CNC Machine II

This post records my favorite CNC machine I’ve ever built.It’s actually the third machine I built and it’s an improvement of the previous one.Since I’ve already had a machine before building this one so I have the ability to make more complicated parts which I wasn’t able to make before.My goal is to make a compact desktop CNC milling machine so that I can implement my electronics or mechanical projects easily.Before having a CNC machine,I had been soldering PCB using those prototyping board for almost two years.It usually took me several nights to solder a control board for my RC car and then took several more nights to debug the board.If the board has a severe problem,or I want to make some improvement,then I had to start over again and a week is gone.Such a bummer.After having a machine everything becomes so simple.I started to use EDA software to design a PCB and verify my idea.Some times I got a good idea then I can implement it and test it within a day.I also use Solidworks to work with Altium Designer because most of my projects are mechatronics ones.Importing the board into Solidworks and checking if it fits in the case or robot makes design so easy and quick.

Building A CNC Machine From Scratch

This post will introduce the second CNC machine I built.Why does a electronics student build a CNC machine anyway?Part of the reason is I love mechanics,but the main reason is that I want a machine that helps me to make PCB for my personal projects,as well as to make some simple parts.At the time I didn’t have that much money to buy a machine and also most of the inexpensive machines out there are not precise enough to make PCB.After reading some hobbyists’ post about making a CNC machine I finally got the idea how to build it.And then started my journey to the CNC world.

GerberCAM – Opensource PCB G-code Generator

This project was done 1 year after my CNC controller project and it’s suspended in Feb 2015 because I had to put my effort into my graduate study and put this project aside.Maybe I’ll pick it up someday.The purpose of this project is to create a handy opensource PCB CAM software for CNC milling and sharpening my C++ programming skill.

CNC Controller

Well ,this is a project I’ve done in 2013.It’s a part of the whole CNC project which lasted for 2 years.
Back to 2012,I built my first CNC machine in order to have a powerful machine that enable me to make more complicated project.After building the machine I started to tune the control system.The controller I used is called GRBL,which is a powerful opensource firmware that based on Atmega328 and also compatible with Arduino.The firmware is really legit but the GUI is really shabby.And it looks like this: