December 17th, 2008 by admin

Aluminum

After deciding whether to go with a stationary gantry or a moving gantry, the next step is to decide on a material to build this out of. One of the most common materials diy CNC machines are made out of is aluminum. Its fairly cheap, light yet strong, and looks quite professional. Another material commonly used is steel but can become too heavy for some machines to handle. The gantry of your CNC machine needs to be light enough so that your stepper motors will be able to handle the load without maxing out when cutting through material. This puts quite a bit of force on the motor and more weight only makes it worse. I recommend going with aluminum because in addition to being light and strong, it is also pretty easy to work with. Most people use brackets and bolts to hold the aluminum together which works well. If you have skills in welding, a tig welder can also be used but can result in your table warping if your not careful. The table needs to be completely flat in order for everything to work together efficiently. Steel, although heavy, is easy to weld and easy to get. One idea is to make the table out of steel but make your gantry out of aluminum to keep the weight down. Whether you choose aluminum or steel, they both provide good foundations for your homemade CNC machine.