CNC D-500 Routing Machine MK1
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New for 2020
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Over the years we have always wanted to build a industrial grade, solid, small footprint CNC machine, but due to the cost of components we have always opted to design and build machines that were around the small budget price market.
The D-500 machine is a fast and robust machine which will allow you to cut out and engrave a range of different materials. We have gone for a compact design that will suit the small business and hobby market where room in their workshop is limited. The solid frame is made out of 20mm and 10mm aluminium plates that are finished with bevelled edges, bead blasted and finished oxidization treatment applied.
As you can see in the pictures above, there are no motors sticking out of the machine and all of them are neatly hidden away. The dimensions of the base are 744mm Wide X 810mm Long and will fit on suitable sized bench. The machine travel area is 500mm on the X-Axis, 500mm on the Y-Axis and 100mm on the Z-Axis. The Y-Axis has dual motors and ballscrews with Quad low profile rails.
Please see Background information further down this page for more details on the design and build. To start with we will be offering the machine as a self build kit to keep the price down, but also to keep shipping prices down. Included in the Kit will be all the plates, ballscrews, rails, stainless steel screws, controller box, 6-Axis controller, wide voltage range Power supply, Switches, Glands, Limit Switches, AMB Spindle with holder and all the custom made cables needed to build a fully working machine.
Above picture shows all the parts on the Electronics Checklist that you get with the kit.
Above picture shows all the parts on the Mechanical Checklist that you get with the kit.
The base we use on the the machine frame is 25mm MDF that is moisture resistance. Due to weight and shipping most people can choose to supply their own base or we can supply. ControllerThe controller box we will be supplying is also our own design and has a dual controller that will allow the machine to be used with Mach3 and GRBL. which mode you want to use can be set using the switch on the front of the controller box.
It also has a controller breakout board which is 6-Axis (GRBL mode) or 5-Axis (Mach3 mode) to allow upgrades in the future and has been design for easy wiring and use. For more details on the controller click on the link below: Using Closed Loop motors on each Axis not only gives performance and accuracy gains, but allows us to monitor motor alarm conditions and feed these back to the controller. The status of each motor is shown on the front of the controller box using indicators.
Vac BedThe frame has also been designed to allow for a Vac bed system to be installed with outlets on the front and back on the machine for the pipes to exit and attach to your vacuum. This will then allow the work piece that you are cutting/engraving to be held in place without the use of clamps or screws.
We can supply a plenum grid made out of 25mm MDF if you do not want to mill one out yourself and also the pipe connectors and front vac flange.
On top of the plenum grid we then place a regular bit of 12mm MDF, turn on the vac to hold it in place and skim the top to get the hard layer off. Then we flip it over and glue this in place. Next we skim off the top of that side so the MDF is now porous and air can flow through it.
The way the Vac Bed works is that vacuum cleaner attached to the front flange draws air through the pipes and through the plenum grid. Of course you do not have to use a vac bed and can just put a piece of 25mm board as your waste bed and screw/clamp your work piece in place.
SpindleThe spindle holder is for the popular Kress/AMB spindle.
With the versatile mounting plate on the Z-Axis, you can also mount a different spindle if preferred, such as the Chinese water/air cooled variants.
SoftwareYou can use any Cad/Cam software to produce your artwork and then produce toolpaths to load into your Gcode engine software. Please see the controller page for more information about the controller and modes.
To create your artwork or import existing designs you will need to use popular programs such as Vectric’s CUT2D which we supply with the machine.
ExamplesWith all our machines in the past we have supplied videos and pictures of examples that we have cut out on the machine and with the D-500 we intend to do the same and add them as we go along. Cutting Acrylic
Cutting Feed Rate 1500mm/min Video is muted on play, click speaker icon for sound. Cutting 12mm MDF Hearts
Inside Cut Feed Rate 1000mm/min Cutting Feed Rate 2000mm/min Video is muted on play, click speaker icon for sound. Engraving & Cutting 18mm Plywood VW Camper Plaque
Pocketing Feed Rate 2000mm/min Pocketing Clear Feed Rate 2000mm/min Cutting Feed Rate 2000mm/min Video is muted on play, click speaker icon for sound. Drilling and Cutting Aluminium
Drilling Feed Rate 1000mm/min Cutting Feed Rate 300mm/min
Engraving & Cutting 12mm Plywood Coasters
Engraving Feed Rate 2000mm/min Pocketing & Cutting Feed Rate 2000mm/min Video is muted on play, click speaker icon for sound. Engraving Composite panels
Engraving Feed Rate 2000mm/min Cutting Feed Rate 1000mm/min Video is muted on play, click speaker icon for sound. Carving Lions Head Blue Foam
Roughing Cut Feed Rate 6000mm/min Carving Feed Rate 6000mm/min
Levelling the Spoil BoardFeed Rate 6000mm/min Video is muted on play, click speaker icon for sound. Background informationWe have been designing and building CNC Routing Machines since 2004 and over the years due to the popularity and demand, the linear parts have come down in price and making a CNC machine is now more affordable. The market has been flooded with cheap Chinese CNC machines that sound good, but when you start using them do have limitations and the sellers description is well under what the actual performance and accuracy is. Frame ConstructionSo for our next Desktop CNC Router Machine we decided it was time to design a machine that is Rigid, Fast and Accurate, using precision linear components as well as a solid aluminium frame instead of using Aluminium profile.
Below is a picture showing the layout of the 10mm and 20mm Aluminium plates used in the design for the frame and to give you an idea of the cost, just the raw materials will cost you over £1000. This price would just be for the aluminium sheets and then on top of this you would need to get each plate machined out with holes, pockets, tapped holes and final cut out with beveled edges. Before you know it, you are into thousands of pounds just being spent on the frame before you then start calculating the cost of all the linear parts and motors etc. You can see why most designs go for Aluminium Profile, but we still prefer a solid frame that cuts down vibration, noise and increases the performance and accuracy. So with the new machine we have decided to stick by our guns and get a solid foundation in place.
With the design of the machine we wanted to have all the motors within the frame, rather than have them sticking out which not only looks ugly, but also can be a hazard if someone knocks into them. This again adds to the price because the whole frame becomes larger and hence the plates become bigger that have to be machined. Rails and bearingsNext we looked at moving away from round rails and bearings. So the next step up is to use Low Profile Rails with Low Profile Carriages. They have tighter tolerances between bearing and rails which improve in every area when it comes to a smooth running machine.
BallscrewsAs usual we have opted for ballscrews all around on the new machine and increased the size to 16mm diameter which reduces the whip caused when being ran at high speeds. Also we have chosen to use a 10mm pitch which will allow rapid moves when needed with out relying too much on high frequency switching from controller pulse trains.
MotorsMotors again are a very important factor to consider when it comes to building a good machine. With Closed loop motors you do not get this problem because they have a built in encoder and intelligent feedback circuit that detects when a pulse has not completed and will play catch up for you automatically in the background to correct this.
For our design we have gone for Closed loop motors all around combined with the Lovejoy/Oldham flexible style couplers for connecting to each ballscrew. We have set the PPR of each motor to 1600 which will give a resolution of 0.00625mm. You can change this up to a higher resolution if you want by setting the jumpers on the motor and re-configuring Mach3/GRBL.
On the Z-Axis we have used a pulley/belt connection, using HDT pulleys and HDT belts. These are more expensive than the T type timing belts but the tooth profile is much better fitting and reduces backlash.
The reason we have listed the above points is not to only justify the price and the old saying of “You Get What You Pay For” but also so you can check other machine specs and what to look out for when comparing against ours. For more details on the CNC 6-Axis controller click on the link below: The following downloads are for the CNC D-500 Router Machine. Configuration file needed for Mach3 Compiled Firmware for the Arduino ATMEGA- GRBL-Mega-5X D-500 Mechanical parts checklist D-500 hardware/electrical parts checklist D-500 machine frame build instructions D-500 controller box build instructions D-500 wiring machine instructions D-500 wiring diagram D-500 MDF bed install D-500 vac bed install instructions. D-500 spindle vac boot instructions. D-500 2D/3D CAD file for 25mm Bed and Spoilboard. More information can be found on this link for the controller configuration |
