I created part symbols for the bearings, angle aluminum, bearing trucks, bolts, stepper motors, drive amps, power supplies in AutoSketch so I could accurately determine their locations, alignments and clearances from other objects. As the design was in progress I would order or buy locally the mechanical items, and acquire their dimensional specification. Although, I opted to use the less expensive aluminum angle rails and bearing trucks for my first attempt.Īt the end of March I started sketching, pencil on paper, the Z-axis components, then the Y-axis components and soon I resurrected my old copy of AutoSketch 6.0 and completed a 3-view design (but at the very end switched to AutoCAD 2010). After much inspection of Patrick's machines and those on YouTube CNC videos, I decided to base some of my design on Patrick's blueChick 3.0 machine. And thanks to all others whose Internet posts are allowing others to learn and benefit.

I'm certain that if it weren't for Patrick's devotion and tenacity through the years of his research, building and yes, posting his 'time stamped' DIY videos (time stamped in terms of watching his family and “work shop” grow in the background), it would not have been nearly so easy for me to journey down this path. We always used to dream of having CNC controlled enhancements on the mill and lathe (although back then I had only the most basic understanding of what that was, e.g. I've used Bridgeport mills and really nice metal lathes to machine aluminum parts for the projector closed-loop scanners and optics mount works. I used to design and build ion gas laser graphics and special effects projectors along with control electronics and computer graphics control systems to control them. The CNC bug had started to get a hold of me. Very soon after that I found Patrick Hood-Daniel's wonderful world of BYO CNC web site along with many others. I started researching what exactly G-Code was in conjunction with CNC machines for a friend back in February 2010. He gives very helpful hint on methods resulting from his trials.

Pay special attention to the recommendations on the details of the build. The narrative below is completely from Alden and I hope will help others embark on similar builds. Alden also is very creative with where he positions the drivers. To take a machine and introduce concepts from another machine, like timing belt mechanics, is clever and welcome.

I have seen many builds based on the step-by-step instructions on this site, but when I see the the DIY community start to mix the ideas of one CNC machine with another, I get really excited.

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