Ski Builders Forum

Hi!
My brother and I have already been making three pair of skis with different technics adapted from what is discribed on the website, but we want to go into something more precise.... with a cnc.
We can't affort 3 to 10k$ machine and therefore planning to try and build our cnc, like the one from http://buildyourcnc.com

Has anyone already tried to build this 600$ cnc made of MDF? Would it be precise enough to
cut out bases (I guess so)?
profile cores?

Any other "cheap" cnc you would have built by yourself? What are the feedbacks?

Thanx

I don't want to be discouraging, but I don't know that "cheap" "CNC" and "accurate" can be used in the same sentence.
I think the minimum you can spend on a CNC that you will be happy with is $2000-3000.

Might be worth checking with these guys: viewtopic.php?t=2356&highlight=cnc

I can tell you these machines put a lot of torque on the frame and gantry. I dont know if the mdf will be a good long term choice. Looking back on it I am very happy I didnt buy the MDF do-it-yourself kits. They can be very technical to put together and get dialed in to be accurate. Unless you have some experience in robotics I wouldnt try it. It could cost you much more money and time if things go South on the machine construction. If I were you I would watch for a used CNC. Hope that helps!

COsurfer wrote:I can tell you these machines put a lot of torque on the frame and gantry. I dont know if the mdf will be a good long term choice. Looking back on it I am very happy I didnt buy the MDF do-it-yourself kits. They can be very technical to put together and get dialed in to be accurate. Unless you have some experience in robotics I wouldnt try it. It could cost you much more money and time if things go South on the machine construction. If I were you I would watch for a used CNC. Hope that helps!

My guess is that there aren't so many efforts when it comes to cut out a base. And if it is a bit precise (no need of 0.001mm), the result ought to be far better than what I get using a jig saw cut template & a router to copy it.
After that, I doubt of the possibility of profiling a whole core. Maybe to much torque...

Richuk wrote:Might be worth checking with these guys: viewtopic.php?t=2356&highlight=cnc

Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen it. Seems to be the kind of cnc i m intending to build.
I have posted to have some feedback on this machine.

Yeah unfortunately to build a usable CNC, you have to spend the money. I recently converted my mill to CNC, and when all was said and done I think I spent about $800... and the working area of mill is tiny. I figure it was a good learning experience and I can use that to build a larger CNC later this year.

I am relatively new to the cnc world as well and have been working with a few different CAM packages, Here is what has worked for me and what has not worked so well:
MasterCam- Picked up a copy of X3 and started learning it- seems pretty powerful but takes a lot of time to get comfortable with it. I am sure that when I have more time I'll get going with it again but right now I have other software that does what I need quickly and easily.

MeshCam- This is a great program for what most DIY'ers want to do- do it themselves without embarking on a new career. You open .stl files, set your tools, tolerances, etc. and the software takes care of the rest. You can scale, slice, and rotate the geometry very easily. With this package you can generate code in 10 minutes of starting the program for the first time. Cost was $175 for me, it was on sale in Nov. for the list price of $275

Bobcam plugin for solidworks- This is kind of an in between package. It's great becasue everything is done in the native solidworks environment (which I work in daily), it has good feature recognition and doesn't take too long to get started with. I purchased this package for $900 (I think if you talk to a saleman they offer you a "one time deal" of far less then advertised). Again this is good for me because I use Solidworks for everything, if it continues to work well I will stick with it. They have very good support and there are so online tutorials to get you up and running.

BTW- I have use the latter 2 programs for surfboards, topo maps, kayak seat molds, and a nose mold for a small airplane.... skis are next and I can confidently say that it will be one of the easier projects.

I would be curious to hear how the chain/sprocket works out over such a long x axis. I think your problems may involve adequately tensioning the chain with the MDF mounts. Chains tend to stretch with time so you may need to recalibrate frequently.

In my experience, you don't need wonderful resolution for skis Snowboard but the MDF would definitely push the limit of that. I am also curious about temperature/humidity effects on the MDF. Sealing it would definitely be in order.

If you are building one, eBay is a good source for motors, etc.

Check this out, too;

WWW.cncrouterparts.com