designer, which will be easier to learn, especially since the price is not very high.

The packaging was divided into several separate boxes, where all the necessary parts for the assembly lay.The kit included chassis components, guides, motors, etc.

Aluminum chassis components and steel guide shafts, as well as fasteners.

The task is to first collect the engraver's chassis.We begin with the bottom part. To do this, take the four aluminum guides and collect them using corners.

The next step is to assemble the table that will move on the guides.

To do this, we use the components shown in the photo.

In the end, we should get such a strange design. :)

This will be a table moving along one of the axes.

The next step requires stepper motors, additional elements (included in the kit), as well as everything that we collected in the previous parts.

We install stepper motors on the chassis.

The engines are the same, because you can use any of the three.

Sometimes it can happen that the guide shafts will not reach and you will find that they are too short.

Do not worry, just slide one of the chassis bars so that the length of the shafts is enough for a normal installation.

After that, install the table with the drive shaft and fix it with the motor shaft.Be careful, the shaft should not have beats, careful tuning is necessary.

The lower part of the machine is almost ready.

We use three elements of the chassis and mount the upper part of the machine.I was a little mistaken when assembling, the correct position of the mounting elements is shown in the last photo.

It will be available in any version, but in the last version of the installation the working field of the machine will be approximately 20-25 mm larger :)

There are a few more steps left.Assembling the feed unit along the Z axis is the most complex node.

First we assemble the frame, here we also use plastic nuts and silicone washers. To properly set up such a knot, it is necessary to screw two nuts on the running shaft and tighten it so that the shaft is scrolled with a little effort.

Stepper motor installation and the last stages of assembly of the displacement unit along the Z axis.

Many steps are similar to the previous ones, therefore I do not think that there will be difficulties.

Of course you will ask, there were three stepper motors, but only two.

The third engine is mounted on the side and drives the assembly shown in the previous step.

Before the final milling of the mechanism, the spindle motor must be installed. It also comes complete.

We also mount a mechanism on the spindle shaft to fix the cutter.

We got the spindle assembly, install it on the chassis.

Do not forget about rubber feet, they will help your machine not to move spontaneously on the table.

This completes the mechanics of the machine tool.

Now you need to make all the connections.In the complete set there was a management card and all necessary wires.

The kit also gave an acrylic base, on which the electronics board will be installed. We install the backplate of our machine. In this case, the board can be installed both on the left and on the right, as it is convenient for you.

Using the wires that were in the kit, we put everything together. Be careful when extending the wires from the stepper motors, the photo shows the right connection.

Hooray, the machine is completely ready :)

Two power supply units are used to power the machine, 24 volts to power the spindle drive and 12 volts to power the stepper motors and the rest of the electronics, do not mistake!

Now you can go to the testing phase.

First I tried to simulate the manufacture of a printed circuit board.

I recorded a video of the testing process. I think it will be interesting :)

Also I tried myself in 3D engraving, for this purpose I will use a more complex program.

The speed of work turned out to be very small, the whole process took several hours, very long. Later, I finished the machine and show you how I did it and what the result was :)

The machine was purchased in the store Gearbest, cost about 170-190 dollars. A link to the machine, as well as an alternative.

They are also sold to aliexpress.I hope that my small article will help you understand how to make such a machine.

In my blog there is a full version of the article, but since it is in Russian, I'm afraid that you will not be comfortable.