Thursday, November 22, 2007

Pipe CNC Step 1: Linear Slide Mechanism and Concept

Happy thanksgiving for those that live in the United States. This is my first post in the Research and Development section of this website. You are probably wondering why I am adding the pipe CNC machine in such an illusive section. I want visitors of this website to know that this machine is a work in progress and all of the bugs and concepts are not fully known yet. Anyway, this enables me to share some of the ideas that run through my head.

I am starting with the first video of the pipe CNC. I am going to first demonstrate the concept of how the aluminum angle of the linear slide fits in and connects to the pipe assembly. Then I will construct Read on...

New R & D (Research and Development) Section

I have added a new section to the website to show my work in progress. I'm starting the new section out with the first video of the pipe CNC. I would like to get feedback on the R & D idea and the content within. My hope is for collaboration, design ideas, suggestions, and comments to be engendered through this section. I would like this research and development section to be very broad, touching on ideas of linear motion, backlash removal/mitigation, frugal assembly concepts and resources for design and research.

With the introduction of the pipe CNC (sneak peek), I have already gotten many ideas to come my way. I encourage more ideas and I will post them all, with a bit of evaluation and collaboration with you. For now, enjoy the new section.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Bill of Materials Revision

I've added the electronics to the BOM (Bill of Materials) page. It is a skeleton list and I intend to improve the list with numerous options, and pictures of what each item looks like.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sneak Peek: A Totally New CNC Machine (In Pipe!)


I'm back and I have a treat for you. I have been doing a lot of tinkering lately (yup, that's why!). I cannot get the mechanical aspect of CNCs out of my system, so until then, enjoy the crazy concoctions.

Today, I'm offering a sneak peek to what I've been working on for the past two weeks. It is possible to build this CNC within a weekend, if you have all of the correct parts. In addition, manual cutting and power tools are at a minimum. So far, the only major tool that I've used is a hack saw to cut-off some threaded rod (very simple). With the vast selection of pipe sizes, the scalability for this CNC machine is great. I have also been recording the build on video... again. Read on...