Considering enlarging the machine, might have its down sides do to the structural integrity of the scratch build machine. Primarily by making the width longer it will start to sag in the center, which will lead to having to redesign the gantry to be more structurally rigid to support the added length. Which then will increase the weight and height of your gantry to support the add size, which will always end up to creating a larger CNC.

We usually do not recommend modifying the scratch build CNC, due to the very limited capabilities, and the structural design of the scratch build. We also do not recommend using longer than 48" ACME screw/leadscrew due to the increasing chance of warping and bending in the ACME screws/leadscrew in the given length.
We do recommend modifying the CNC machines we sell to accommodate the added requests that some of our customers desire, but you will be limited to the width of the gantry with our machines.

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I've read your book and I'm looking to purchase the hardware kit with DVD as well as an electronics kit. I would like my machine to have a working area of at least 24" wide by 48" long. Can I just make the bed (and gantry) wider to accommodate larger priceslike 30"x60"? If so what electronics kit would you recommend?

All of our CNC machines can carve at that depth without a problem and do 3d carving. Our typical application is cutting sheet materials, but a good percentage of our customers cut 3D bas reliefs or even more complex 3D objects using reference points and jigs.

Most of our CNC machines have a Z travel of at least 6 inches for the smaller machines and 7 to 10 inches for our larger machines. The Fabricator Pro has a Z travel of 10 inches.

Depending on your application, you will need to consider the length of the end mill (more than the deepest depth of the 3D carving) and the stock that you will be using. If the stock plus the length of the end mill exceed the clearance with the Z axis raised to the top extent, then you will need to consider the way the table/bed of the machine is formed (maybe with a depression to take advantage of the greater need for clearance).

The greenBull has the capability of Z axis travel of up to 36 inches, but I would recommend, if milling wood, that the Z-axis not extend more than 12 inches to reduce deflection.

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Most of the CAM software on the market will have 3D profile machining operation capabilities. CAMBAM has a very nice 3D prpfiling feature. The Vectric line of software can definitely handle this as well.

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All of the pics and videos show your cncs cutting sheet materials, I'm interested in carving 3d images in plastic and hardwood slabs up to 2" thick. What machine and software would you recommend?

Do you believe the source backlash is at the nut, or somewhere else?

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Hi Guys, I fitted new ball screws to my mill as part of a cnc conversion. I have about 0.15mm backlash in both the x and y axis. What would you recommend to remove the remainder of the backlash mechanically? Thanks in advance.

The laser tube is a consumable item in all CO2 lasers, unless the laser tube can be recharged. My laser tubes will most likely work as long as the mouts are the same size. Let me know the mount diameter and the length of space for the tube in the Epilog Laser Cutter and Engraver and I will let you know.

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My Epilog Summit (3.3) only works from Windows Millenium and 98. Notconsistently from WXP, but sporadic raster and vector combined does happen. I can't get it to work right w XP through Harvard Draw, Corel,Image Folio, Stika, DrawMagic or anything else I have. But Millenium isOK except for the advanced mapping to colors function is very difficult.When it does rarely accept a graphic from my XP system from CorelDrawEssentials or 8.0, it will allow complete control for photo etching -speed, power and shade mapping. It is the same driver for both mysystems but the control panel page looks different in the 2 computers. The laser takes 45 seconds to initialize after power on. You can use a USB to Parallel adapter cable for your laptop or modern computer connection. The laser needs the old style printer connection. Test your laser by holding all 3 power/focus/speed buttons until homed. Close the lid. "Online" for lase, any other button for laser off. Should be an audible beep every few seconds while your laser is functioning. This is not a motion test -only laser firing.

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I have a 25 watt Epilog Summit Model 2000/25 laser engraver. I believe my tube is going bad due to limited vector cutting and no raster. Do you think there is a way to retrofit with your products to make it work well. Mirrors are new and mechanical is good. Thanks.

Please contact sales@buildyourcnc.com for a custom quote.

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I want to build a 4 x 4 plasma table. I am not good with the electronic parts of the system. What would you recommend as a turn key electronics package? I also want to build it with chain drive

We recommend our electronics combo for the scratch build kit, which you can find on our site here: https://buildyourcnc.com/item/electronicsAndMotors-3axis-425-elcombo. This is our standard general purpose 3 axis electronics system, and includes (3) NEMA 24 425 oz-in stepping motors, (3) Drivers (3.0Amp 24-40 Volts, with 1-1/64 microstepping), (1) 36v 8.8a Power Supply, (1) Interface Board either USB or Parallel. (The USB version requires PlanetCNC software; the parallel interface board gives you a variety of options, Mach3 being one popular choice.)

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I got the plans and hardware from you guys and im almost ready for the stepper motor part of this build. what size motors are good to use for this build? the size of cnc will be 2x4 when finish or what size will not work? thanks

Pulsed radiation fields are encountered in the vicinity of electron Linacs (McCall and Ipe 1988). Most therapy Linacs are operated at repetition rates varying from 100 to 400 pulses per second with pulse widths of about 1 to 10 microseconds (AAPM 1986). The fraction of operating time (that is, pulse width x repetition rate) during which the beam is on is called the duty factor. For example, the duty factor for an electron Linac operating at 100 pulses per second with a pulse width of 10 µs is 0.001. These small duty factors impose severe limitations on the radiation detection instruments. The peak intensity is equal to the average intensity divided by the duty factor, which in this case will be 1,000 times higher than the average intensity. An instrument that normally responds well to the average dose rate spread out evenly in time will not be able to cope with such a high dose rate. The intense photon pulse usually overwhelms any active detector (that detects particle events electronically). Instruments which have long dead times, such as the GM and proportional counters, tend to become saturated in such fields and only count the repetition rate. Thus GM counters should not be used to perform radiation surveys outside exterior walls of the Linac room. Scintillation survey meters may become nonlinear at higher dose rates because photomultipliers cannot handle the high instantaneous currents.Ionization chambers are less influenced; however they must be operated with adequate voltage to overcome recombination losses. There are several commercially available ionization chambers that can be used for Linac radiation surveys

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THE ROOM HAS THICK CONCRETE WALLS PLUS LEAD SHEETS. LEVELS OF EXPOSURE I AM GETTING WITH LUDLUM MODEL 3 SURVEY METER (SM) A 44-9 PROBE ARE BETWEEN 0.1-3 MR/H IN WORST CASE (HIGHER ENERGY AND POINTING BEAM TO WALL). SM WAS CALIBRATED 137CS MY NOMINAL 18 MV (MEAN ~5 MV). WHAT KIND INSTRUMENT MORE ADEQUATE USE FOR THIS TYPE BETTER RESPONSE?

Sure, our blueChick and blackToe CNC Routers are considered relatively small machines at 1'x3' and 2'x4' respectively. They both use NEMA 23/24 motors. We recommend connecting the machines to either Mach3 or LinuxCNC and come with the necessary interface for either control software. You will need a computer for the control software and if you desire LinuxCNC, you will need a parallel port. Mach3 will accept either parallel port, or USB interface.

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I recently purchased the linksprite cnc engraving router and was wondering if your 3 axis small kit would be ok? the engraver came with nema 17 motors and a arduino board but but not liking the grbl control. could you point me in the right direction .Thanks.

Consider the loads on each axis when choosing appropriate stepper motors. If your holding torque is maxed out at roughly 16oz/in (1lb/in), then you could use the NEMA 11 or 14. Also consider the shaft sizes and current ratings when choosing drivers that pair with the motors.

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I am planning to build a scratch CNC machine to do rotary engraving on writing pens. Can you recommend the parts I would need? I'm thinking NEMA 14 (11?) and 3/8" acme rod. Not sure which linear motion to use. I have an old lathe to use for the 4th axis.

As long as you have enough air blowing at the cutting location, you shouldn't have a problem with charring. A 40 watt laser should be able to cut through 4 ply chipboard.

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is the 40W blacktooth laser cutter strong enough to cut through 4 ply chipboard with out horrifically burning/charring the edges? If you havent tried mabye you could as this is a must for anyone who will be using it to build architectural models. I would rather have this pre-verified before I give $2100 to have you build one

Are you connecting this spindle and pokeys57cnc controller to a CNC? or are you simply wanting to control a spindle by itself?

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Sorry, I thought that my question made it clear that it is for a Chinese 40W laser and I am replacing the original board in it with the 57cnc and I’m told that I need to buy stepper drivers and probably the stepper motors as well and I was asking which drivers and motors would be most suitable for me to buy to go with my already purchased from here 57cnc board

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Ps, I intend to use Auggie from Gearotics to drive the laser

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I have a Chinese 40w laser that I was advised to get a pokeys57cnc for which I did. I didn’t realise that I would need stepper drivers for so was wondering which you would recommend as well as which stepper motors as I may as well replace those as well. Any advice is gratefully received, thanks

it is possible to install 2 motors on a single axis but you will require another driver and motor, but wire it directly to the same pins on your breakout board. Also the orientation of your motor since it is opposite side of the original so getting it to move accordingly to the original motor it will need to be orientated correctly. The slight shift could be the cause of the rod not being completely flat where the set screws are suppose to tighten the sprocket to the rod, so sanding it to a flatter surface might fix the shift in directions.
Currently do not have a kit or schematic available.

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I am interested in your Black Toe (24" X 48") machine, and am wondering if using two medium motors on the "X" and "Y" axis makes sense relative to power and alignment (racking). What would you recommend?

You can use either 1" x 1" x 1/8", or 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" x 1/8" angle on the table sides. The BRAs should all be 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8". The Y ans Z axes should use the 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8" angles.

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In the Build your own CNC machine book, You said you use 1 1/4" angle on the main table but 1" would be better. So my question is Should I use 1" angle on the main table (4' length) and 1 1/4" angle for the BRA's and other rails?

Your question caused me to make a quick video to understand how the pokeys57CNC controller works with a THC.

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[596] Would you help with the Hook up and the Configuration and whether it is in the Plugin or mach 4 control configuration that needs to be set. I decided to use the ultra fast encoders connector pin #8, 12 and 13 for Arc ok, UP and Down. Please advise what setting to set to make it all work. Thank you very much for your help!

Here is how to connect your router to the parallel breakout board through the on-board relay. You will need a spare extension cord. You will need to remove a portion of the outer jacket of the extension cord to expose the white, black and green wires (white = neutral, black = live and green = ground), understanding that the neutral and live create the completed circuit.

See this image of a similar connection. The terminal has the same connections.
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/images/vacuum-pressure-controller-relay-terminals-700.JPG

Image of the relay terminal:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/images/breakoutboardrelayNONC.PNG

The live/black wire would be cut and one end of the cut would be secured into the P terminal and the other cut end would be secured into the S terminal. The live and ground wire would be uncut and travel from the plug to the router.


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You can also connect other high powered devices to the breakout board using any of the output terminals. You will need to supply extra relays like the one shown here:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/item/electronicsAndMotors-breakout-Relays-relay-board-250V-12A-5V

Or you can find SSRs (Solid State Relays) that will accept 5v to drive the relay coil. Make sure the SSR will protect the 5V line from Back EMF as there is a coil in the relay. The one we sell contains a fly-back diode to protect the 5v terminal.

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I have your breakout board with relay parallel port , I have a vacuum, light on router and air pump I want to also hook up to board, can I hook those up to board and also could I had reylays to each one, what is the best way to figure this out any information would be great. Thanks

What material is the 0.1mm and 0.2mm board?

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Steel sheet


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Steel Sheet

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Thanks for the response. CO2 lasers unfortunately cannot cut metallic materials. Metals are best cut with other types of lasers, or by using oxygen assist. The oxygen assist method is not encourages as the combination or CO2 laser and oxygen is very volatile.

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and I can not do this laser to cut the steel plate, but instead of the CO2 tube I put the oxygen tube, or do not I know ?! Do I have a chance in the products on the site to create a laser for 0.1mm and 0.2mm steel sheets?

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I can help with an answer, Thanks!

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I can help with an answer, Thanks!

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Can you help me with an answer? Thank you! **

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If I build a Laser with the components on this site, can I cut the 0.1mm and 0.2mm board? Is it cut in optimal conditions, or if not what you recommend ?!

The largest cutting area machine we have available is our greenBull 6X, which allows a cutting surface of 6' x 12'. The limit of our machines is the x-axis being the width, but you can elongate the machine as far as you require, being 15 Ft. or more.
I would highly recommend a visit to our R&D page, which allows you to post ideas/requests and to view the current tasks that we are working on!

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I work with carpet & padding and need to cut carpet to create clean 90 degree corners, and patterns for inlay's. The work area would need to be a minimum of 12 ft by 15 ft. Is there an affordable kit that could accommodate this size

Yes. The VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) has a large set of parameters that can be modified. This is typically called "programming" the VFD. The parameters can be accessed using the front control panel of the VFD.

Since the VFD is the mechanism that control the allowable current draw from the spindle, there is a parameter that assigns the motor rated current; however, it is probably better to match the rated current of the motor and "up" the circuit breaker current instead. If the current limit is set too low, then there is a possibility that the spindle will cause a current overload error on the VFD and cause the spindle to stop.

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With your 120v drive systems for your 2.2kw spindles, do you do something to limit the output to the spindle so that the current draw doesn't exceed the 80% limitations of a 20a circuit? I have a dedicated circuit for my router and I am considering a spindle upgrade, but I am curious how the configuration matches the math.

If you would like to come to the office, please call the office at 281-815-7701 to request a visit at your specified time within our business hours so we can make sure that the right person will be there to assist you.

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I am considering the purchase of a Black foot or Green Bull CNC router and would like to come and visit your facility to see them in person and to discuss my requirements. Please can you tell me your address. I am based in NW Houston. Many thanks.