The progress of my Mini-CNC build is going along great. I finished my X Table axis this last holiday weekend. Here is a video of the newest working section of my CNC running a stepper test program from the arduino.
I placed a 35Lbs weight on the table to get a feel for how sturdy the table was. The platform is made from two 1/8th” hardboard (masonite) pieces screwed together. You can view the video below to see it moving the weight np. The stepper motor used is a NEMA 23 Alltronics stepper. I am driving the stepper from the older 1.2V Reprap driver board. I had built these boards a long time ago and have not had the chance to get the newer (cheaper / better) models. I currently am waiting for the reprap stepper driver v3 board to become a reality. This board support microstepping also! Which should make the accuracy of the Mini-CNC even more accurate while suppressing vibrations throughout.
I still need to finish the Y and Z axis. This I am hoping show go much faster not that I have the basic idea in what is required for the linear motion using steel tubes to progress. I am hoping for this week to at least finish 1 axis. In a perfect work I would get both done. However I have a work project that is going to need my attention to get together pretty quickly. So we will see. I will make updates as I make progress. Check my flickr photostream for more frequent updates.
So a side project that I am co-authoring is the Contraptor project. Well what is Contraptor? The exact words from the project home page is:
“Contraptor is a DIY open source construction set for experimental personal fabrication, desktop manufacturing, prototyping and bootstrapping.”
What does that even mean? It means its a cool system that allows you to make cages, stands, frames whatever for your evil mad scientist projects that you have dreamed up and glued to a shoe box to present created a unique display for. Here is one of the things you can build with the framework.
What else can you build? Well its up to you. I have been working on my Wireless Antenna Sniper Bot:
But the sky is the limit on what you can build. Newly added Contraptor components is Synthetos laser cut plexi-glass pieces. These are really cool because the allow you to “glue” Contraptor parts together and create new Contraption’s that you were no able to create before. They are still in the Beta stage of Contraptor components but you can see them on the Wifi Bot V2 above. They are the black parts holding the top together. So go forth and make something cool!
