Has anyone built their own cnc?

[Sominus]

I've fallen into a small crowd of folk where the opportunity to do some production CNC work would make a reasonably stable cash flow (which would be good since my current job doesn’t pay what my old one did!). In one example of this, a guy who builds custom gaming setups needs someone to create the “bigger flat pieces” of his setups, and he doesn’t have the space to do it. This gig could have provided a healthy $2k per week income if I had been prepared..

To that end, has anyone here built a CNC system “on the cheap”? I don’t have $10k to put into one of the fancy systems up front, but would like to be able to expand that way..

If I’m embarking on a mission of folly, then I can accept that judgment..

[Cherryville Chuck]

Mike Bell would probably have info for you. I haven't seen him post in a while but I think Honest John and Mike communicated quite a bit. Dave Falkner back on RF would probably know too.

[honesttjohn]

If all you want to do is flatten big pieces you can make a jig and use just a regular router. You can build a CNC from scratch, or in any finished or unfinished stages you want - at varying costs. After the first foray into this with Probotix, I "built" the second one using the Avid plug and play kit. The parts were $11k. What size bed are you thinking? And do you want to do all the wiring and that stuff yourself. I vote for the quickest way to be able to hit "Go" and start making dust. And don't forget the computer and software.

[Sominus]

If all you want to do is flatten big pieces you can make a jig and use just a regular router. You can build a CNC from scratch, or in any finished or unfinished stages you want - at varying costs. After the first foray into this with Probotix, I "built" the second one using the Avid plug and play kit. The parts were $11k. What size bed are you thinking? And do you want to do all the wiring and that stuff yourself. I vote for the quickest way to be able to hit "Go" and start making dust. And don't forget the computer and software.

The particular job in question would have been on a 4’x4’ bed and was made for (largely) unattended repetitive CNC cutting — simple, repetitive, but requiring precision from piece to piece. Put a sheet of mdf down, press play...

Some jobs I can easily do with jigs/routers. Others I can make templates on a smaller CNC and hand cut/rout the finished product.

I also want to get (back) to building guitars, and the 4x4 bed would be a beautiful size to deal with. I have a guy who will take all the reproduction necks I can build, which are fairly complicated in their geometries — I’ll have to learn to crawl before I start running. Most of the electric guitar stuff is 3D work with semi-complex shapes and carving. The acoustic end of things I have mapped out with proprietary bracing designs and components I worked on several years ago and had to shelve for a while.