Author: Engineering Spare Time

Building a Mini CNC Milling Machine from Scratch

November 14, 2022

DIY/ Homemade Servo driven CNC Milling Machine with Automatic Tool Changer. It’s capable of machining various metals like aluminium, steel, titanium.
The overall build took about 2 year to this point – along work and university.
Every part of this build (development/design and manufacturing) was done by myself with the help of basic tools (angle grinder, Drill press …) and a bench top lathe.
Besides the servo drive and spindle motor, it was a build on a budget. Most of the components are from industry sales. The spindle motor was sponsored by one of the companies I was working for during my bachelor studies (innospiring).

The overall plan of building a CNC Mill evolved during the process. The further I got and the more I learned, the more I wanted to achieve with this. Now it is usable and capable for building small complex prototypes of “high“ precision.

The Automatic Tool Changer was build with a friend of mine, as part of a semester project in university. A 4th and 5th Axis were also developed in the following semester (unfortunately not build yet..).

Some Specs of the Machine:
– X Travel: 240 mm
– Y Travel: 170 mm
– Z Travel: 210 mm

– max. G0 (X,Y): 14 m/min
– max. G0 (Z): 7 m/min
– Servo Power: 170 W (max.)
– Spindle Power: 2,2 kW (i = 2.5)
– Tool Holders: SK20 (max. D12 mm)

– total weight: about 80 kg
– outer dimensions: 500x500x700 mm

If you have any questions: leave a comment or feel free to contact me:
E-Mail: [email protected]
Insta: @engineeringsparetime

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CNC Milling Machine

Building a Portal CNC Milling Machine from Scratch — 1

Engineering Spare Time

November 13, 2022

DIY/ “Homemade“ Portal Milling Machine with automatic tool changer spindle SK30 (BT30). The overall working area of the machine will be about 550 x 650 x 450 mm (X x Y x Z). The total weight will be about 950 kg. The structure of the machine is a welded metal frame that will be filled with UHP concrete to improve the dampening. All the components of the machine (ball srews, linear rails, …) are industrial grade (Bosch Rexroth, THK, SKF, GMT, …). The machine will be power by NEMA 34 stepper motors for testing. Until everything is working as expected, those will be substituted by a servo drive system complemented by SICK absolute encoders on all axes.

The build and component purchasing started in 2016, since then we were able to get basically everything together that‘s needed to finalize the build.
The milling spindle is a spare part from an old (1990) Steinel BT20 5-axis milling machine

Some Specs of the Machine:
– X Travel: 550 mm
– Y Travel: 650 mm
– Z Travel: 450 mm

– max. G0 (X,Y) : 15 m/min
– max. G0 (Z) : 10 m/min
– Servo Power (later) : 400 W (max.)
– Spindle Power : 4,5 kW (i = 2.5)
– Tool Holders: SK30

– total weight: about 950 kg
– outer dimensions: 1000x1200x1200 mm (without housing and table)

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