FINAL YEAR PROJECT

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the

ENGINEERING DEGREE FROM THE LEBANESE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
BRANCH III
Major : Mechanical Engineering

By :

Samah MOHTAR
________________________________________________

Design and Structural Analysis of a CNC Router

Advisors:
Dr. Jihad SIDAWI
Eng. Bilal SOUEID

Defended on September

Mr. Bassam RIACHI

Mr. Jihad SIDAWI
Mr. Bilal SOUEID

in front of the jury:

President
Member
Member

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................
Chapter 1.

NUMERICAL CONTROL ......................................................................................................

History of Numerical Control ....................................................................................................

Earlier forms of automation.............................................................................................
Servos and selsyns ...............................................................................................................
Parsons and Sikorsky..........................................................................................................
Punch cards and first tries at NC ....................................................................................
Enter MIT .................................................................................................................................
MIT's machine........................................................................................................................
Proliferation of NC ...............................................................................................................
CNC arrives..............................................................................................................................
CAD meets CNC...................................................................................................................
Proliferation of CNC .....................................................................................................
DIY, hobby, and personal CNC .................................................................................
Today .................................................................................................................................
Chapter 2.

ROUTER CONFIGURATIONS .........................................................................................

X-Y Tables .......................................................................................................................................

Cantilevered ..................................................................................................................................
Moving Table.................................................................................................................................
Moving Gantry ..............................................................................................................................
Pendulum .......................................................................................................................................
5-Axis................................................................................................................................................
Industrial Robot ...........................................................................................................................
Other Categories of CNC Equipment ...................................................................................
Chapter 3.

LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................................................

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................
Mechanical Systems Review ...................................................................................................
Guide Rail Design ...............................................................................................................
Drive Designs ......................................................................................................................
i

Materials Review for Frame ...................................................................................................

Communications ..........................................................................................................................
USB Ports ..............................................................................................................................
Serial Ports ...........................................................................................................................
Parallel Ports .......................................................................................................................
Drive System .................................................................................................................................
Stepper Motor and Servo Motor..................................................................................
Stepper Motor Drivers.....................................................................................................
Drive Techniques ...............................................................................................................
Software ..........................................................................................................................................
Mach 3 ....................................................................................................................................
Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)........................................................................
BOBCAD CNC .......................................................................................................................
Desk CNC ...............................................................................................................................
Chapter 4.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................

Chapter 5.

DESIGN BASIS .....................................................................................................................

Mechanical .....................................................................................................................................
Drive........................................................................................................................................
Guide .......................................................................................................................................
Frame......................................................................................................................................
Electrical .........................................................................................................................................
Drive Electronics ...............................................................................................................
Chapter 6.

COMPONENTS.....................................................................................................................

Z-axis ................................................................................................................................................
Y-axis ................................................................................................................................................
Base ...................................................................................................................................................
X-axis ................................................................................................................................................
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................
References........................................................................................................................................................
APPENDIX A : LOAD CALCULATION .....................................................................................................
APPENDIX B : ENGINEERING DRAWINGS ..........................................................................................

ii

List of figures
Figure 2.1: X-Y tables have evolved from pin routers ...................................................................
Figure 2.2: Cantilevered Arm Router ....................................................................................................
Figure 2.3: Moving Table Router ............................................................................................................
Figure 2.4: Moving Gantry Router..........................................................................................................
Figure 2.5: Pendulum or Double Table Router .................................................................................
Figure 2.6: 5-Axis CNC Router .................................................................................................................
Figure 2.7: 6-Axis robot fitted with a router spindle .....................................................................
Figure 2.8: 8-head CNC carving machine ............................................................................................
Figure 3.1: Shaft .............................................................................................................................................
Figure 3.2: Shaft and Support Rail .........................................................................................................
Figure 3.3: V-notch Rail ..............................................................................................................................
Figure 3.4: Versa-Mount Guide and Rail..............................................................................................
Figure 3.5: ACME Power Screw ...............................................................................................................
Figure 3.6: Ball Screw..................................................................................................................................
Figure 3.7: "A" Connector ..........................................................................................................................
Figure 3.8: "B" Connector ..........................................................................................................................
Figure 3.9: Internal Wiring of USB Connection ................................................................................
Figure 3.10: 9-pin Connector ...................................................................................................................
Figure 3.11: 25-pin Connector.................................................................................................................
Figure 3.12: DB-

.......................................................................................................................................

Figure 3.13: Centronics 36 ........................................................................................................................

Figure 3.14: Single Phase Full-Step .......................................................................................................
Figure 3.15: Two Phase Full-Stepping .................................................................................................
Figure 3.16: Half-stepping.........................................................................................................................
Figure 3.17: Currents vs. Steps in Windings of Micro-Stepping ................................................
Figure 4.1: CNC Major Subsystems ........................................................................................................
Figure 4.2: Mechanical Subsystem .........................................................................................................
Figure 5.1: Drive System Block Diagram .............................................................................................
iii

Figure 6.1: Z-axis ...........................................................................................................................................

Figure 6.2: Y-axis ...........................................................................................................................................
Figure 6.3: Base..............................................................................................................................................
Figure 4: X-axis ...........................................................................................................................................
Figure 6.5: The CNC machine ...................................................................................................................

List of tables
Table 3.1: Materials Comparisons..........................................................................................................
Table 3.2: Servo versus Stepper..............................................................................................................
Table 3.3: Stepping Techniques -Advantages/Disadvantages ...................................................
Table 4.1: Specification Summary ..........................................................................................................

iv

List of abbreviations
AIA -Aircraft Industries Association
CAD -Computer-Aided Design
CAM -Computer-Aided Manufacturing
CNC-Computer Numerical Control
DIY-Do It Yourself
DNC-Direct Numerical Control
EDM -Electronic Drafting Machine
EMC-Enhanced Machine Controller
GE -General Electric
GM -General Motors
GPL-General Public License
HDPE -High Density Polyethylene
IBM-International Business Machines
LGPL-Lesser General Public License
MIT-Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NC-Numerical Control
NIST -National Institute of Standards and Technology
UHMW PE -Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene
USB-Universal Serial Bus

INTRODUCTION
The intent of the project is to design the entire system with a maximum cost of $2500,
while providing high precision of 0.002 cm, long life span, and high machining speeds of up
to 5 cm per second. It will further utilize a single software front end that can handle
multiple file types. The system will be divided into three mechanical subsystems, three
electrical subsystems, and the software subsystem, each of which has several design
options available to achieve the task.
The three mechanical subsystems will consist of the framing system, the guide system,
and the mechanical drive system. The guide and mechanical drive systems have several
choices of material and structure type, and each of these choices will be evaluated based on
cost and precision. The drive subsystem will be analyzed for efficiency and cost tradeoffs.
The electrical subsystems consist of the communications and the motor drive
electronics subsystems.
The software subsystem will be evaluated and selected based upon the number and
types of drawing files with which it can be used, without requiring intermediate programs
to translate the files.
A more in-depth description will be provided for each subsystem later in this proposal.
The cost of this project is estimated to be $2500, which is a significant saving over
current machines currently available on the market with the proposed features.

Chapter 1. NUMERICAL CONTROL

Numerical control (NC) is the automation of machine tools that are operated by
abstractly programmed commands encoded on a storage medium, as opposed to
controlled manually via hand wheels or levers, or mechanically automated via cams alone.
In modern CNC systems, end-to-end component design is highly automated
using computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs.
The programs produce a computer file that is interpreted to extract the commands needed
to operate a particular machine via a postprocessor, and then loaded into the CNC
machines for production [1].
NC, and later CNC, allowed for tremendous increases in productivity for machine tools
because the machines could be run automatically without requiring constant attention
from their operator [2].

History of Numerical Control

The history of numerical control began when the automation of machine tools first
incorporated concepts of abstractly programmable logic, and it continues today with the
ongoing evolution of computer numerical control (CNC) technology. The first NC machines
were built in the 1940s and 1950s, based on existing tools that were modified with motors
that moved the controls to follow points fed into the system on punched tape. These early
servomechanisms were rapidly augmented with analog and digital computers, creating the
modern computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools that have revolutionized the
machining processes.

Earlier forms of automation

Cams
The automation of machine tool control began in the 19th century with cams that
"played" a machine tool in the way that cams had long been playing musical boxes or
operating elaborate cuckoo clocks. Thomas Blanchard built his gun-stock-copying lathes
(1820s30s), and the work of people such as Christopher Miner Spencer developed
the turret lathe into the screw machine (1870s). Cam-based automation had already
reached a highly advanced state by World War I (1910s).
However, automation via cams is fundamentally different from numerical control
because it cannot be abstractly programmed. Cams can encode information, but getting the
information from the abstract level of an engineering drawing into the cam is a manual
process that requires sculpting and/or machining and filing.

Various forms of abstractly programmable control had existed during the 19th century:
those of the Jacquard loom, player pianos, and mechanical computers pioneered by Charles
Babbage and others. These developments had the potential for convergence with the
automation of machine tool control starting in that century, but the convergence did not
happen until many decades later.

Tracer control
The application of hydraulics to cam-based automation resulted in tracing machines
that used a stylus to trace a template, such as the enormous Pratt & Whitney "Keller
Machine", which could copy templates several feet across [3]. Another approach was
"record and playback", pioneered at General Motors (GM) in the 1950s, which used a
storage system to record the movements of a human machinist, and then play them back
on demand. Analogous systems are common even today, notably the "teaching lathe"
which gives new machinists a hands-on feel for the process. None of these were
numerically programmable, however, and required a master machinist at some point in the
process, because the "programming" was physical rather than numerical.

Servos and selsyns

One barrier to complete automation was the required tolerances of the machining
process, which are routinely on the order of thousandths of an inch. Although connecting
some sort of control to a storage device like punched cards was easy, ensuring that the
controls were moved to the correct position with the required accuracy was another issue.
The movement of the tool resulted in varying forces on the controls that would mean a
linear input would not result in linear tool motion. In other words, a control such as that of
the Jacquard loom could not work on machine tools because its movements were not
strong enough; the metal being cut "fought back" against it with more force than the
control could properly counteract.
The key development in this area was the introduction of the servomechanism, which
produced powerful, controlled movement, with highly accurate measurement information.
Attaching two servos together produced a selsyn, where a remote servo's motions were
accurately matched by another. Using a variety of mechanical or electrical systems, the
output of the selsyns could be read to ensure proper movement had occurred (in other
words, forming a closed-loop control system).
The first serious suggestion that selsyns could be used for machining control was made
by Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, a Swedish immigrant to the U.S. working at General
Electric (GE). Alexanderson had worked on the problem of torque amplification that
allowed the small output of a mechanical computer to drive very large motors, which GE
used as part of a larger gun laying system for US Navy ships. Like machining, gun laying
requires very high accuracy fractions of a degree and the forces during the motion of
the gun turrets were non-linear. In November 1931 Alexanderson suggested to the

Industrial Engineering Department that the same systems could be used to drive the inputs
of machine tools, allowing it to follow the outline of a template without the strong physical
contact needed by existing tools like the Keller Machine. He stated that it was a "matter of
straight engineering development" [4]. However, the concept was ahead of its time from
a business development perspective, and GE did not take the matter seriously until years
later, when others had pioneered the field.

Parsons and Sikorsky

The birth of NC is generally credited to John T. Parsons, a machinist and salesman at his
father's machining company, Parsons Corp.
In 1942 he was told that helicopters were going to be the "next big thing" by the former
head of Ford Trimotor production, Bill Stout. He called Sikorsky Aircraft to inquire about
possible work, and soon got a contract to build the wooden stringers in the rotor blades. At
the time, rotor blades (rotary wings) were built in the same fashion that fixed wings were,
consisting of a long tubular steel spar with stringers (or more accurately ribs) set on them
to provide the aerodynamic shape that was then covered with a stressed skin. The
stringers for the rotors were built from a design provided by Sikorsky, which was sent to
Parsons as a series of 17 points defining the outline. Parsons then had to "fill in" the dots
with a French curve to generate an outline. A wooden jig was built up to form the outside
of the outline, and the pieces of wood forming the stringer were placed under pressure
against the inside of the jig so they formed the proper curve. A series of truss
work members were then assembled inside this outline to provide strength.
After setting up production at a disused furniture factory and ramping up production,
one of the blades failed and it was traced to a problem in the spar. At least some of the
problem appeared to stem from spot welding a metal collar on the stringer to the metal
spar. The collar was built into the stringer during construction, then slid onto the spar and
welded in the proper position. Parsons suggested a new method of attaching the stringers
directly to the spar using adhesives, never before tried on an aircraft design.
That development led Parsons to consider the possibility of using stamped metal
stringers instead of wood. These would not only be much stronger, but far easier to make
as well, as they would eliminate the complex layup and glue and screw fastening on the
wood. Duplicating this in a metal punch would require the wooden jig to be replaced by a
metal cutting tool made of tool steel. Such a device would not be easy to produce given the
complex outline. Looking for ideas, Parsons visited Wright Field to see Frank Stulen, the
head of the Propeller Lab Rotary Ring Branch. During their conversation, Stulen concluded
that Parsons didn't really know what he was talking about. Parsons realized Stulen had
reached this conclusion, and hired him on the spot. Stulen started work on 1 April 1946
and hired three new engineers to join him.
Stulen's brother worked at Curtis Wright Propeller, and mentioned that they were
using punched card calculators for engineering calculations. Stulen decided to adopt the

idea to run stress calculations on the rotors, the first detailed automated calculations on
helicopter rotors. When Parsons saw what Stulen was doing with the punched card
machines, he asked Stulen if they could be used to generate an outline with 200 points
instead of the 17 they were given, and offset each point by the radius of a mill cutting tool.
If you cut at each of those points, it would produce a relatively accurate cutout of the
stringer. This could cut the tool steel and then easily be filed down to a smooth template
for stamping metal stringers.
Stulen had no problem making such a program, and used it to produce large tables of
numbers that would be taken onto the machine floor. Here, one operator read the numbers
of the charts to two other operators, one on each of the X- and Y- axes. For each pair of
numbers the operators would move the cutting head to the indicated spot and then lower
the tool to make the cut. This was called the "by-the-numbers method", or more
technically, "plunge-cutting positioning". It was a labor-intensive prototype of today's 2.5
axis machining (two-and-a-half-axis machining).

Punch cards and first tries at NC

At that point Parsons conceived of a fully automated machine tool. With enough points
on the outline, no manual working would be needed to clean it up. However, with manual
operation the time saved by having the part more closely match the outline was offset by
the time needed to move the controls. If the machine's inputs were attached directly to the
card reader, this delay, and any associated manual errors, would be removed and the
number of points could be dramatically increased. Such a machine could repeatedly punch
out perfectly accurate templates on command. But at the time Parsons had no funds to
develop his ideas.
When one of Parsons salesmen was on a visit to Wright Field, he was told of the
problems the newly formed US Air Force was having with new jet-powered designs. He
asked if Parsons had anything to help them. Parsons showed Lockheed Corporation his
idea of an automated mill, but they were uninterested. They decided to use 5-axis template
copiers to produce the stringers, cutting from a metal template, and had already ordered
the expensive cutting machine. But as Parsons noted:
Now just picture the situation for a minute. Lockheed had contracted to design a
machine to make these wings. This machine had five axes of cutter movement, and each of
these was tracer controlled using a template. Nobody was using my method of making
templates, so just imagine what chance they were going to have of making an accurate
airfoil shape with inaccurate templates.
Parson's worries soon came true, and Lockheed's protests that they could fix the
problem eventually rang hollow. In 1949 the Air Force arranged funding for Parsons to
build his machines on his own. Early work with Snyder Machine & Tool Corp proved the
system of directly driving the controls from motors failed to give the accuracy needed to
set the machine for a perfectly smooth cut. Since the mechanical controls did not respond

in a linear fashion, you couldn't simply drive it with a given amount of power, because the
differing forces meant the same amount of power would not always produce the same
amount of motion in the controls. No matter how many points you included, the outline
would still be rough. Parsons was confronted by the same problem that had prevented
convergence of Jacquard-type controls with machining.

Enter MIT
This was not an impossible problem to solve, but would require some sort of feedback
system, like a selsyn, to directly measure how far the controls had actually turned. Faced
with the daunting task of building such a system, in the spring of 1949 Parsons turned
to Gordon S. Brown's Servomechanisms Laboratory at MIT, which was a world leader in
mechanical computing and feedback systems. During the war the Lab had built a number of
complex motor-driven devices like the motorized gun turret systems for the Boeing B-29
Superfortress and the automatic tracking system for the SCRradar. They were
naturally suited to technological transfer into a prototype of Parsons automated "by-thenumbers" machine.
The MIT team was led by William Pease assisted by James McDonough. They quickly
concluded that Parsons design could be greatly improved; if the machine did not simply
cut at points A and B, but instead moved smoothly between the points, then not only would
it make a perfectly smooth cut, but could do so with many fewer points the mill could cut
lines directly instead of having to define a large number of cutting points to "simulate" a
line. A three-way agreement was arranged between Parsons, MIT, and the Air Force, and
the project officially ran from July 1949 to June 1950. The contract called for the
construction of two "Card-a-matic Milling Machines", a prototype and a production system.
Both to be handed to Parsons for attachment to one of their mills in order to develop a
deliverable system for cutting stringers.
Instead, in 1950 MIT bought a surplus Cincinnati Milling Machine Company "Hydro-Tel"
mill of their own and arranged a new contract directly with the Air Force that froze
Parsons out of further development. Parsons would later comment that he "never dreamed
that anybody as reputable as MIT would deliberately go ahead and take over my
project". In spite of the development being handed to MIT, Parsons filed for a patent on
"Motor Controlled Apparatus for Positioning Machine Tool" on 5 May 1952, sparking a
filing by MIT for a "Numerical Control Servo-System" on 14 August 1952. Parsons
received US Patent 2,820,187 on 14 January 1958, and the company sold an exclusive
license to Bendix. IBM, Fujitsu and General Electric all took sub-licenses after having
already started development of their own devices.

MIT's machine
MIT fitted gears to the various hand wheel inputs and drove them with roller
chains connected to motors, one for each of the machine's three axes (X, Y, and Z). The

associated controller consisted of five refrigerator-sized cabinets that, together, were

almost as large as the mill they were connected to. Three of the cabinets contained the
motor controllers, one controller for each motor, the other two the digital reading system.
Unlike parsons original punched card design, the MIT design used standard 7track punch tape for input. Three of the tracks were used to control the different axes of
the machine, while the other four encoded various control information. The tape was read
in a cabinet that also housed six relay-based hardware registers, two for each axis. With
every read operation the previously read point was copied into the "starting point"
register, and the newly read one into the "ending point" register. The tape was read
continually and the number in the registers incremented with each hole encountered in
their control track until a "stop" instruction was encountered, four holes in a line.
The final cabinet held a clock that sent pulses through the registers, compared them,
and generated output pulses that interpolated between the points. For instance, if the
points were far apart the output would have pulses with every clock cycle, whereas closely
spaced points would only generate pulses after multiple clock cycles. The pulses are sent
into a summing register in the motor controllers, counting up by the number of pulses
every time they were received. The summing registers were connected to a digital to
analog converter that increased power to the motors as the count in the registers
increased, making the controls move faster.
The registers were decremented by encoders attached to the motors and the mill itself,
which would reduce the count by one for every one degree of rotation. Once the second
point was reached the counter would hold a zero, the pulses from the clock would stop,
and the motors would stop turning. Each 1 degree rotation of the controls produced a
0.0005 inch movement of the cutting head. The programmer could control the speed of the
cut by selecting points that were closer together for slow movements, or further apart for
rapid ones.
The system was publicly demonstrated in September 1952, appearing in that
month's Scientific American. MIT's system was an outstanding success by any technical
measure, quickly making any complex cut with extremely high accuracy that could not
easily be duplicated by hand. However, the system was terribly complex, including
vacuum tubes, 175 relays and numerous moving parts, reducing its reliability in a
production environment. It was also expensive; the total bill presented to the Air Force
was $360,000.14 ($2,641,727.63 in 2005 dollars). Between 1952 and 1956 the system was
used to mill a number of one-off designs for various aviation firms, in order to study their
potential economic impact.

Proliferation of NC
The Air Force funding for the project ran out in 1953, but development was picked up
by the Giddings and Lewis Machine Tool Co. In 1955 many of the MIT team left to form
Concord Controls, a commercial NC company with Giddings' backing, producing

the Numericord controller. Numericord was similar to the MIT design, but replaced the
punch tape with a magnetic tape reader that General Electric was working on. The tape
contained a number of signals of different phases, which directly encoded the angle of the
various controls. The tape was played at a constant speed in the controller, which set its
half of the selsyn to the encoded angles while the remote side was attached to the machine
controls. Designs were still encoded on paper tape, but the tapes were transferred to a
reader/writer that converted them into magnetic form. The magtapes could then be used
on any of the machines on the floor, where the controllers were greatly reduced in
complexity. Developed to produce highly accurate dies for an aircraft skinning press, the
Numericord "NC5" went into operation at G&L's plant at Fond du Lac, WI in 1955.
Monarch Machine Tool also developed a numerical controlled lathe, starting in 1952.
They demonstrated their machine at the 1955 Chicago Machine Tool Show (predecessor of
today's IMTS), along with a number of other vendors with punched card or paper tape
machines that were either fully developed or in prototype form. These included Kearney &
Treckers Milwaukee-Matic II that could change its cutting tool under numerical control, a
common feature on modern machines.
A Boeing report noted that "numerical control has proved it can reduce costs, reduce
lead times, improve quality, reduce tooling and increase productivity In spite of these
developments, and glowing reviews from the few users, uptake of NC was relatively slow.
As Parsons later noted:
The NC concept was so strange to manufacturers, and so slow to catch on, that the US
Army itself finally had to build 120 NC machines and lease them to various manufacturers
to begin popularizing its use.
In 1958 MIT published its report on the economics of NC. They concluded that the tools
were competitive with human operators, but simply moved the time from the machining to
the creation of the tapes. In Forces of Production, Noble claims that this was the whole
point as far as the Air Force was concerned; moving the process off of the highly unionized
factory floor and into the non-unionized white collar design office. The cultural context of
the early 1950s, a second Red Scare with a widespread fear of a bomber gap and of
domestic subversion, sheds light on this interpretation. It was strongly feared that the
West would lose the defense production race to the Communists, and that syndicalist
power was a path toward losing, either by "getting too soft" (less output, greater unit
expense) or even by Communist sympathy and subversion within unions (arising from
their common theme of empowering the working class).

CNC arrives
Many of the commands for the experimental parts were programmed "by hand" to
produce the punch tapes that were used as input. During the development of Whirlwind,
MIT's real-time computer, John Runyon coded a number of subroutines to produce these
tapes under computer control. Users could enter a list of points and speeds, and the

program would calculate the points needed and automatically generate the punch tape. In
one instance, this process reduced the time required to produce the instruction list and
mill the part from 8 hours to 15 minutes. This led to a proposal to the Air Force to produce
a generalized "programming" language for numerical control, which was accepted in June
Starting in September, Ross and Pople outlined a language for machine control that was
based on points and lines, developing this over several years into the APT programming
language. In 1957 the Aircraft Industries Association (AIA) and Air Material
Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base joined with MIT to standardize this work
and produce a fully computer-controlled NC system. On 25 February 1959 the combined
team held a press conference showing the results, including a 3D machined aluminum ash
tray that was handed out in the press kit.
Meanwhile, Patrick Hanratty was making similar developments at GE as part of their
partnership with G&L on the Numericord. His language, PRONTO, beat APT into
commercial use when it was released in 1958. Hanratty then went on to
develop MICR magnetic ink characters that were used in cheque processing, before moving
to General Motors to work on the groundbreaking DAC- CAD system.
APT was soon extended to include "real" curves in 2D-APT-II. With its release, MIT
reduced its focus on NC as it moved into CAD experiments. APT development was picked
up with the AIA in San Diego, and in 1962, by Illinois Institute of Technology Research.
Work on making APT an international standard started in 1963 under USASI X3.4.7, but
many manufacturers of NC machines had their own one-off additions (like PRONTO), so
standardization was not completed until 1968, when there were 25 optional add-ins to the
basic system.
Just as APT was being released in the early 1960s, a second generation of lower-cost
transistorized computers was hitting the market that were able to process much larger
volumes of information in production settings. This reduced the cost of programming for
NC machines and by the mid 1960s, APT runs accounted for a third of all computer time at
large aviation firms.

CAD meets CNC

While the Servomechanisms Lab was in the process of developing their first mill, in
1953, MIT's Mechanical Engineering Department dropped the requirement that
undergraduates take courses in drawing. The instructors formerly teaching these
programs were merged into the Design Division, where an informal discussion of
computerized design started. Meanwhile the Electronic Systems Laboratory, the newly
rechristened Servomechanisms Laboratory, had been discussing whether or not design
would ever start with paper diagrams in the future.
In January 1959, an informal meeting was held involving individuals from both the
Electronic Systems Laboratory and the Mechanical Engineering Department's Design

Division. Formal meetings followed in April and May, which resulted in the "ComputerAided Design Project". In December 1959, the Air Force issued a one year contract to ESL
for $223,000 to fund the project, including $20,800 earmarked for 104 hours of computer
time at $200 per hour. This proved to be far too little for the ambitious program they had
in mind, although their engineering calculation system, AED, was released in March 1965.
In 1959, General Motors started an experimental project to digitize, store and print the
many design sketches being generated in the various GM design departments. When the
basic concept demonstrated that it could work, they started the DAC- Design
Augmented by Computer project with IBM to develop a production version. One part of
the DAC project was the direct conversion of paper diagrams into 3D models, which were
then converted into APT commands and cut on milling machines. In November 1963 a
design for the lid of a trunk moved from 2D paper sketch to 3D clay prototype for the first
time. With the exception of the initial sketch, the design-to-production loop had been
closed.
Meanwhile, MIT's offsite Lincoln Labs was building computers to test new
transistorized designs. The ultimate goal was essentially a transistorized Whirlwind
known as TX- , but in order to test various circuit designs a smaller version known as TXwas built first. When construction of TX-2 started, time in TX-0 freed up and this led to a
number of experiments involving interactive input and use of the machine's CRT display
for graphics. Further development of these concepts led to Ivan Sutherland's
groundbreaking Sketchpad program on the TXSutherland moved to the University of Utah after his Sketchpad work, but it inspired
other MIT graduates to attempt the first true CAD system. It was Electronic Drafting
Machine (EDM), sold to Control Data and known as "Digigraphics", which Lockheed used to
build production parts for the C-5 Galaxy, the first example of an end-to-end CAD/CNC
production system. By 1970 there were a wide variety of CAD firms including Intergraph,
Applicon, Computervision, Auto-trol Technology, UGS Corp. and others, as well as large
vendors like CDC and IBM.

Proliferation of CNC
The price of computer cycles fell drastically during the 1960s with the widespread
introduction of useful minicomputers. Eventually it became less expensive to handle the
motor control and feedback with a computer program than it was with dedicated servo
systems. Small computers were dedicated to a single mill, placing the entire process in a
small box. PDP- 's and Data General Nova computers were common in these roles. The
introduction of the microprocessor in the 1970s further reduced the cost of
implementation, and today almost all CNC machines use some form of microprocessor to
handle all operations.
The introduction of lower-cost CNC machines radically changed the manufacturing
industry. Curves are as easy to cut as straight lines, complex 3-D structures are relatively

easy to produce, and the number of machining steps that required human action has been
dramatically reduced. With the increased automation of manufacturing processes with
CNC machining, considerable improvements in consistency and quality have been achieved
with no strain on the operator. CNC automation reduced the frequency of errors and
provided CNC operators with time to perform additional tasks. CNC automation also allows
for more flexibility in the way parts are held in the manufacturing process and the time
required changing the machine to produce different components.
During the early 1970s the Western economies were mired in slow economic growth
and rising employment costs, and NC machines started to become more attractive. The
major U.S. vendors were slow to respond to the demand for machines suitable for lowercost NC systems, and into this void stepped the Germans. In 1979, sales of German
machines surpassed the U.S. designs for the first time. This cycle quickly repeated itself,
and by 1980 Japan had taken a leadership position, U.S. sales dropping all the time. Once
sitting in the #1 position in terms of sales on a top-ten chart consisting entirely of U.S.
companies in 1971, by 1987 Cincinnati Milacron was in 8th place on a chart heavily
dominated by Japanese firms.
Many researchers have commented that the U.S. focus on high-end applications left
them in an uncompetitive situation when the economic downturn in the early 1970s led to
greatly increased demand for low-cost NC systems. Unlike the U.S. companies, who had
focused on the highly profitable aerospace market, German and Japanese manufacturers
targeted lower-profit segments from the start and were able to enter the low-cost markets
much more easily.
As computing and networking evolved, so did direct numerical control (DNC). Its longterm coexistence with less networked variants of NC and CNC is explained by the fact that
individual firms tend to stick with whatever is profitable, and their time and money for
trying out alternatives is limited. This explains why machine tool models and tape storage
media persist in grandfathered fashion even as the state of the art advances.

DIY, hobby, and personal CNC

Recent developments in small scale CNC have been enabled, in large part, by
the Enhanced Machine Controller project from the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), an agency of the US Government's Department of Commerce. EMC is a
public domain program operating under the Linux operating system and working on PC
based hardware. After the NIST project ended, development continued, leading
to EMC2 which is licensed under the GNU General Public License and Lesser GNU General
Public License (GPL and LGPL). Derivations of the original EMC software have also led to
several proprietary PC based programs notably TurboCNC, and Mach3, as well as
embedded systems based on proprietary hardware. The availability of these PC based
control programs has led to the development of DIY CNC, allowing hobbyists to build their
own using open source hardware designs. The same basic architecture has allowed

manufacturers, such as Sherline and Taig, to produce turnkey lightweight desktop milling
machines for hobbyists.
The easy availability of PC based software and support information of Mach3, written
by Art Fenerty, let anyone with some time and technical expertise make complex parts for
home and prototype use. Fenerty is considered a principal founder of Windows-based PC
CNC machining.
Eventually, the homebrew architecture was fully commercialized and used to create
larger machinery suitable for commercial and industrial applications. This class of
equipment has been referred to as Personal CNC. Parallel to the evolution of personal
computers, Personal CNC has its roots in EMC and PC based control, but has evolved to the
point where it can replace larger conventional equipment in many instances. As with
the Personal Computer, Personal CNC is characterized by equipment whose size,
capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to
be operated directly by an end user, often without professional training in CNC technology.

Today
Tape readers may still be found on current CNC facilities, since machine tools have a
long operating life. Other methods of transferring CNC programs to machine tools, such as
diskettes or direct connection of a portable computer, are also used. Punched tapes are
more robust. Floppy disks, USB flash drives and local area networking have replaced the
tapes to some degree, especially in larger environments that are highly integrated.
The proliferation of CNC led to the need for new CNC standards that were not
encumbered by licensing or particular design concepts, like APT. A number of different
"standards" proliferated for a time, often based around vector graphics markup
languages supported by plotters. One such standard has since become very common, the
"G-code" that was originally used on Gerber Scientific plotters and then adapted for CNC
use. The file format became so widely used that it has been embodied in an EIA standard.
In turn, while G-code is the predominant language used by CNC machines today, there is a
push to supplant it with STEP-NC, a system that was deliberately designed for CNC, rather
than grown from an existing plotter standard.
While G-code is the most common method of programming, some machine-tool/control
manufacturers also have invented their own proprietary "conversational" methods of
programming, trying to make it easier to program simple parts and make set-up and
modifications at the machine easier (such as Mazak's Mazatrol, Okuma's IGF, and Hurco).
These have met with varying success.
A more recent advancement in CNC interpreters is support of logical commands, known
as parametric programming (also known as macro programming). Parametric programs
include both device commands as well as a control language similar to BASIC. The
programmer can make if/then/else statements, loops, subprogram calls, perform various
arithmetic, and manipulate variables to create a large degree of freedom within one

program. An entire product line of different sizes can be programmed using logic and
simple math to create and scale an entire range of parts, or create a stock part that can be
scaled to any size a customer demands.
Since about 2006, the idea has been suggested and pursued to foster the convergence
with CNC and DNC of several trends elsewhere in the world of information technology that
have not yet much affected CNC and DNC. One of these trends is the combination of greater
data collection (more sensors), greater and more automated data exchange (via building
new, open industry-standard XML schemas), and data mining to yield a new level
of business intelligence and workflow automation in manufacturing. Another of these
trends is the emergence of widely published APIs together with the aforementioned open
data standards to encourage an ecosystem of user-generated apps and mashups, which can
be both open and commercial in other words, taking the new IT culture of app
marketplaces that began in web development and smartphone app development and
spreading it to CNC, DNC, and the other factory automation systems that are networked
with the CNC/DNC. MTConnect is a leading effort to bring these ideas into successful
implementation [1].

Chapter 2. ROUTER CONFIGURATIONS

This chapter illustrates different router configurations, and discusses each
configuration, its advantages and disadvantages.

X-Y Tables
This is a machine style that is seldom used anymore. They can usually be found on
smaller machines or in special applications such as for chair legs or for making templates.
In this configuration, a table that moves both right to left and front to back is mounted
under a spindle that moves up and down. The first of these machines was actually a pin
router with an X-Y table mounted to it.

Figure . : X-Y tables have evolved from pin routers

It is quite easy to get a very rigid machine in this manner. However, from a practical
standpoint it is limited to rather small table sizes. The spindle must be attached to the
machine base by an upright column. The distance from the column to the spindle defines
the maximum table width and this distance cannot be too large without making the overall
machine structure impractical.

Cantilevered
These are usually referred to in the industry as point-to-point machines although only
very old machines actually qualify as such anymore.

Figure . : Cantilevered Arm Router

This configuration has one major advantage. It is easy to load and unload. The table is
suspended in front of the operator and all of the operating mechanism is located behind
the table. Every part of the table can be easily reached.
Since the arm structure is suspended from only one side, developing a structure that
remains rigid becomes quite difficult.

Moving Table

Figure . : Moving Table Router

The moving table and the moving gantry designs are the most common in industry
today.
The moving table machine is more popular than the moving gantry machine, not
because it is inherently more stable but because of a control system limitation. A moving
table machine has a single lead screw moving the head back and forth on the gantry and a
single screw moving the table front to back.

Moving Gantry
A moving gantry machine has the gantry mounted to a rail located on either side of the
table. One lead screw moves the head back and forth on the gantry, but two lead screws are
required to move the gantry. As a result, the moving gantry machine requires one extra
servo motor and drive making it more expensive. Each screw must also have its own
independent compensation table which makes it more demanding on the controller.

Figure . : Moving Gantry Router

The biggest practical difference between the moving gantry and the moving table
construction is that for equal table size, the moving gantry design requires about half the
floor space.
A moving gantry machine can generally carry heavier parts than a moving table
machine.
This is mostly true when working with stone or metals. When the fixture and work
piece weighs thousands of pounds, this can become a problem. In these circumstances it is
better to place the fixture and work piece on a fixed table braced to the floor and move the
gantry over the work.

Pendulum
Pendulum or dual table routers are usually seen in high volume applications where
maximizing cutting time is key. One table works at a time allowing for setup and parts
removal from the other table.
In certain cases, both tables can work in tandem allowing for the machining of larger
parts.

Figure . : Pendulum or Double Table Router

These machines were popular in the early days of CNC routers since price was not an
issue.
They fell out of favor when manufacturers started making lower cost machines, but are
coming back in style now that maximum efficiency is of the essence.
These machines are often seen in a multiple spindle configuration.

5-Axis

Figure . : 5-Axis CNC Router

5-axis machines were first used in the aerospace industry and used to cost millions of
dollars. They soon became sought after by other industries because of their potential for
machining large three dimensional objects.
Both moving table and moving gantry 5-axis CNC designs are commercially available.
The vast majority of machines are of the fixed gantry, moving table design.
There are several major differences between the 3-axis CNC routers and the 5-axis
machines. The biggest difference is that 5-axis machines are generally designed to work on
large three-dimensional parts where the 3-axis machines are intended to process primarily
flat parts. The gantry, whether it is fixed or moving, must be taller and the z-axis, will have
much more stroke than the 3-axis machines, sometimes up to 60 inches (1500 mm) or
more.
This greater height does offer larger part processing capability but at a significant cost.
As the gantry gets taller and the z-axis gets longer, both accuracy and stability are
diminished. This situation can be improved by reducing the acceleration and deceleration
of the various axes that affect the gantry, although this will significantly slow the machine
down. For this reason alone it is best to try to keep the z-axis and gantry height as low as
possible for every application.

Industrial Robot

Figure . : 6-Axis robot fitted with a router spindle

Industrial robots, once relegated to material handling applications have come a long
way. Because of better software applications and their widespread use in many industries,
their price is significantly lower.
They are well suited to replace 5-axis CNC routers in trimming operations on large parts
such as boats and hot-tubs. They can also be very useful in finishing applications as a robot
can be made to sand the part, apply the finish and then move it along to the next operation.

These machines cost about $50,000 for the basic machine, plus tooling and integration
costs. New applications are being worked on by independent companies as each one is
likely to be customized to the customers particular needs
Expect to see more of these machines in the wood industry in the near future.

Other Categories of CNC Equipment

Aside from the omnipresent CNC router, there are many other applications that use CNC
technology. Amongst these are CNC edgebanders, CNC lathes, CNC bandsaws, CNC sanders
etc. All these machines use computer controlled motion hence the label CNC.

Figure . : 8-head CNC carving machine

Chapter 3. LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction
The goal of this project is to design and build a high quality CNC. At the same time, the
unit will have a minimum cost price point compared with other machines of similar
functionality. The areas of technology that will be covered in this review are:

Mechanical Systems Review

Drive Electronic Techniques
Communication/Linking
Software

Mechanical Systems Review

The mechanical subsystem of a CNC provides the means needed to cut and machine
various materials for a given job. The choice of materials has a direct impact on
performance, precision, repeatability, longevity, and mechanical noise transfer into the
parts.
The mechanical subsystem is comprised of the guide system, the drive system, and the
frame housing structure. Each of these systems has a direct impact on the aforementioned
qualities of a CNC. The remainder of this section will focus on the types of these systems
and look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Guide Rail Design

The first frame subsystem design to consider would be a conventional railing system
[6], which consists of a linear motion bearing and shaft assembly which would simply
allow unrestricted movement along their lengths. The most logical rail design to consider,
given the design specifications and size requirements, would be the sort of railing that
could be supported in some way to handle the loads applied to it without much deflection.
In researching railing systems such as these, information was found which could give some
insight into the reasonable values of a system such as this. For instance, the railing system
shown here has a simple steel shaft railing system and is light weight. For many years
there have been vast improvements made in rail design to help increase the performances
of the rail system.

Steel shaft railing, as seen in Figure 3.1 is both a simple and efficient design for
linear motion applications [7]. The shaft provides support to loading applications along
the shaft, along with forces generated from linear motion, which makes this a perfect
concept for this particular system.

Figure . : Shaft

Another example of a railing system can be seen in Figure

which uses a shaft and
support system to support loading applications along the shaft, along with forces from
linear motion [8]. The shaft and support system in this particular system can come in a
ceramic material which provides enhanced properties of the system. The enhanced
properties include a reduction of vibration while also reducing deflection of the shaft
during loading cases to help increase the life of the shaft.

Figure . : Shaft and Support Rail

As seen in Figure 3.3, the rail design is very diversely designed, and has been well
engineered for loading applications. It is also worth noting that the companies cited as [7]
and [8] carry several different types of these railing systems which all have both
advantages and disadvantages as pertaining to the CNC system. Each system found, even
from several different vendors, have rail systems ranging from ceramic rails to case
hardened steel railing systems. Most rail systems are case hardened steel, and have some
sort of bearing to go along with them.

Figure . : V-notch Rail

The V-notch rail system uses a notch in the rail and V-grooved wheel riding on the
railing surface to carry the load and support linear motion
. The V-notch rail can be
more complex by notching the top and bottom of the rail which can be used for rails
suspended above the ground, which makes this system a perfect concept for this particular
system.

The last railing system to consider that is the simplest and most applicable railing
system is the example shown in Figure 3.4 which involves a Versa-Mount guide block
and rail [7]. This system is capable of higher loading capacities with stability in
handling off-balanced loads, along with being oriented in any position and still
maintaining approximately the same load capacity due to its rigidity. These
characteristics also make this system a perfect concept for this particular system.

Figure . : Versa-Mount Guide and Rail

Drive Designs
The purpose of the drive mechanics is to transfer the torque provided by the electric
drive motors into linear motion to move the tool head. Since CNC machines require linear
movement in multiple axes, multiple screw systems are most often used to accomplish this

goal. These systems offer a simple and compact means of transmitting power and motion
with excellent reliability. For these machines, the screws are turned by motors, generating
linear motion and thrust in the nut. There are two main types of screws, and both power
screws and ball screws operate in this way. However, the differences arise in the efficiency
with which this motion is transmitted, the friction loss, the allowable rotational speed, and
the required linear speeds. Before these differences are discussed it is necessary to explain
the specifics of each type of screw.
Power screw is a general term for screws that transmit motion to threaded nuts using a
variety of thread shapes. The threads used include ACME, show in Figure
, and metric
trapezoidal among others. The trapezoid or squared thread shape allows for smoother
rotation without the clapping force that is present in fastener threads. [9] Most power
screws are made from steel and nuts are made from bronze and plastics to reduce
friction [9]. As seen in Figure 3.5, ball screws use ball bearings between the threads of
the nut and screw. These ball bearings travel a continuous path through the nut
providing rolling contact and reducing friction. Some ball screws offer multiple ball
circuits distributing the load and improving reliability [10].

Figure . : Ball Screw

Figure . : ACME Power Screw

Both types of screws are available in various leads and with multiple starts. The lead of
a screw gives the linear travel of the nut for every revolution of the screw
. The speed
of the linear advance is determined by dividing the rpm by the lead
. When a lead is
increased and the helical threads are lengthened, gaps would be left between individual
threads. This is when multiple start geometry is utilized. A screw with multiple starts
indicates that there is more than one thread running down the length of the screw filling
the gaps between threads that would otherwise be present in high lead screws. The linear
speed requirement of the system is used to determine both the rpm and the lead. A screw
with a high lead can be rotated more slowly to produce a given linear speed while a screw
with a lower lead must be rotated faster to create the same linear velocities. However, each
type of screw has limits on the rpm they are capable of operating at and the leads that they

are manufactured in. In this case, other factors must be analyzed, and together, the system
requirements specify the best type screw for the machine.
Most of the screw characteristics are determined by the type of contact between the nut
and screw. A power screw such as ACME uses a screw to nut contact resulting in sliding
friction. While the coefficient of friction depends on the part materials, it is generally
higher than that of ball screws, which have rolling contact provided by the ball bearings.
This friction results in a loss of torque transmitted and lower output efficiency for ACME
lead screws. ACME lead screws have efficiencies that range from 20-30%, while ball screws
transmit motion with over 90% efficiency
. This friction significantly impacts the
system, but most important is the increase in the required drive motor torque. If the
system requires high speeds, then motors must be much larger, increasing cost and adding
weight. Also, the low efficiency of ACME screws converts a majority of that torque into
heat. For these reasons, ACME screws are limited to speeds below 300 rpm with most
applications below 100 rpm . However, with improved nut materials, these negatives can
be reduced making power screws more attractive.

The sliding contact of ACME threaded screws that reduces its allowable speeds also
creates its many advantages. Most importantly, the larger friction force allows the screw to
self-lock and keep any thrust load from being converted to torque and backdriving the
motor. Ball screws will experience free linear motion of the nut, known as backlash, unless a
preloaded nut or double nut or some type of brake is used
. This can create complexity
in the design and increase cost of the system, making ACME screws desirable when this is a
significant problem. These screws are available with many different leads. Higher leads
provide for quick linear translation, but require greater rotational torque to move loads.
Smaller leads provide for precise positioning and require less rotational torque. Due to the
greater complexity of the ball nut, ACME screws generally have the advantage for low lead,
high precision applications as they can be manufactured in leads as low as 0.5mm/rev
.
Another consideration includes screw life and reliability. For this, the advantage belongs
to the ball screws. Due to the extensive testing done with balls for roller bearings there are
less unknowns than for ACME screws in which load, speed, lubrication, heat, and other
factors must be taken into account
. The life of power screws depend greatly on the
system variables where life for ball screws can be reasonably estimated from wear life
calculations.
In the process of selecting the best screw for a particular application, all of the system
variables must be examined to determine what requirements must be met and which
compromises can be allowed. If higher rotational speeds are needed, with the lower friction,
less heat generation, and more efficient conversion of drive torques will require the use of
ball screws. However, if simplicity, lower costs, self-locking, or high precision leads are the
more desirable attributes, then power screws such as ACME are the more likely choice.
CNC machines currently on the market use both power screws and ball screws. Most of
the lower end machines use power screws such as ACME threads for cost savings and

design simplicity. However, as speeds increase and higher reliability requirements are
desired, ball screws become more common. Consumers are the ultimate judge on system
practicality, and besides speed and accuracy requirements, their only concern in regards to
the drive system is that it works now and continues to work for a reasonable length of
time. For many hobbyists in this market, an ACME screw will provide excellent function
and life that their usage will require. The small businesses and more active hobbyists will
most likely desire ball screw drives and will be willing and capable of paying for its
advantages. As with all purchases and design comparisons, all of the options must be
weighed with the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of each in order to determine best
drive mechanism for the system.

Materials Review for Frame

A variety of materials have been used in the building of CNC machines. In comparing the
materials there are five selection factors that need to be reviewed. CNC frame materials
need to have some strength in order to support the weight of the gantry and the cutting
head as well as withstand forces resulting from the milling process. Stiffness is also
required to prevent any deflections due to both static forces and dynamic forces resulting
from the acceleration of the tool head. Weight is also important because the mass of the
frame contributes to both the static and acceleration forces. The best frame material would
accomplish all three and offer excellent machinability and be available at a low cost.
Several materials including some metals, steel and aluminum, and a range of plastics
that include high density polyethylene (HDPE), ultra high molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMW PE), polypropylene, polycarbonate, nylon, and Delrin (acetal) were researched.
Their properties were tabulated in order to compare their characteristics and assess their
applicability as a CNC frame material. The properties that were gathered include the
modulus of elasticity, yield strength, and density. The ratio of the modulus of elasticity to
density was calculated to give an indication of stiffness and the ratio of yield strength to
density was found to give a strength value relative to weight
. Costs have also been
found, from US Plastics Corp, for a sheet of each plastic measuring x x
. For
steel and aluminum the thickness is indicated in the table while the width and length
remained the same.
Comparing metals and plastics is not easy as metals have a much higher strength and
modulus of elasticity, but also have a greater weight and are more difficult to machine Its
interesting to note that both steel and aluminum have similar stiffness to weight properties
indicated by the ratio E/, while the high grade aluminum has a significant advantage in
strength to weight.
The advantage of building with plastics is the reduction in weight. From the data in
Table
: Materials Comparisons, the polyethylene, both HDPE and UHMW PE, and
polypropylene plastics were the lightest with densities of 0.90-0.96g/cm . Another benefit
of plastics is easier machining as drilling and cutting processes do not significantly wear on

the blades and bits. Good strength and stiffness properties are available in plastics as well.
When nylon is reinforced it has some excellent properties, as does the acetal, Delrin.
However, comparing the costs, HDPE and polypropylene are the most economical choices
and due to their low densities they have strength to weight ratios very near to that of steel.

Table . : Materials Comparisons

Communications
In order for the CNC to process any design implanted into it, the machine must have a
connection system between itself and the software being used by the computer. Many
connections used today are very common to people from using cable linking to add
pictures to their computer hard drive or using a modem connection to log on to the
internet. We will discuss the four major types of communication systems between
computers and other hardware including:
USB Ports
Serial Ports
Parallel Ports
Ethernet

USB Ports
The USB ports, or universal serial bus ports, are most likely the simplest and one of the
most widely available connection systems between computers and devices. The cable
connector between the device and the computer uses either an A connector seen in

Figure
which travels upstream to the computer or a B connector seen in Figure
which travels downstream to the device [15].

Figure . : "A" Connector

Figure . : "B" Connector

The computer will act as the host once the connection is made. The computer will then
use enumeration to provide an address to the device depending upon what other types of
USB connections are attached at the same time. The device will respond to the host and
describe what kind of data transfer it wants to perform. There are three types of data
transfers: interrupt, bulk, and isochronous. Interrupt transfer is for devices that will
provide very little information. Bulk transfers will send information in very large packets
that must be confirmed as correct by the device. Isochronous transfers will send
information in a streaming pattern to prevent error connections. The USB device must use
available bandwidth provided by the computer. This must be divided into frames and the
computer will control the frames. Isochronous and interrupt transfers will be provided
guaranteed bandwidth by the computer while bulk transfers will be given only remaining
bandwidth not being used. Some of the USB features include: maximum data rate of 480
megabits per second at the 2.0 level, allowed to be plugged and unplugged at any time,
provide power to lower power devices attached to USB sockets of the computer, and
internally contains two power wires, one for ground and one for +5 volts, and two data
transfer wires as seen in Figure 3.9.

Figure . : Internal Wiring of USB Connection

Red 5Volts, Brown GND, Blue/Yellow Data Transfer

Serial Ports
The serial port was the most widely used connection system until the use of USB
connectors and parallel ports were integrated into most computers. Although not as widely
used, serial ports are still used by some devices and most computers still allow for the
connection of about two serial ports at a time. It is basically composed of a standard
connector and a protocol to attach to outside devices [16]. It is given the name serial
because of its ability to serialize or take a byte of data and transmit the bits one at a time
over just one wire. It can use either parity or start/stop bits to communicate with the
device when the incoming byte is completed. Serial ports are considered bi-directional
communication systems because they use one pin on the device for incoming information
from the computer and a different pin for outgoing information from the device to be
handled simultaneously which is called a full-duplex communication. There are two major
types of serial port connections: 9-pin connection seen in Figure
and 25-pin
connection seen in Figure
.

Figure .

: 25-pin Connector

Figure .

: 9-pin Connector

Each pin of the 9-pin connector device provides a specific task while the 25-pin
connector does all the same tasks, but many of the pins are not used. The tasks needed for
the pins to do are: carrier detect which determines if the modem is connected to a working
phone line, receive data which sends information from modem to computer, transmit data
which sends information from the computer to the modem, data terminal ready which
gives command to modem that computer is ready to talk, signal ground which grounds the
connection, data set ready which gives command to computer that modem is ready to talk,
request to send which asks modem if computer can send information, clear to send which
tells computer that modem will allow information to be sent, and ring indicator which
acknowledges signal from modem to computer that a ring is found when a call is placed.

Parallel Ports
Parallel ports are the most common way of connecting bulk transfer devices to a
computer although they are slowly being replaced by USB ports. Unlike the serial port, the
parallel port is able to send a byte of information at one time which allows the standard
parallel port to send 50 to 100 kilobytes of data per second [17]. The most common use for

parallel ports is for printing purposes. There are two major types of parallel ports for
printing: the DB-25 shown in Figure
and the Centronics 36 shown in Figure
.

Figure .

: DB-

Figure .

: Centronics 36

Each pin has a specific task to allow the connection between the printer and the
computer. These tasks include: strobe which uses voltage gain and drop to tell the printer
that data is being given, carry data which provides either a positive voltage when a 1 bit is
being sent or ground when a 0 bit is being sent, acknowledge which sends a voltage gain
and drop to tell the computer data was received, busy which tells the computer the printer
is ready to receive if it falls below a certain voltage, out of paper which sends a voltage to a
certain pin to stop the printer from continuing a job, online which tells the computer the
device is on and available, auto feed which tells the printer to continue feeding paper as
long as a certain holds a high voltage, problem which tells the computer an error has
occurred when the voltage drops on a certain pin, initialize which drops the voltage on a
certain pin to warn the printer when a new job is starting, offline which turns the printer
off as long as a certain holds a consistent voltage, and grounds which serve as reference
signals for the low charges.

Drive System
The drive system of a CNC controls the motors which are connected to the mechanical
system. There are two electromechanical approaches that can be used to drive the
mechanical system. There is a servo controlled and there is the stepper motor drive
approach. Both have strengths and weaknesses. While servo systems have a basic drive
system with feedback, stepper motors have multiple methods in which they can be driven.
These techniques can be simple or complicated, and it becomes a question of performance
versus cost which determines the type used.

Stepper Motor and Servo Motor

The main difference between stepper motors and servo motors is the type of motor
used and the way it is controlled. Stepper motors use between 50 to 100 pole brushless
motors while the servo motors use only 4 to 12 poles
.
Stepper motors can accurately move between step positions because of the high
number of poles the motor has. Stepper motors move incrementally using pulses of current

and do not require the use of a closed loop feedback system. Servo motors on the other
hand require the use of a feedback system to calculate the required amount of current to
move the motor.
The performance difference between a stepper and a servo is a result of the motor
design. The stepper motor has significantly higher number of poles than the servo motors.
One revolution of a stepper motor requires many current pulses through the motors
windings than a servo motor. Therefore the torque of a stepper motor is greatly reduced at
higher speeds compared to the servo motor. On the other hand, the high number of poles of
a stepper motors delivers more torque at lower speeds then of the same size servo motor.
Torque reduction of a stepper motor at higher speeds can be reduced by increasing the
driving voltage to the motor. Table
outlines both advantages and disadvantages of both
servo and stepper motors.

Table . : Servo versus Stepper

A stepper motors ability to position accurately is one of the main advantages of using
them. Stepper motors have an angle tolerance range of 5%, and this angle error is not
accumulative from one step to the next. This means that a stepper motor taking one step
travels 1.8 degrees .09 degrees or can travel 1,000,000 degrees .09 degrees
.
Servo systems are best utilized for high speed, high torque applications that have
dynamic load changes. Stepper motors are optimal for applications that will use low to
medium acceleration, require high holding torque and flexibility of using an open loop
or closed loop system. The stepper motor has many advantages over using servo
motors. This concludes the discussion of servo motors altogether. The focus of the
remaining discussion of the drive system for stepper motors.

Stepper Motor Drivers

The function of the driver is to supply the rated amount of current to the motor in the
shortest time possible [20]. The driver voltage is very important to the operation and
performance of the stepper motor The motors winding have a certain resistance and
inductive reactance thus a certain time constant. This is the time it takes to supply the
rated current to the motor. At high motor speeds this significantly reduces the torque
supplied by the motor. The reduction in torque can be overcome by increasing the drive
voltage to the motor, normally called overdriven the motor. Two of the most commonly
used driver types for stepper motors are constant current and constant voltage.

Constant Current Drivers (Pulse Width Modulation)

The chopper driver regulates the current supplied to the motor by applying a square
wave with varying duty cycle to the driver voltage
. These drivers require a high
voltage power supply to generate a high driver voltage to motor voltage, thus improving
the high speed performance of the motor. This type of driver works well at high speeds.

Constant Voltage Drivers (Resistance Limited)

In the RL driver the amount of current the stepper receives is only limited by the
impedance of the motor windings. In this configuration the drive voltage must match the
rated voltage of the motor. This type of driver works best at low speeds.

Drive Techniques
Stepper motors can be driven with several different drive techniques. This section will
discuss wave, full, half and micro stepping techniques and will summarize the advantages
and disadvantages.

Wave Stepping (Single Phase Full-Step)

Single phase full-stepping, illustrated in Figure 3.14, is the simplest of the driving
techniques [22]. In full step operation, the motor steps through the normal step angle
i.e. 200 step/revolution motors take 1.8 degree steps. Single phase full-step excitation
is where the motor is operated with only one phase energized at a time.

Figure .

: Single Phase Full-Step

Full Stepping (Two Phase)

Two phase full-stepping, illustrated in Figure
, is a drive method where both windings
of the motor are always energized. Instead of making one winding off and another on, in
sequence, only the polarity of one winding are energized at a time.
Advantages:

This mode provides good torque and speed performance with a minimum amount
of resonance problems
Provides approximately 50% more torque than single phase full-stepping

Disadvantages:

Requires twice the power compared to single phase full-stepping.

Has an increase in the amount of noise and vibrations when the step-rate equals
resonance frequency.

Figure .

: Two Phase Full-Stepping

Half Stepping
Half-stepping, illustrated in Figure
, is a technique by which both phases are
energized, followed by only one phase being energized resulting in steps one half the
normal step size. This increases the amount of steps by double compared to full-stepping.

Figure .

: Half-stepping

Advantages:

Has almost no resonance problems

Operated over a wide range of speeds
Can drive almost any load

Disadvantages

Requires more power because of the energizing of the phases

More complicated drive electronics
Precision is reduced due to electrical angle changes

Micro-stepping
Micro-stepping, illustrated in Figure
, is produced by proportioning the current in
the two windings according to sine and cosine functions. Micro-stepping is a way of moving
the stator flux of a stepper more smoothly than in full or half step drive modes as stated by
Fredrik Eriksson
. For practical methods, the current in one winding is kept constant
over half of the complete step and current in the other winding is varied as a function of
sin to maximize the motor torque.

Figure .

: Currents vs. Steps in Windings of Micro-Stepping

Advantages:

Smooth movement at low speeds

Increased step positioning resolution, as a result of a smaller step angle
Maximum torque at both low and high step-rates

Disadvantages:

Used only where smoother, low speed motion or more resolution is required
Low performance at higher speeds
High cost
Most complex drive electronic system

Summary of Drive techniques

This section discussed the various drive techniques that are available for controlling
stepper motors.
Table . : Stepping Techniques -Advantages/Disadvantages

Software
Low cost, home and small business CNCs require at least one software package to
operate. This is the basic package which allows the user to open a graphics file and
command the system to machine the part. There are several basic interface software
available for DIY (Do-It-Yourself) CNC, which most low cost units are constructed. This
section will look at the following:

Mach 3
EMC (Enhanced Machine Controller)
BobCAD CNC
Desk CNC

Mach 3
Mach 3 is a CNC software system that works with a full PC 6-axis CNC controller. Mach 3
can import DXF, BMP, JPG, and HPGL files to create an image that can be machined with the
CNC. This program which was created by Art Soft was designed for small businesses and
hobbyists. It has high resolutions for the users who enjoy GUI interfaces. Mach 3 uses three
external software packages: Lazy Cam, Wizards, and VB scribe. Lazy Cam allows the user to
import different files types to the CNC controller and transfers them into G-code files.
Wizards are mini programs that allow the user to write their own G-code easily. It has
many capabilities such as gear cutting, digitizing, holes, slots, text engraving, and more. It
also gives you premade designs from the company so you don't have to create a standard
G-code file. Mach 3 requires a desktop PC due to the power saving control implemented on
the laptop.
Advantages and Disadvantages:

Very high GUI interface requires a strong graphics card to run software
Several different types of files can be imported to be changed to G-code
Needs 2 separate programs to change from other file formats to G-code
Has the ability to do numerous cutting techniques
Already designed templates to make project creation quicker

Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)

EMC is open source software for Linux operating systems. It is designed from hobbyist
and even industrial type settings but requires lots of configuring. This program was
designed for users who understand programming and configuration processes to allow
them to make the EMC the way the user wants it. This program does not have a high
resolution GUI interface.
Advantages and Disadvantage:

Free government based program (Linux operating system)

Open sourced
Added Add-on
Poor user interface makes it hard to use
Software takes ample amount of time to configure
Very difficult for non-programming users
Very fast running program

BOBCAD CNC
BOBCAD CNC is a powerful CNC software that has a lot of capabilities. It has the ability
to do milling, lathing, art, wire, nesting, and CAD drawings. The 2D and 3D interface that
goes with this program is key for artists and hobbyists who want to create something
precise. BOBCAD is a very user friendly program that does not need any type of
configuration. BOBCAD's capabilities include text and geometry, surfaces and solids from
text, geometry and solid editing, geometry verification, part dimensioning and spline
construction and more. This program also allows you to insert directly other file formats to
be changed to G-Code.
Advantages and Disadvantage:

User friendly
Precise mapping to see finished product before cutting
Very expensive
High resolution requires higher computer requirements

Desk CNC
Desk CNC is a simple and constructive software to use. It has the abilities to do contour,
pockets, drills, and more. It has the ability to do 3D images in a less high resolution GUI
atmosphere. This program also has the capabilities to upload different types of file formats
that can be converted to G-Code and run with the CNC. Desk CNC also has the ability to
upload gerber files to construct circuit boards.
Advantages and Disadvantages:

Simple program layout

Very good user interface
Computer system requirements very low
Does not require configuring

Chapter 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The objective of this project is to design and build a CNC router which provides high
quality features at a reduced cost compared with similar machines.
There are three major subsystems to this CNC design as shown in Figure

, they are:

1. Mechanical
2. Electrical
3. Software

Figure . : CNC Major Subsystems

The mechanical subsystem, shown in Figure

following subsections:

, is further broken down into the

1. Frame
2. Drive
3. Guide

Figure . : Mechanical Subsystem

The software that will be used is Mach

The CNC mechanical structure will have a physical foot print of 1 cmx100cmx20cm. It
will provide a motion travel of 130cmx90cmx15cm. It will maintain a precision of 0.002 cm
for a load force of 5 kg. The maximum acceleration that the machine will provide is 25
cm/sec . The maximum velocity that the machine will provide is 5 cm/sec. The frame
structure will utilize aluminum so that the above mentioned precision can be achieved.
The motion controller of the electrical subsystem will provide a parallel port
communication resource.
The power drive electrical system will be provided a high voltage motor drive
electronics, which will utilize stepper motor technology. This board will be optically
isolated from the motion controller board.
The following Table 4.1 summarizes the machine specifications mentioned above. A
more detailed description of each major subsystem is provided in chapter 5 of this
document.

Table . : Specification Summary

Machine Specification
Table Dimensions

145cmx100cmx20cm

Travel Dimensions

130cmx90cmx15cm

Maximum Acceleration

25 cm/sec

Maximum Rapid Speed

5 cm/sec

Maximum Load Force

5 kg

Precision

0.002 cm

Structural Material

Aluminum

Motor Type

Stepper

Communications

Parallel Port

Chapter 5. DESIGN BASIS

Mechanical
The mechanical system is composed of the frame section, the drive section, and the
guide system. This section will provide a detailed description of each of these.

Drive
The drive mechanics of CNC machines convert torque provided by the electric motors
into linear motion of the tool head. Screws with threaded nuts provide a simple and
compact way to transmit this power. A ball screw and a ball nut system will be used
because of its low friction and high efficiency. ACME screws will not be used because
neither of their advantages, a larger weight supporting capacity and the simplicity of selflocking, have application for this machine. Instead, the ability to reduce the required
torque needed to produce the specified linear speeds, due to the fact that ball screws
operate with a superior efficiency, make ball screws the obvious choice for all three axes.
In addition, the lack of heat generation caused by friction and an increased reliability
support the decision to implement ball screws and ball nuts as the means of power
transmission.

Guide
The guide rails support the weight of the gantry and tool head, while providing the
alignment during the movement of the gantry. The linear supported rails will be case
hardened steel shafts with ball bushings. However, a more complex shaft or support rail
may be required if the weight and loads on the gantry create deflections above the
specified tolerances of the machine.

Frame
CNC frame materials need to have some strength in order to support the weight of the
gantry and the cutting head as well as withstand forces resulting from the milling process.
Stiffness is also required to prevent any deflections due to both static forces and dynamic
forces resulting from the acceleration of the tool head. Weight is important because the
mass of the frame contributes to both the static and acceleration forces. The best frame
material would accomplish all three, offer excellent machinability, and be available at a low
cost.
From the review of the materials, it was decided that aluminum offered the best
combination of these five selection factors.

The machine frame is divided into the gantry sides and the base table.

Gantry Sides
The gantry sides support the weight of the upper gantry and the head while traveling on
the lower guide rails. Aluminum will be used to create the gantry sides, because, as
mentioned, the gantry must be light weight to reduce inertia forces during acceleration.

Base Table
The base table will support the material to be worked on, and act as the base of the
machine. Constructing the base table will require a large amount of material and involve a
great deal of machining and assembly. Because aluminum can be easily machined, it will be
used for the base. In this application, the strength and stiffness qualities of aluminum will
be tested. The weight supported by the lower guide rails, the rails that allow the machine
to move along the length of the table, might create excessive deflections in the sides of the
base table. This could cause a displacement of the tool head that exceeds the design
tolerances. It is believed that aluminum will be able to withstand these forces and maintain
tolerances.

Electrical
This section provides a detailed description of the primary electrical system: power
drive electronics.

Drive Electronics
The drive electronics system, shown in Figure 4-3, provides the interface from the
motion controller to the physical motors.

Figure . : Drive System Block Diagram

Motor
The type of motor used in the design of a CNC is important to reducing the overall cost
of the machine. By selecting the stepper motor, over the servo motor, the cost of the motor
and drive electronics will be significantly reduced.
The motor will provide high torque at lower speeds and the reduced torque level at
higher speeds can be overcome by overdriving the motor.
Open loop configuration is proposed because of the position accuracy and repeatability
inherent to all stepper motors. This leads to a reduction in the complexity of the driver
electronics.

Driver
The driver will provide the required amount of current to the motor. The chopper
driver will be used because it improves the high speed performance of the motor. By
overdriving the motor, the toque at higher speeds will be increased.
The driver will receive two main control signals from the controller: step and direction.

Chapter 6. COMPONENTS
Z-axis
The z-axis allows vertical motion of the tool head. The total travel of the vertical axis on
this CNC machine is 15 cm. An assembly of the z-axis is shown Figure 6.1. The following
components are included:

Figure . : Z-axis

Z-axis Ballscrew: A 20 mm ballscrew was used and shaft steps were machined
to allow for ball bearing supports.

Z-axis Ballnut Flange (Z Housing): This part attaches the Z-axis ballnut to the
router support. Its dimensions are shown in part drawing B39 of appendix B.

Z-top (Top (Z axis Support)): This part allows the support of the z-axis motor
through the Z motor mount, and the ball bearing supporting the Z-axis
ballscrew. Part dimensions are shown in drawing B30 of appendix B.

Z-bottom (Bottom (Z axis Support)): The bottom of Z-axis allows for the
mounting of the ball bearing and clearance of the end of the ballscrew. Refer to
drawing B32 of appendix B for dimensions.

Z-sides (Side (Z axis Support)): These parts provide additional strength to the
z-top and z-bottom which must withstand the thrust force of the ballscrew.
These parts are shown in drawing B31 of appendix B.

Z-Back (Z axis Support): The Z-back acts as the base component in the z-axis.
The z-top, z-bottom, and z-sides, all mount to this component. The z-back was
also used to mount the z-axis to the Y-traveling block. The dimensions of this
component are shown in drawing B29 of appendix B.

Z-mount (Router Support): This part connects the tool head, the linear
bearings, and the ballscrew. Drawing B40 in appendix B shows the dimensions
of this part.

Guides: These precision rails were used to guide the vertical travel of the tool
head and were selected over other alternatives in order to reduce the height of
the z-axis.

Y-axis
The Y-axis provides tool head motion across the work table with a maximum travel of
90 cm. The assembled Y-axis, shown in Figure 6.2, includes the following components:

Figure . : Y-axis

Y-axis Ballscrew: A 25 mm ballscrew was used to provide linear motion along

the Y-axis.

Y-axis Ball Bearing Block (UCFL 203): This part holds the thrust bearings
required to carry the linear force of the ballscrew.

Y-axis Ballnut flange (Y Housing): This part connects the Y-axis ballnut to the
Z-axis support and transmits the motion of the ballscrew. This part is shown in
drawing B28 of appendix B.

Y-Rails: These rails guide the precise linear motion of the Y-axis while
supporting the weight of the z-axis and withstanding the force due to the cutting
head.

Y-Back (Gantry Back): This part holds the Y-rails, providing some strength.
This part is supported by two parts: the gantry sides. Drawing B22 of appendix
B shows the dimensions of this component.

Base
This assembly provides the solid foundation for the CNC machine as well as support for
the X-axis. The assembly, shown in Figure 6.3, includes the following components:

Figure . : Base

Table Ends (Table Front and Table Rear): The table has two end components
to which the X-axis ballscrew and the X-axis drive motor mount. One end, the
table end-motor shown in drawing B1, supports the X stepper motor through
the X motor mount, and the ballscrew through a ball bearing (UCFL 203). The
other table end shown in drawing B3 supports another ball bearing (UCFL 203).

Table Sides: The table sides add strength to the table ends which experience
the thrust force of the ball screw. They also hold the support rails along which
moves the X-axis. The dimensions of these parts are shown in drawing B2 of
appendix B.

Work Table: The work table mounts across the table ends and provides 1.5 m
of area on which to mount the part to be machined.

Table Supports: The table supports add strength to the base and prevent
excessive deflection of the work table. Dimensions of these parts are shown in
drawings B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, and B10 of appendix B.

X-axis
The X-axis provides 130 cm of travel along the length of the work table. This assembly is
shown in Figure 6.4. The following components comprise the X-axis:

Figure . : X-axis

X-axis Ballscrew: Linear motion is provided by a 20 mm ballscrew.

X-axis Ballnut Flange (X Housing): This part connects the ballnut of the X-axis
ballscrew to the gantry Bottom and transmits motion from the ballscrew to the
X-axis. It has been dimensioned in drawing B21 of appendix B.

X-Rails: Supported guide rails were selected for the X-axis due to the weight
that had to be supported and the length over which this load had to be
supported.

X-axis Bearing Blocks: These use ball bearings to carry the load and to provide
precise motion.

X-Cross (Gantry Bottom): The X-cross spans the width of the X-axis. The
ballscrew flange connects to the center of the X-cross, transmitting motion of
the ballnut to the X gantry. The dimensions of this part are shown in drawing
B17 in appendix B.

X-axis Vertical Gantry Sides: The vertical gantry sides act as the ends of the Yaxis at the top. The Y-axis ballscrew and Y-back (Gantry Back) all mount
between the vertical gantry sides at the top. These parts also hold two ball
bearings (UCFL 203) through which rotates the Y-axis ballscrew. The
dimensions of these parts are shown in drawing B14 of appendix B.

Figure . : The CNC machine

Conclusion
The CNC machine is a system that accepts numerical input and performs machining on a
part or product based upon the provided tool heads function It has an estimated life
expectancy of at least 15 years. It has negative impact on the environment through either
noise pollution and may cause adverse effects on an individuals health if the electrical
components contain any poisonous elements. It can be manufactured quickly if all
schematics, firmware, and software are provided and cost being of small concern. This
system can replace many products that perform only one particular function and can only
accept certain types of input files. Its cost is lower than many similar machines currently
on the market, and it is adaptable to be useful for both manufacturers and hobbyists. The
machine is broken down into these three subsystems:

Mechanical

Motor Driver

Main Controller

All calculations, finite element analysis, and prices list are summed in appendix A.
Engineering drawings of the parts and electrical wirings are also grouped in appendix B.

References
[1] Numerical control-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org. [Online] April 10,
2013. [Cited: April 16, 2013.] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_control.
[2] CNC Machine and Computer Numerical Control History. CNCCookbook, Inc.
cnccookbook.com
[Online]
[Cited:
Mar
28,
2013.]
http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCCNCMachine.htm.
Pease, William (

), An automatic machine tool, Scientific American:

[4] Brittain, James (1992), Alexanderson: Pioneer in American Electrical Engineering,

Johns Hopkins University Press: 210
Alain Albert, Understanding CNC Routers, First Edition, FPInnovations Forintek
Division: 68
Thompson Industries, Inc. Patent 4789249. freepatentsonline.com. [Online] [Cited:
June 23, 2013.] http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4789249.pdf.
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MacMaster-Carr - Linear Shafts. McMaster-Carr Supply Company. [Online] [Cited: June

http://www.mcmaster.com/#linear-shafts/=4292k6.

Pre-assembled & One Piece Support Rail, Open Bearing Shafting. PBC Linear. [Online]
[Cited: June 23, 2013.] http://www.pacific-bearing.com/Rail-Shaft-Assemblies-CCRSRA.aspx.
Application Engineering. Roton Products Inc. [Online] 2005. [Cited: June 23, 2013.]
http://www.roton.com/application_engineering.aspx.
Degenova, John. What you Ought To Know About Ball Screws. Machine Design.com.
[Online] [Cited: June 23, 2013.] http://machinedesign.com/article/what-you-ought-toknow-about-ball-screws.
Buffamonte, Steven. Straight talk on linear actuators. Machine Design.com. [Online].
[Cited: June 23, 2013.] http://machinedesign.com/article/straight-talk-on-linearactuatorsBudimir, Miles. Leadscrews roll over ball screws. Machine Design.com. [Online]
[Cited: June 23, 2013.] http://machinedesign.com/article/leadscrews-roll-over-ballscrewsAshby, Michael F. Materials Selection in Mechanical Design 3rd ed. Oxford : Elsevier,
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States
Plastics
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[Online]
http://www.usplastics.com/catalog/default.asp.

[Cited:

June

Axelson, Jan. USB Complete. Madison : Lakeview Research LLC, 2005.

23,

2013.]

Tyson, Jeff. How Serial Ports Work. HowStuffWorks.com. [Online] [Cited: June 23,
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/serial-port.htm#.
How Parallel Ports Work. HowStuffWorks.com. [Online] [Cited: June 23, 2013.]
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/parallel-port.htm#.
[18] AMCI: Tech Tutorials: Stepper vs. Servo. AMCI Advanced Micro Controls Inc. [Online]
[Cited: June 23, 2013.] http://www.amci.com/tutorials/tutorials-stepper-vs-servo.asp.
Hybrid Motors - Basic Introduction of Step Motors. NMB Technologies Corporation.
[Online]
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June
23,
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23,
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APPENDIX A : LOAD CALCULATION

Selection of the spindle motor

Calculation of the Torque
The torque of the spindle motor is given by:
(

- cutting force;
- diameter of the tool.
The tangential cutting force Fc is assumed to be 25 N, and we assume a tool diameter of
20 mm.
Therefore

Calculation of the Spindle Motor Power

For a max rpm of 30 000, the max spindle power will then be:

Linear Guideways : Calculation and selection

Calculation formulas
Service life of linear guideways

Service life:

When the raceway and the rolling elements of a linear guideway are continuously
subjected to repeated stresses, the raceway surfaces shows fatigue, and flaking will
eventually occur. This is called fatigue flaking. The life of a linear guideway is
defined as the total distance travelled until the fatigue flaking appears on the
surface of the race way or the rolling elements.

Nominal life (L):

The service life varies greatly even when the linear motion guideways are
manufactured in the same way or operated under the same motion conditions. For
this reason nominal life is used as the criteria for predicting the service life of a
linear motion guideway. The nominal life is the total distance that 90% of group of
identical linear motion guideways operated under identical conditions can travel
without flaking. With the basic dynamic rated load is applied to a linear motion
guide way, the nominal life is 50 Km.

Calculation of Nominal Life:

The acting load will affect the nominal life of a linear guideway. Based on the
selected basic dynamic rated load and the actual load, the nominal life can be
calculated by:

( )

- Nominal life;

- Basic dynamic load rating;

- Actual load.

If the environmental factors are taken into consideration, the nominal life is
influenced greatly by the motion conditions, the hardness of the raceway, and the
temperature of the linear guideway. The relationship between these factors is
expressed in eq. ( ):

L - Nominal life;
- Hardness factor;
C - Basic dynamic load rating;
- Temperature factor;
-Calculated load;
- Load factor.

Factors of Normal Life:

Hardness factor
In general, the raceway surface in contact with the rolling elements must have the
hardness of HRC 58-62 to an appropriate depth. When the specified hardness is not
obtained, the permissible load is reduced and the nominal life is decreased. In this
situation, the basic dynamic load rating and the basic static load rating must be
multiplied by the hardness factor for calculation.

Figure : Hardness factor

Temperature factor
Due to the fact that the temperature will affect the material of linear guides,
therefore the permissible load will be reduced and the nominal service life will be
decreased when reaching a temperature superior to 100C. Therefore the basic
dynamic and static load rating must be multiplied by the temperature factor. As
some accessories are plastic and cannot resist high temperatures, the working
environment is recommended to be lower than 100C.

Figure : Temperature factor

Load factor
The loads acting on a linear guideway include the weight of slide, the inertia load at
the times of start and stop, and the moment loads caused by overhanging. These
load factors are especially difficult to estimate because of mechanical vibrations
and impacts. Therefore, the load on a linear guideway should be divided by the
empirical factor.

Figure : Load factor

Calculation of Service Life:

Transform the nominal life into the service life time by using speed and
frequency.

( )

- Service life [hr];

- Speed [m/min];
- Nominal life [Km];
- Load factor.

Applied load

Loading contains 3 elements: force, direction of load, and the object subjected to
load.
Force:
Weight: system inertia must be considered when in motion.
Outer force: additional forces can be applied to the system, and have no inertia.
Direction of load:
The load direction can be divided into 3 segments: Fx, Fy, Fz.
Position of load:
Pfx, Pfy and Pfz are defined as the distance from the applied load to the system
center.
Distance between 2 carriages / rails :
L and L , as shown.
Forces on carriages:
R , R2, R3, R4 - forces in vertical directions.
S1, S2, S3, S4 - forces in horizontal directions.

Figure : Load on Linear Guideway

Calculating applied load:

Carriage vertical load equations:

(

Carriage horizontal load equations:

(

Calculation of equivalent load:

An equivalent load is used to consolidate applied load components into one value
which can be used to calculate the minimum required load rating and the expected
life of the selected carriage.

- Equivalent load;
- Vertical component of applied load;
- Horizontal components of applied load.

Friction resistance:
A profile rail linear guide is composed of a carriage, rail, and rolling elements
(either balls or rollers). During motion, sliding occurs between these components,
resulting in friction resistance, as shown in figure 5.
Friction can be calculated by:

- Friction resistance;
Load;
- Coefficient of friction;
- Block seals resistance.

Figure : Coefficient of friction vs. Load ratio

X axis

Figure : X axis guides

The gantry mass is:

Its weight is then:

Figure : Load on linear guideway

Equations (7), (8), (9), and (10) give:

The tangential cutting force Fc is equal to 25 N.

;

;
;

Equations (11), (12), (13), and (14) give:

(

In this case the critical blocks are blocks 1 and 3.

Equation (15) gives:

Assuming a service life of 50000 hr. and a max speed of 5 m/min, equation (5)
gives:

Solving for L we find:

L
Referring to equation (4), we have:
(

With:
;

;
.
Solving for C, we find:

The selected linear guideway should have a Basic Dynamic Load Rating greater
than

SBR 16 linear guideways with

will satisfy the quest.

Y axis

Figure : Y axis slide guides

The router support mass is:

Its weight is then:

Figure : Load on linear guideway

The tangential cutting force Fc is equal to 25 N.

Equations (7), (8), (9), and (10) give:

And equations (11), (12), (13), and (14) give:

(

))

))

))

))

The critical block is block 2.

Equation (15) gives:
|

| |

Assuming a service life of 50000 hr. and a max speed of 5 m/min, equation (5)
gives:

Solving for L we find:

Referring to equation (4), we have:

(

With:
;

;
.
Solving for C, we find:

The selected linear guideway should have a Basic Dynamic Load Rating greater
than

SBR 16 linear guideways with

will satisfy the quest.

Ball Screws: calculation and selection

Calculation Formulas
Service life

The average operating load

- average speed (rpm);

;
- speed (rpm);
- % of time at speed

- average operating load (Kgf);

- working axial load;
- operating condition factor;
when running without impact;
when running in normal condition;
when running with heavy impact and vibration.
Expected service life:
Service life represented in revolutions:
(

- Service life in running revolution (revolutions);

- dynamic load rating (Kgf).
Conversion from revolution to hours:

- Service life in hours (hours);

- average speed (rpm).

Motor drive torque

For common transmission (to convert rotary motion to linear motion)

(

- drive torque for common transmission (kgf.mm);

- lead (mm);
- Mechanical efficiency (0.9

);

- Axial load (Kgf);

- Friction coefficient of table guide way.

Motor drive torque

for normal operation :

- Motor drive torque (Kgf.mm);

- Friction torque of supporting bearing (Kgf.mm).

for acceleration operation :

- Motor drive Torque during acceleration (Kgf.mm);

- System inertia (Kgf.mm.s );
- Angular acceleration (rad/s );

- acceleration riding time (sec)

( )

( )

- motor inertia;
- transmission inertia;
(

) - ball screw inertia;

( ) - ball screw inertia;

- Ball screw weight (Kgf);
- Ball screw nominal diameter (mm).

Motor drive torque:

- Total operating torque (Kgf).

Drive power

The drive power is given by:

- Maximum drive power safety (watt);

- Maximum drive torque (
- Maximum rotation speed (rpm).

);

Select the motor rated torque:

and the maximum motor torque:

Critical speed

The critical speed is said to exist when the rotational frequency of a shaft equals the
first natural frequency of the shaft. This will cause the ball screw to bend under the
stress of vibration coupled with the centrifugal forces due to the rotation and cause
the shaft to vibrate violently. Therefore, the rotational speed of the ball screw
should be set to below the value indicated by critical speed.

- root diameter of screw shaft (mm);

- distance between support bearings (mm);
- factor for different mounting types

fixed fixed
fixed supported
supported supported
fixed free

- critical speed (rpm);

- Maximum permissible load (rpm).

Figure

: Critical speed chart

X axis
Service life

The average operating load

is given by equation (17):

The operating axial load is caused mainly by the cutting force, the operating load in
case of rapid traverse is considered zero. We will consider that 80% of the time is
spent in milling and 20 % in rapid traverse.

The resultant cutting force:

Assuming a ball screw of lead equal to 10 mm;

The feed speed is 600 mm/min:
.
The rapid traverse speed is 5 m/min:
.

Normal condition:

Equation (17) gives then:

Taking the service life equal to 50000 hours, and solving for L equation (19), the
service life in running revolution will be:

The service life represented in revolutions is given by equation (18):

(

Solving for C we find:

We must then have:

Critical speed

The total length of the Y axis is

speed is desired to be
so

, (fixed-fixed), the rapid traverse

.

Putting and on the critical speed chart (figure 10), we find that the diameter of
the ball screw must be higher than 8 mm.
A ball screw with a dynamic load rating of
will satisfy the quest.

and a diameter of

Motor selection

Motor drive torque in normal rating condition:

For the calculation of the normal condition torque, we are going to consider the
machine running 100% of time in cutting (where the biggest axial load), so:
Normal condition:

The average operating load

will be given then by equation (17):

The drive torque for common transmission is given by equation (20):

(
and

)
(given by the HIWIN linear guideway catalogue)

Lead:
Mechanical efficiency:

(Bearing specifications).

The motor drive torque for normal operation is given by equation (21):

The motor drive torque for acceleration operation is given by equation (22):

Calculation of :
Ball screw inertia:
(

)
(

Load inertia:
(

)
(

Transmission inertia is estimated to be

The total operating torque is given by equation (26):

The drive power is given by equation (27):

The motor rated torque must then be:

and the maximum motor torque:

The chosen motor for the X axis have a torque of 2 N.m.

Since the X axis is the critical axis, we have decided to adopt the same motor
torque for the Y and Z axis.

Finite Element Analysis

A Finite element analysis was conducted using SolidWorks Premium 2012.

This analysis was done by applying the reaction forces between the linear bearings and
the guides.
The results of the simulations were as followed:

Figure

Figure

: Table static stress - von Mises stress

: Table static stress - static displacement

The maximum stress on the table is

and the maximum deformation is

This verifies the high stiffness of the machine against the applied loads.

Figure

Figure

: Gantry static stress - von Mises stress

: Gantry static stress - static displacement

The maximum stress on the gantry is

and the maximum deformation is

Prices List
Mechanical Components

Control and Electrical Components

APPENDIX B : ENGINEERING DRAWINGS

36

49

48

43

ITEM
PART
QTY.
NO.
1 Table Front
1
2 Table Side
2
3 Table Rear
1
4 Table Support 1
1
5 Table Support 2
1
6 Table Support 3
1
7 Table Support 4
1
8 Table Support 5
1
9 Table Support 6
1
10 Table Support 7
1
11 Longitudinal Table Support 2

30
35

34

16

31

47

24

23

46

13

50

39

26

14

25

40

33

41

42

18

32

11

15

10

45

12
20

44

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:

DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

Guide X axis
SBR16UU
Gantry Side
Gantry Side cover 1
Gantry Side cover 2
Gantry Bottom

2
10
2
1
1
1

18
19
20
21
22
23

UCFL 203
Ball Screw X axis
Ball Nut X axis
X Housing
Gantry Back
Gantry Back Support

4
1
1
1
1
2

24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

Guide Y axis 1
Guide Y axis 2
Ball Screw Y axis
Ball Nut Y axis
Y Housing
Z axis Support
Top (Z axis Support)
Side (Z axis Support)
Bottom (Z axis Support)

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1

33
34
35
36

Guide Z axis
SCS20UU
Z Bearing Mount
Z Bearing

2
2
2
2

37
38
39
40
41

Ball Screw Z axis

Ball Nut Z axis
Z Housing
Router Support
Router Mount Support

1
1
1
1
1

42 Router Mount
43 Coupling

1
3

44 X Motor Mount
45 X Stepper

1
1

46 Y Motor Mount
47 Y Stepper

1
1

48 Z Motor Mount
49 Z Stepper

1
1

50 Joint

48

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

12
13
14
15
16
17

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

DRAWN

21

8
17
2

19

CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

WEIGHT:

DWG NO.

SCALE:1:6

Nomenclature
SHEET 1 OF 1

A2

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:

DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

WEIGHT:

Projected Views

DWG NO.

SCALE:1:6

SHEET 1 OF 1

A2

540
370

52

210

38

50

1.6

11.50

1080

150

81

20

37

63

2-

R3
7

110

R2

25

110

4-

30

30

6-

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D

REVISION

1-Table Front

MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

WEIGHT:

Aluminum

DWG NO.

SCALE:1:5

B1

A3
SHEET 1 OF 1

150

150

150

150

15

150

150

150

150

150

80

1.6

25

232.5

232.5

232.5

232.5

232.5

232.5

1445

50

182.5

50

182.5

50

182.5

50

50

182.5

182.5

30

50

65

9-

25

50

20 -

150

182.5

20

50

50

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D

REVISION

2-Table Side

MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B2
SHEET 1 OF 1

A3

540
370

210
38

1.6

50

11.50

1080

150

81

20

2-

R3
110

R2

25

30

30

6-

110

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D

REVISION

3-Table Rear

MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B3
SHEET 1 OF 1

A3

15
50

25

4-

1020
B

180

180

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

REVISION

TITLE:

4-Table Support 1

DRAWN
CHK'D

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B4
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

50

2-

25

1020
B

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

REVISION

TITLE:

5-Table Support 2

DRAWN
CHK'D

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B5
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

50

25

2-

1020
B

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

6-Table Support 3

DRAWN
CHK'D

REVISION

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B6
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

50

4-

25

1020
B

340

335

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

REVISION

TITLE:

7-Table Support 4

DRAWN
CHK'D

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B7
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

50

25

2-

1020
B

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

8-Table Support 5

DRAWN
CHK'D

REVISION

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B8
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

50

25

2-

1020
B

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

9-Table Support 6

DRAWN
CHK'D

REVISION

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B9
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

15
50

25

4-

1020
B

180

180

20

20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

REVISION

TITLE:

10-Table Support 7

DRAWN
CHK'D

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B10
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

30

15

1445

722.5
15

15
5

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For ALl Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

REVISION

TITLE:

11-Longitudinal Table Support

DRAWN
CHK'D

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:6

B11
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

165
116
80

10
15
17

17
50
200
100

90

70

52

12.5

5.5

173

11.50

150
6

65

70

29.5

50

R10
50

1.6

104

12 -

12

12 -

32

135

R500

450

56

69

30

40

2-

76.5

55

30

65

7.5
37.5
85

7.5
37.5
85

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D

REVISION

14-Gantry Side

MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B14
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

12.5

100
7

8-

150

R500

63
6

70

70 30

70

R500

450

135

R20

85

R1

45

105

165
116
80
10

1.6

17

17
200

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

15-Gantry Side cover 1

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B15
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

8-

4-

12.5

100

150

35

37

18.5
90

R500

135

R500

63
6

70

70 30 70

450

R20

45

85

R1
5

105

165
116
10

80
74

1.6

17

17
50 37
200

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

16-Gantry Side cover 2

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B16
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

15

1120

1.6

12

12
544

20

15

40

100

8-

544
Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

REVISION

TITLE:

DRAWN

17-Gantry Bottom

CHK'D

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
1

WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B17
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

32

4-

15

31

62

85

25.5

4-

41

43

7
17

55

13

25

20

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

21-X Housing

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B21
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

150

150

150

150

55

73

150

12.5

122

150

55

1.6
150

150

150

150

150

150

30

180

70
70

55

30 -

4-

30

12.5

30 40

55

40 30

150

1190

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

22-Gantry Back

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B22
SHEET 1 OF 1

A3

32

4-

15

31

62

85

53.5

24

54

2-

20

42

25

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D

REVISION

28-Y Housing

MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B28
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

15

31.5
31.5

32

15

16 -

94

210

30

1.6

30

22.5

22.5

32

94

85

220

12 -

80

85

80

15

15
85

85

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

TITLE:

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D

REVISION

29-Z axis Support

MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B29
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

37

37

74
6-

8-

38

35

37

74

19

80

27

80

13.5

20

110

45

16

210

70
5

38

1.6
19
35
105

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

30-Top (Z axis Support)

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B30
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

12

4-

90

230

90

12

75

30
20

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

DRAWN

31-Side (Z axis Support)

CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B31
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

18

20

80

38

8-

37

45

16

35
110

80

2-

210

37

37

1.6
86

86
105

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

DRAWN

32-Bottom (Z axis Support)

CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B32
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

4-

25

50

35

50

1.6

25

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

35-Z Bearing Mount

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:1

B35
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

28

4-

15

29

58
5

22

12

64

6-

33

80

25

20

38

25

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

39-Z Housing

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B39
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

20

12 -

35

15
4-

73.5

86

40

120

86

200

12

40

40
1.6

64.5

12

64.5

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

40-Router Support

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:5

B40
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

131.5

220

15

84

6.5

6.5

10

1.6

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

DRAWN

41-Router Mount Support

CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B41
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

120

R32

1.6

60

84

18

32

32

20

10

42

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

42-Router Mount

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B42
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

10

10

4-

40

4-

28.5

57

120

36

1.6

36

8
60

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

44-X Motor Mount

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B44
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

10

10

21

1.6

21

4-

40

4-

28.5

57

90

8
45

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

46-Y Motor Mount

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B46
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

15

5
5

28.5

4-

40

4-

15

57

90

1.6

21

10

21

10
45

Admissible Tolerance For All Dimensions: 0.1

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED:
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS
SURFACE FINISH:
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
NAME

DEBUR AND
BREAK SHARP
EDGES

FINISH:

SIGNATURE

DATE

DO NOT SCALE DRAWING

REVISION

TITLE:

48-Z Motor Mount

DRAWN
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
Q.A

MATERIAL:

DWG NO.

Aluminum
WEIGHT:

SCALE:1:2

B48
SHEET 1 OF 1

A4

Driver to Motor wiring schematic