it is possible to install 2 motors on a single axis but you will require another driver and motor, but wire it directly to the same pins on your breakout board. Also the orientation of your motor since it is opposite side of the original so getting it to move accordingly to the original motor it will need to be orientated correctly. The slight shift could be the cause of the rod not being completely flat where the set screws are suppose to tighten the sprocket to the rod, so sanding it to a flatter surface might fix the shift in directions.
Currently do not have a kit or schematic available.

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I am interested in your Black Toe (24" X 48") machine, and am wondering if using two medium motors on the "X" and "Y" axis makes sense relative to power and alignment (racking). What would you recommend?

Consider the loads on each axis when choosing appropriate stepper motors. If your holding torque is maxed out at roughly 16oz/in (1lb/in), then you could use the NEMA 11 or 14. Also consider the shaft sizes and current ratings when choosing drivers that pair with the motors.

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I am planning to build a scratch CNC machine to do rotary engraving on writing pens. Can you recommend the parts I would need? I'm thinking NEMA 14 (11?) and 3/8" acme rod. Not sure which linear motion to use. I have an old lathe to use for the 4th axis.

Considering enlarging the machine, might have its down sides do to the structural integrity of the scratch build machine. Primarily by making the width longer it will start to sag in the center, which will lead to having to redesign the gantry to be more structurally rigid to support the added length. Which then will increase the weight and height of your gantry to support the add size, which will always end up to creating a larger CNC.

We usually do not recommend modifying the scratch build CNC, due to the very limited capabilities, and the structural design of the scratch build. We also do not recommend using longer than 48" ACME screw/leadscrew due to the increasing chance of warping and bending in the ACME screws/leadscrew in the given length.
We do recommend modifying the CNC machines we sell to accommodate the added requests that some of our customers desire, but you will be limited to the width of the gantry with our machines.

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I've read your book and I'm looking to purchase the hardware kit with DVD as well as an electronics kit. I would like my machine to have a working area of at least 24" wide by 48" long. Can I just make the bed (and gantry) wider to accommodate larger priceslike 30"x60"? If so what electronics kit would you recommend?

The best machine due to the width, will be the greenBull 5x which would have a cutting surface of 5' x 10'. Also our machines with spindle are accurate for 1000's of an inch, and can do 45 degree angle cuts.

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I build custom speakers and I work primarily with 5'x5' sheets of 9 ply (1/2") and 13 ply (3/4") plywood, but I occassionally cut 2" nominal thick wood as well. What kit would you recommend? Are your systems accurate enough to do angle cuts (45 deg?) thanks

We don't hold those boards in-house anymore. You can use the schematic to form your own boards if you wish.

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Thanks for the reply. Has this proven to be a good design?

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Regarding L6203/L297 Stepper Board Driver, would you be willing to sell two unpopulated boards? A friend and I are each building a low cost CNC and I already have most of the components. Thanks.

Please contact sales@buildyourcnc.com for a custom quote.

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I want to build a 4 x 4 plasma table. I am not good with the electronic parts of the system. What would you recommend as a turn key electronics package? I also want to build it with chain drive

All of our CNC machines can carve at that depth without a problem and do 3d carving. Our typical application is cutting sheet materials, but a good percentage of our customers cut 3D bas reliefs or even more complex 3D objects using reference points and jigs.

Most of our CNC machines have a Z travel of at least 6 inches for the smaller machines and 7 to 10 inches for our larger machines. The Fabricator Pro has a Z travel of 10 inches.

Depending on your application, you will need to consider the length of the end mill (more than the deepest depth of the 3D carving) and the stock that you will be using. If the stock plus the length of the end mill exceed the clearance with the Z axis raised to the top extent, then you will need to consider the way the table/bed of the machine is formed (maybe with a depression to take advantage of the greater need for clearance).

The greenBull has the capability of Z axis travel of up to 36 inches, but I would recommend, if milling wood, that the Z-axis not extend more than 12 inches to reduce deflection.

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Most of the CAM software on the market will have 3D profile machining operation capabilities. CAMBAM has a very nice 3D prpfiling feature. The Vectric line of software can definitely handle this as well.

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All of the pics and videos show your cncs cutting sheet materials, I'm interested in carving 3d images in plastic and hardwood slabs up to 2" thick. What machine and software would you recommend?

Yes, we can make a redLeaf system that has all 6A drivers for use with the 651 oz-in motors. We can also wire the electronics in a way that two of the drivers will use the pins of the same axis so that axis will drive two drivers and motors.

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I am building a cnc router with twin ball screws on the long axis and I will have a rotary axis as well. I need a 5 axis breaker board using only 4 axis total. Can you help me?

That will depend on the controller that was installed in the redFly. If the controller is a pokeys57CNC controller, you can use Mach 4 with that system.

You can add a 4th axis and an ATC (Automatic Tool Changer) with the redFly system.

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Does the Redfly that I bought with the GreenBull in 2016 work with Mach4? Also I want to add a 4th axis and a spindle with automatic tool changer. Will this work too or do I need a new control board? I bought my CNC with a longer Z travel, so I have plenty of room for these. Thanks!

There are several endmills that would work for that application. Here's the one we use in our own shop: https://buildyourcnc.com/Item/endmill-singleflute-upcut-Onsrud-1-flute-plastic-wood-aluminum for cutting .75 inch MDO.

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Which end mill would you advise to buy for cutting in full depth MDF and plywood of up to 20mm thickness? I am about to install a 2.2k spindel on my cnc.

If you were logged in when you made the purchase, you can click the "My Account" link at the top of any page on this website and see all of your orders, order line items (with direct links to these items), and shipment information.

Here is a link to the "My Account" page for your convenience:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/CustomerInfo.aspx

I did not see your username on your internal customer record, so I added this username and you should be able to see the information in the "My Account" page.

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I just tested your accounts page and the cable carrier links are in there. Thanks and please let me know if you need further assistance.

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I have purchased cable carrier chain and would like to know if you could send me a copy of that order as I need to purchase extra lengths of the links I bought. Thanks

We offer a laser/spindle Z-axis attachment for our 4x8 greenBull CNC. The blackFoot 4x8 does not have a large enough gantry to accommodate the 40W laser tube.

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We do sell the parts to convert your CNC milling machine to a laser, but you will need to develop the mounts that will hold all of the laser parts to the machine, if the machine was design and built by you.

We can offer guidance for this conversion.

The laser parts can be found here:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/LaserComponents.aspx

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I already built a 4 x 8ft carving machine, I would like to modify for laser cutting wood. Do you sell a conversion kit? I use Mach3 software and steppers. Thanks Ray

Dealing with our USB BoB, the potentiometer that will be used in the key jog, is a 5V, 5k - 10k Ohm potentiometer.

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I am building a cnc mill using your USB controller and i would like to know what is the specification of potentiometer used for adjusting manual axis jog speed

If you would like to come to the office, please call the office at 281-815-7701 to request a visit at your specified time within our business hours so we can make sure that the right person will be there to assist you.

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I am considering the purchase of a Black foot or Green Bull CNC router and would like to come and visit your facility to see them in person and to discuss my requirements. Please can you tell me your address. I am based in NW Houston. Many thanks.

Not a problem. The ALM is rather self-explanatory as this is a closed-loop stepper motor and driver that you are using. The ALM (alarm) is a signal that is used to tell the driver/controller that the motor is not in the same condition that the driver expects. In a closed-loop system, the motor has an encoder that tells the driver exactly how many steps that it turned, and if this value does not coincide with the driver's outputted number of steps, and within a specified amount of time, the alarm will trigger so the system can stop and the workpiece can be salvaged.

The MF is simply a signal that tells the driver that there is impending direction and step pulses coming. If the MF signal is high, then that is similar to an enable signal.

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Hello I recently read your site and have a question. I have a driver model DM2722A but I can't connect it to my usb controller due to the fact that the driver is not marked enable, but instead it is marked: mf-, mf +, alm-, alm +. I will be very grateful if you explain to me the meaning of the latter and tell me what should be related to "enable" Thanks in advance!

We are developing plans for our machine, but they are not completed yet. Please let me know if you would like to be added to our list of customers wanting plans. Thanks,

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If you have specific questions regarding CAD, CAM and Control, please add another question to the customer service and I will answer them in detail.

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How do I get started I would like to build a cnc router. Making the machine I can do, but I am weak on cad,cam and mach3. I am thinking about a 4’x4’. Do you have plans I can buy?

We recommend our electronics combo for the scratch build kit, which you can find on our site here: https://buildyourcnc.com/item/electronicsAndMotors-3axis-425-elcombo. This is our standard general purpose 3 axis electronics system, and includes (3) NEMA 24 425 oz-in stepping motors, (3) Drivers (3.0Amp 24-40 Volts, with 1-1/64 microstepping), (1) 36v 8.8a Power Supply, (1) Interface Board either USB or Parallel. (The USB version requires PlanetCNC software; the parallel interface board gives you a variety of options, Mach3 being one popular choice.)

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I got the plans and hardware from you guys and im almost ready for the stepper motor part of this build. what size motors are good to use for this build? the size of cnc will be 2x4 when finish or what size will not work? thanks

Do you have any intention to upgrade to Mach4? If you will be staying with Mach3 for a while, then the Mach3 USB interface is fine. If you intend to change to Mach4, then I would go with the Pokeys57CNC interface.

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Hi Patrick right now I have a parallel port cnc machine that I built in 2013. I want to update my system to use a usb. Do you recommend changing my interface board to a Mach3 USB interface board or purchasing the UC 100 parallel port to USB adapter?

You can find the datasheets to our motors be going to the the stepping motor category page https://www.buildyourcnc.com/category/nema and selecting the motor. This will bring you to the product page for the motor and all of the motor information will be found there.

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I would like to design my own CNC router around one of your electronics bundles, either the 3 Axis - Heavy Gantry or 3 Axis - All Large Motors. Do you have the data sheets for the motors so that I can use the dimensions in my model?