Maker Faire – Loen.Design

This small CNC Engraving machine is available at the banggood.com site:

https://m.banggood.com/3018-3-Axis-Mini-DIY-CNC-Router-w-2500mW-Laser-Module-Wood-Engraving-Cutting-Milling-Engraver-Machine-p-1263082.html

It can be hard to find the plans for this machine online. Here’s some help!

You’ll assemble most of it by just looking at the photos.

The manual I got with the latest one I ordered was pretty good.

The details page has a link to this dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ybh0xihxeco9szp/AAAt8XkxL1V_5AkwQN2K-w17a?dl=0

Which has drivers, the manual, etc.

For the GRBL sender I have had good success with GRBL Panel which didn’t have as many features as others, but WORKED. https://github.com/gerritv/Grbl-Panel

One option I added for the little CNC was a proper collet:

https://m.banggood.com/Drillpro-7Pcs-ER11-1-7mm-Spring-Collets-with-ER11A-5mm-Motor-Shaft-Holder-Extension-Rod-p-1280353.html

This makes it easy to use better tools. I was using a standard 1/4” v-carving router bit, for instance. I found that the hole in the adapter that is supposed to slide over the 5mm motor shaft was just a bit small. I reamed it out with a 5mm ream, and that worked great. For the first one, I had to shove it onto the motor shaft with a vise – which worked, but I’ll never get it off!

Finally, one change I made was to use better nuts and bolts. The screws that come with the thing are soft – like aluminum, and have Phillips heads, which I hate. Proper metric cap screws are much better. Sorry for .ca links.

FullerKreg M5-0.8 x 10mm ISO 4762 Hex Drive Class 12.9 Black Oxide Finish Alloy Steel Socket Cap Screw (Pkg of 100) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07BSBCP3K
Boeray 2020 M5 T Spring Nut Half Round Roll-in Nut for t-Slot Aluminum Profile 20x20mm 50pcs https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B075SYDZWB
TOPINSTOCK 20×20 European Aluminum Extrusions Slim T-Nut M5 Thread Pack of 100 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01FOC6A8E
boeray 100 pcs M5 x 10 mm 304 Stainless Steel Internal Hex Drive Button Head Cap Screws, Packed in a Plastic Case https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07FF28LMD

Wow, what a busy weekend we had, cranking out puck after puck for two days. I had purchased about 150 pucks before the faire, but had to puchase another 100 pucks Sunday morning on the way to the Faire.

The puck mill had created about 15-20 pucks before the faire – test pucks as I was calibrating the X and Y axis, and setting the Z height. But, from the second the Faire started, until it ended, we were continually carving names into pucks. The machine literally ran non-stop – as quickly as we could swap new pucks into the machine, it would start carving again.

So, over two days, we created 300 pucks in total – that’s 300 puck designs, and 300 toolpath G-Code files, and then sending them all to the Planet-cnc controller to create the pucks. Our copy of Vectric V-Carve Pro was really put to the test! [Read more…]

Building a Chinese 3018 CNC Engraving machine

Engraving hockey pucks at the Ottawa Mini Maker Faire

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