2nd Build (first) - CNC Router

[David Falkner]

Building my 2nd CNC first, I hope. I have been researching for over a year, read a thousand threads and articles, and am hopefully building my 'second machine' for my first. There is still a ton to learn and that process will probably never stop. Of this I am certain, I will be in new territory for a while. For over 40 years I have been building things, doing hydraulics, pneumatics, and electronics builds and troubleshooting along with a lot of woodworking but have never used or built a CNC machine. This is going to be fun!!

The machine is a new model by Nate at Fine Line Automation. It's a 'pro' series he calls Saturn and it is very heavy. Shipping weight was 525 lbs. for this 2'x4' model. Take away the OxBox and pallet and it's probably still 475 lbs. The frame is welded and stress relieved steel, powder coated Pantone 305. It has THK style linear bearings, rack and pinion drive, and the components are anodized black 6061 aluminum. I have a 3 Kw water cooled spindle and NEMA 34 stepper motors ready to mount. I'll be using the Hitachi WJ200-022SF VFD to drive the spindle. The actual cutting area is 28”x52” with 10” Z travel.

The first order of business, now that it's here, was clearing out enough space in our shop for two CNC machines (our shop is the attached two-car garage). It has to set in one place while I build the stand where it will actually reside, so space for two in an already crowded shop. I'll be building a frame with 2x4's and maybe a couple of 2x6's. Then I need about 5 large friends to help me carry the CNC over to the stand.

Picked up from FedEx and barely fit on a friend's trailer -


OxBox container removed and setting on the pallet until I get the stand built -


A few close-ups –






Next step will be a trip to Lowe's for 2x4's and then make some sawdust.

Hope you enjoy the ride with me!
David

[Mike Heidrick]

Nice looking machine.

[Brian Lamb]

Nice looking machine, but why 10" of Z when it looks like you have maybe 4-6" of clearance under the carriage? By the time you mount a table and spoil board on that you won't have need for so much Z.

[David Falkner]

Nice looking machine.

Thanks, Mike!

Nice looking machine, but why 10" of Z when it looks like you have maybe 4-6" of clearance under the carriage? By the time you mount a table and spoil board on that you won't have need for so much Z.

Thanks, Brian! It's actually 7" clearance but I'd rather have more Z travel than I need as opposed to wishing it was 'just a little more...'

[Biff Phillips]

Nice looking machine, but why 10" of Z when it looks like you have maybe 4-6" of clearance under the carriage? By the time you mount a table and spoil board on that you won't have need for so much Z.

Extra Z travel can come in handy. Suppose you had 6" of clearance under the gantry. Suppose your router bit extended 3" past the collet. In order to retract the bottom of the bit so that it is higher than the bottom of the gantry, you now need about 9" of Z travel.

I have a vertical mounting board on my CNC so that I can clamp a board vertically and cut dovetails on the end. I built my Z slide to have 14" of travel so that I could lift it high enough to cut the end of a 48" board. I haven't had to do a 48" board yet, but since I was building my own Z slide, why not go bigger.. I have done ends of boards that were higher than the bottom of my gantry though.

So there's two reasons why it might be useful.

[David Falkner]

Extra Z travel can come in handy. Suppose you had 6" of clearance under the gantry. Suppose your router bit extended 3" past the collet. In order to retract the bottom of the bit so that it is higher than the bottom of the gantry, you now need about 9" of Z travel.

I have a vertical mounting board on my CNC so that I can clamp a board vertically and cut dovetails on the end. I built my Z slide to have 14" of travel so that I could lift it high enough to cut the end of a 48" board. I haven't had to do a 48" board yet, but since I was building my own Z slide, why not go bigger.. I have done ends of boards that were higher than the bottom of my gantry though.

So there's two reasons why it might be useful.

That's what I was thinking, Biff. I plan on leaving a section free for clamping vertical pieces, as well, and I know the extra Z travel will come in handy.

[ed vitanovec]

I am really interested in these CNC machines and spoke to the guy once, has not returned any of my calls since 1.5 weeks ago. I was wondering what width of pallet was your machine on, was it 48" wide?

[David Falkner]

I am really interested in these CNC machines and spoke to the guy once, has not returned any of my calls since 1.5 weeks ago. I was wondering what width of pallet was your machine on, was it 48" wide?

52" wide by 63" long. Send Nate an email - sales@finelineautomation.com. He works a full time job during the day and does this on nights and weekends so he is sometimes hard to reach.

[ed vitanovec]

Nate did send me an email. The 4 x 4 is massive size and weight.

[David Falkner]

Nate did send me an email. The 4 x 4 is massive size and weight.

Good. I can only imagine how stout that must be but it is a seriously rigid machine and that's what I wanted. There's no way a 4 x 4 would fit in my shop or I would have opted for that one.

[Mike Heidrick]

Any more wired up or built?

[David Falkner]

Any more wired up or built?

I wish! The spindle mount shipped today via 2-day so I should have it Tuesday. I did pick up the 18/4 shielded cable for wiring the stepper motors, though. But I can't wire those until I get my enclosure build and on the stand. Though it likely wasn't necessary I readjusted all the moving parts to my liking for tolerances and tightened all the bolts. In other words, nothing worthy of posting...

[Mike Heidrick]

Some parts to consider
Coolant for the spindle
Leak proof disconnects for your coolant hose
Flow indicator inline with coolant hose
Wiring for the fans on your radiator/pumpvassembly
Kentcnc dudt shoe
Few er20 collets

[ed vitanovec]

your project is looking really nice. What will you do for a top?

[David Falkner]

your project is looking really nice. What will you do for a top?

Thanks, Ed!

I'll start with two layers of 3/4" MDF and learn on that. I may add T-tracks at some point or recessed threaded inserts but may not do that right away. What do you recommend, Ed?