CNC Router


After making several printed circuit boards and drilling all of those holes, I decided it was time to build a simple CNC router/PCB drilling machine. I figured I would also be able to use it for making bezels, cut outs in panels, and other enclosures. I selected a set of plans from John Kleinbauer’s CNC Router site. John calls this machine the 7th Sojourn and plans were quite inexpensive. John specializes in machines for beginners who are getting started in the hobby and want to build a machine at a low cost and with easily obtainable materials. He uses materials such as MDF, black iron pipe, skate wheel bearings, and threaded rod.

Here are several pictures of my machine at various stages of construction:

frame (30K) This is the beginning of the base frame. The material is ¾” MDF which is available from most home improvement stores. MDF is very stable, flat, and hard. It also machines easily with sharp, carbide cutters and saw blades. Most people drill and tap the MDF and assemble it with machine screws. I found that I had a tendency to strip the holes so used another method that I have had luck with in the past. I drilled ¾” diameter holes in the piece that would normally be threaded at right angles to the attaching hole. I then glued a short length of ¾” oak dowel into the hole. Then I used 2” - #8 square drive wood screws to attach the pieces. Although a little time consuming, I am very pleased with the results. The frame is very strong.


y axis front (32K) Here’s the router with the completed Y axis. John’s plans call for using ½” black iron gas pipe for the rails with 90° elbows, nipples, and flanges. Although the pipe was fine, I could not get flanges that were flat enough to give me consistent rail height when I tightened them down. I switched to ¾” drill rod instead and the results appear to be quite good. I stacked the two end pieces that support the drill rod in order to drill the ¾” holes in them and alignment seems to be fine.


z axis (36K) This is the completed Z axis with stepper motor mounted and ready to go.


x axis (37K) Here’s the completed machine without any of the wiring done.


front complete (40K) Finally here’s the machine with the wiring to the motors completed and the tool holder completed and mounted.


tool holder (36K) Here’s the tool holder. I’m using a Dremel MultiPro but instead of mounting the whole unit, I mounted the flexible shaft spindle. This gives me less weight hanging off the X axis and also mounts the weight closer in to the axis. So far it seems to work fine.


computer (40K) Here’s the finished machine with the computer hooked up and ready to go. So far I’m using TurboCNC and it seems to work quite well. The computer is one I had put out of service. It has a Pentium II 233 and is just running DOS 6.22. I’ll probably look for an old laptop since it takes up a lot less room but this works for now.


I made some simple cuts on some cedar I had laying around and everything seemed to work fine. I need to get some carbide bits yet in order to really put it through its paces. So far with a 24 Volt power supply for the motors and a Xylotex controller I have been able to get about 18 IPM. That’s in 1/8th microstepping mode and I haven’t spent any time trying to optimize it yet. I still have several things to do yet:

In the end I made very few changes from John’s plans:

Well that’s it – I guess now it’s about time to start thinking about another machine. I would like to build one with a larger surface – maybe 24” X 36” and with the capability to take a larger router like a Porter Cable 690. But that’s another story.


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