Sunday, June 19, 2016

Small Desktop CNC is the Best for New DIY'ers like Me

I still consider my skills as beginner in DIY'ing because I am also busy with my day job as programmer which is completely not related to my favorite hobby.  I really love making new things that is why I have the Smart Watch Project, the Ibeacons, and creating stuff with the 3d printer(which I think is still defective). The small desktop cnc is just perfect for my skills because I want to explore the new frontier of creating nearly commercial version of pcb and I do mostly small pcb's so the size is just perfect. The small cnc can do more than just milling pcb's, it can be used to create more decorative stuffs or work with materials that the 3d printer can't use. So basically, the 3d Printer can compliment the cnc. These two high tech machines are must have in a small design/creative studio.

My small cnc is powered by Arduino GRBL shield and the work area is good enough to mill 4 pcb's  for my smart watch project. Most electronic modules in the market today are small and always uses smd components that is why this cnc is really perfect for most electronics design studios.

Actually I've had the cnc for quite sometime now but I am still not able to operate it to create an object but I was able to test to mill a square with success just to test its accuracy because I am busy designing the enclosure, and the dust collection attachment which are must haves and very important components of the machine and the reasons are obvious, the enclosure will protect the machine from harshness of the environment while the dust collection attachment will keep the interiors clean when using it. Too much dust inside can really harm the machine.

Here are some of the pictures of the cnc: