Time to make more space in the shop! Prototyping fees have been through the roof on our drive train development so we made the plunge and purchased our own cnc mill. Decided to purchase a manual milling machine and perform a CNC conversion, going to bring our little factory to another level!
just do it! 
Awesome news! You guys are doing multistage presses, right? stacking up the hollow core layers separate from the face layers? Is that the stuff you’re bringing in house or are you talkign about motor mounts and and that kind of stuff?
i’ve had my eye on the laser conversion kit for my xcarve. I’m also looking into altering the axis lengths to facilitate cutting out complete decks from raw presses so i don’t have to do it by hand anymore and can get more consistent and reliable results.
We built a cnc router table earlier this year for our woodwork. Much nicer than cutting cores by hand with a jigsaw and spindle sander! This new unit will be for milling aluminum and steel, heat sink v6 enclosures and drive systems. We also have a new metal working lathe on the way for prepping truck hangers for our precision mounts, track says it will be delivered today. Need to put a hustle on the shop expansion project to make room for these new tools!
tell me about it. My garage to too damned small. I need to build a carport in front of it for my wife to park under so i can have the whole thing to myself. My xcarve and paint station are on the back porch at the moment. It would be nice to have my hot tub area back.
@Chaka If you are looking for max performance, near silent operating noise and improved reliability over steppers, I would consider upgrading from stepper motors and going with a brushelss servo solution from Teknic. Made in the USA too!! They have Nema 23 and Nema 34 sizes as well. THey are MUCH more powerful than a stepper for their size. 3 Year Warranty…: Legit game changer. IMO 
https://www.teknic.com/
I’m also building a machine and these are the absolute best most reliable that money can buy. They aren’t that crazy expensive as the older generations of servos were. You can run them off of a regular stepper driver too.
The CNC Smoothstepper is a great solution and made in the USA. It’s actually free shipping if you go Ebay…
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-Ethernet-SmoothStepper-for-Mach3-Mach-4-CNC-Smooth-Stepper-Motion-Control-/271242258619?hash=item3f274c68bb:g:yUAAAOSwQiRUl4sH
It’s worth a look, brutha! 
It is. I use nema 23 motors on my CNC machine and they’re super powerful.
do you have something to catch dust @chaka? Unless you just don’t care, I’ve found CNC milling creates an insane amount of dust (weather wood or metal). I built a giant box to enclose mine in with 4 cameras, LED lights, and a soon to be dust collection system. Really helps keep things under control.
Congrats on the purchase! Can’t wait to see the great work you do with it.
You gotta get your hot tub area back bro!! After a hard day of work you gotta unwind! 
@Ulfberht Already using stepper motors and linuxcnc but thanks for the recommendation. Overall steppers seem to be better suited for a small milling machine.
So are you providing CNC services? I really need it…haha
This purely for the development of our boards, there are plenty of prototyping services available if you need them. 
Are you going to make a chain drive system?
Yes, we have been working on a tramp based chain drive but it will be released later this year.
Here’s a demo of a Grizzly G0704 mill converted to CNC using the Clearpath servos from Teknic. Nema 23. The silent operation is amazing. DEAD QUIET!
The encoders are built in and are self calibrating to the resonance of the axis via software. They are a direct replacement for Nema 23 and 34 standard. They never lose a step like steppers and have much more torque, so they stay cooler when running tougher materials or longer programs. Steppers can get pretty hot!! Because they run smoother and quieter, the whole machine vibrates less. These little things add up and can move your machine out of calibration over time. They also ensure repeatability and accuracy. Because of the quality built in encoders, the resolution and precision are enhanced as well. In some cases, you can even increase your feeds and speeds without sacrificing quality or stalling the machine.
I’m not trying to sell anybody on these, I’m just excited that they are available!
@chaka That’s totally cool. Steppers are the still the NEMA standard. I’ve heard good things about Linux CNC. Especially for a free software package. You know everybody is just dying to see what you produce on your machines. Congrats on the build! 
Could you post a pic of your machine. I love machines. I’m sure I’m not the only one that would like to see it!
So what’s the inside scoop on the new products being developed 
I’ll post pics as soon as it arrives. The machine should arrive sometime next week, it will be another week or two before the ball screw conversion arrives. I do my best to document the conversion!
That is awesome! You must be really excited to be getting your machine going! Have fun with it, brutha!! I haven’t had a CNC for about a year and a half because I tore down my Openbuilds machine and started designing my own from scratch. Just getting all of the right parts is a pain, but it has been a labor of love…Nothing good in this world comes without hard work and dedication to learning. You can work hard all day long, but you gotta work smart as well. I’m a big OBC fan, so I am really stoked to see you succeeding and growing your company organically.
I think it will be a little over $3,000 once it is fully operational. You could cut this cost in half with a smaller machine.
