Make your own Scythe

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Scythe Users Group Brittish Scythe Competition Promote the use of scythes.  Quiet & clean, no smoke, no oil, they don't vibrate, and they connect you to the ground. Talk to others about using scythes! Would you like a demonstration at your community event or field days?  Just ask us, and save some un-mowed meadow. Videos Peter Vido is active in promoting the Scythe, and has the best video around. You can watch his Youtube videos on the right or via the following links. Note that the girl in the video is 14 years old. There is more tai-chi than brute force used in good scythe work. You should be able to scythe all day ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugSO54WKm8I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL2_chKPWjE   Books The Scythe Book second edition by David Tresemer with an addendum on the practical use of the scythe by Peter Vido. A good read on the mindset and then the method for using a scythe.  Peter Vido has (in my opinion) the best description and technique for the use of a scythe.  Also worth looking at is http://www.scytheconnection.com/ Make your own Scythe Here are some photos from the Austrian factory Schroeckenfux. As well as that, there is a website "The Scythe Museum" in Austria where there are fantastic photos showing every step in the process, and some photos on another Austrian website. Forge where the blade is raised to glowing red Huge hammer hammering the blade into shape Close up of hammering Another view of hammering Again hammering The tongs used to hold the blade The edge is cut Another view Contact us Name * Email * Phone Comments * If you can't read the word, click here. Please enter here the word as displayed in the picture. This is to prevent spamming.

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Pioneer Methods

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Pioneer Methods The "Good Old Days" were those of just recent decades past. In the 1800s and centuries previous the pioneer folk had it unimaginably difficult. People grew soft - and had no idea. City folk could not even begin to do the work of the real farmers who still ran small farms. A US candidate for president once promised 40 acres and a mule. I always said that the only way I would have possibly made it through the first winter was to eat the mule. The pioneers were survivalists and had survival skills beyond any that we can imagine. In addition to not having the "toughness", work habits and skills of the early pioneers - we do not have their resources. There are no buffalo herds and there is nowhere near that the deer and antelope play in sufficient number to support most survivors. Those who have taken survival courses that have taught them to go out into the woods and survive will be sorely disappointed. Such animals that have survived the radiation will be in very short supply relative to the survivors that would be in competition for them. One will not have the horses, wagons or other implements that were necessary to pioneer survival. There will be a far larger population survive than there were pioneers a few centuries ago and there will be far fewer resources of the kind that sustained them. The early settlers of our village were confidant in their ability to find in a few minutes enough fish in the stream to make supper. Even in my early days in the village a person could promise the night before that they would go out on the bridge out our back door and get fresh fish for breakfast - and make good their promise. But those days are gone. Fished out and poisoned out by salt on the roads and pesticide run-off from the farmer's fields. At this writing fish no longer come safe even from the farmer's markets without warnings that they are hazardous to expectant mothers. No, we can't return to the old days - even if we want to. But fortunately we have many, many other advantages. We don't have to cut the forests to gain agricultural ground. We know many things the pioneers did not. Childbirth was a great hazard to pioneer women - simply because people did not know to wash their hands. We have a great advantage in modern knowledege - but we may well need to supplement that, at least for a while, with some of the pioneer knowledge and skills that we have forgotten about. That is the purpose of this page. This page does not stand by itself, anymore than do any of the others. There may be some items just as important to the subject that will be found in the pages on simplified machinery and small farming but all that information will probably be just as important to know - if not more so. Table of Contents: Simple Machines: Descriptions of Simple Machines This 81 page .pdf book from MIT explains how to build dozens of primitive machines, drills, lathes, pumps, and all sorts of other useful devices. Farm Devices: Patterns for Simple Farm Devices This 150 page .pdf book shows how farmers built their own devices in the 1700s and 1800s (and for perhaps centuries earlier). Practical ideas that are still used today. Scythes: A tool of the centuries Scythes: particularly this century This is one of the most basic and essential tools of the centuries. Along with ax, hoe, hammer and shovel, it has been essential to the establishment of civilization. Largely displaced by modern harvesting methods it is a technology that may need to be at least temporarily "recovered". Blacksmithing: Blacksmithing essential technology This 132 page .pdf book covers an essential technology that may have to be recovered. About a hundred years ago every village would have one or more blacksmiths, but then the skill largely disappeared except as retained by farriers (horse shoeing is another subject) and some ornamental artists. Farm Blacksmithing: This may seem like it should be under farming - but this tells how to set up a basic blacksmith shop. Just don't believe the prices. Shop Practice: home_made_air_pump.htm This may seem especially strange here - but blacksmiths need forges and forges need airpumps. Shop Practice: Farm Shop Practice This 324 page book sort of goes along with the above ones on setting up a blacksmith shop. In case you wonder why I didn't put it under 'farming', the reason is that in the early stages of recovery I figure that EVERYTHING goes under farming, and I just try to break it out into subcategories. Home / U.S. Map / Reconstruction / Recovery / Renewal / Survival / Ark Two

Scythe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the ancient Sicilian tyrant, see Scythes.

For the Transformers character, see Scythe (Transformers).

A traditional wooden scythe.

A scythe (pronounced /ˈsaɪð/^[1]) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia.

Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 Structure 3 Use 4 History 5 Scythes in national cultures 6 Mythology 7 Military contexts 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Etymology

"Scythe" derives from Old English siðe.^[1]

[edit] Structure

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

An example of a scythe: 1. Toe
2. Chine
3. Beard
4. Heel
5. Tang
6. Ring
7. Snath or snaith
8. Grips

A scythe consists of a wooden shaft about 170 centimetres (6 ft) long called a snaith, snath, snathe or sned (modern versions are sometimes made from metal or plastic). The snaith may be straight, or with an "S" curve, but the more sophisticated versions are curved in three dimensions, allowing the mower to stand more upright. The snaith has either one or two short handles at right angles to it — usually one near the upper end and always another roughly in the middle. A long, curved blade about 60 to 90 centimetres (24 to 35 in)) long is mounted at the lower end, perpendicular to the snaith. Scythes always have the blade projecting from the left side of the snaith when in use, with the edge towards the mower. In principle a left-handed scythe could be made, but it could not be used together with right-handed scythes in a team of mowers, as the left-handed mower would be mowing in the opposite direction.
A scythe blade is made by peening the leading edge of the blade. In some uses, such as for mowing grass, the blade-edge is made almost as thin as paper. After peening, the edge is finished and subsequently maintained by very frequent stropping or honing with a whetstone or rubber (fine-grained for grass, coarser for cereal crops), and peened again as necessary to recover the fineness of the edge.
NOTE: The "American" scythe blade is not usually peened as part of sharpening, being made using a stamping process that produces a harder blade that other styles of scythe blade. The harder blade is more difficult to draw out the edge with peening.

[edit] Use

Using a scythe

Using a scythe is called mowing, or often scything, to distinguish it from mowing with more complex machinery. Mowing is done by holding the top handle in the left hand and the central one in the right, with the arms straight, the blade parallel to the ground and very close to it, and the body twisted to the right. The body is then twisted steadily to the left, moving the scythe blade along its length in a long arc from right to left, ending in front of the mower, thus depositing the cut grass to the left. Mowing proceeds with a steady rhythm, stopping at frequent intervals to sharpen the blade. The correct technique has a slicing action on the grass, cutting a narrow strip with each stroke – a common beginner's error is to chop or hack at the grass, with the blade length at right angles to it, thus trying to cut too wide a strip of grass at once. This is much harder work, and is ineffective. Cutting too close to the ground can contaminate the blade with soil, rapidly blunting it. Much of the skill is in keeping the blade close to the ground and the cuts even.
Mowing is normally done cutting out of the uncut grass, the mower moving along the mowing-edge with the uncut grass to their right. The cut grass is laid in a neat row to the left, on the previously mown land. Each strip of ground mown by a scythe is called a swathe (pronounced /ˈsweɪð/: rhymes with "bathe") or swath (pronounced /ˈswɒθ/: rhymes with "Goth"). Mowing may be done by a team of mowers, usually starting at the edges of a meadow then proceeding clockwise and finishing in the middle. Mowing grass is easier when it is damp, and so hay-making traditionally began at dawn and often stopped early, the heat of the day being spent raking and carting the hay cut on previous days.
Mowing with a scythe is a skilled task, performed with relative ease by experienced mowers, but often poorly and with very great effort by beginners. Long-bladed traditional scythes with double-curved wooden snaiths are harder to use at first, but once mastered are more effective and comfortable for longer periods. Shorter-bladed or hack-scythes are easier for beginners. A skilled mower using a traditional long-bladed scythe can even cut very short grass, and this is how lawns were maintained until the invention of the lawnmower.
In addition to mowing grass and reaping crops, a scythe can also be used for mowing reed or sedge, remaining effective even with the blade under water.

[edit] History

A modern scythe of a pattern common in parts of Europe

According to the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities of Sir William Smith, the scythe, known in Latin as the falx foenaria (as opposed to the sickle, the falx messoria), was used by the ancient Romans; for illustration, Smith shows an image of Saturn holding a scythe, from an ancient Italian cameo.
According to Jack Herer and "Flesh of The Gods" (Emboden, W.A., Jr., Praeger Press, NY, 1974.); the ancient Scythians grew hemp and harvested it with a hand reaper that we still call a scythe.
The scythe was invented in about 500 BC and appeared in Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. Initially used mostly for mowing grass, it replaced the sickle as the tool for reaping crops by the 16th century, the scythe allowing the reaper to stand rather than stoop. In about 1800 the addition of light wooden fingers above a scythe blade produced a form of scythe called the cradle which soon replaced the simple scythe for reaping grain and mowing other tall vegetation such as reeds. In the developed world, all of these have now largely been replaced by motorized lawnmowers and combine harvesters.
The Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in Sheffield, England is a museum of a scythe-making works that was in operation from the end of the 18th century until the 1930s.^[2] This was part of the former scythe-making district of north Derbyshire, which extended into Eckington.^[3] Other English scythe-making districts include that around Belbroughton.^[4]
Mowing with a scythe remained common for many years even after most mowing became mechanized, because a side-mounted finger-bar mower (whether horse or tractor drawn) cannot mow in front of itself. Scythes would therefore be used to open up a meadow – to mow the first swathes, thus letting the mechanical mower in to complete the mowing.

Further information: History of the lawn

[edit] Scythes in national cultures

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

The curved blade of the scythe is clearly shown. Note: this image shows the blade with its edge uppermost – normally used the other way up, with the blade pointing to the left of the mower.

The scythe is still an indispensable tool for farmers in developing countries and in mountainous terrain.
In Romania, for example, in the highland landscape of the Apuseni mountains, scything is a very important annual activity, taking about 2–3 weeks to complete for a regular house. As scything is a tiring physical activity and is relatively difficult to learn, farmers help each other by forming teams. After each day's harvest, the farmers often celebrate by having a small feast where they dance, drink and eat, while being careful to keep in shape for the next day's hard work.
Among Basques scythe-mowing competitions are still a popular traditional sport, called segalaritza (from sega: scythe). Each contender competes to cut a defined section of grown grass before his rival does the same.
The Norwegian municipality of Hornindal has three scythe blades in its coat-of-arms.

[edit] Mythology

The scythe also plays an important traditional role, often appearing as weapons in the hands of mythical beings such as Cronus, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, specifically, Grim Reaper (Death). This stems mainly from the Christian Biblical belief of death as a "harvester of souls."

[edit] Military contexts

A war scythe has had its blade transformed so that it extends upright from the staff, and is used much like a halberd. It was widely used by Polish peasants (kosynierzy) in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Scythes also were used for scythed chariots.
After the Peasants' Wars during 1524-1525, a fencing book edited by Paulus Hector Mair described in 1542 techniques how to fence using a scythe.^[5]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1933: Scythe
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ K. M. Battye, 'Sickle-makers and other metalworkers in Eckington 1534-1750: a study of metal workers tools, raw materials and made goods, using probate wills and inventories' Tools and Trades 12 (2000), 26-38.
4. ^ P. W. King, 'The north Worcestershire Scythe Industry' Historical Metallurgy 41(2), 124-47.
5. ^ http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00006570/images/index.htmll?seite=411

[edit] External links

Two handles used for grip

• Scythe Network, a site dedicated to modern usage, with links to numerous equipment suppliers in North America.

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Simple Technology

Home / U.S. Map / Reconstruction / Recovery / Renewal / Survival / Ark Two

Simple Technology Some of the information here could as well as have gone under farming or pioneering skills. There is so much information about using bicyles, that while they might have gone under simple machines, they have gotten a category of their own. The same applies to windmills and waterwheels. Some of the decisions as where to put information have been arbitrary but there is just too much to put it all under one category, so the reader needs to look under all the categories when studying the subject. Table of Contents: Some basic tools and concepts of science and mechanics The Basic Principles of Machinery This 168 page .pdf book covers levers, block and tackle, plane and wedge, and on up through hydraulic devices, and internal combustion engines, and more. Fundamentals Of Machine Tools This 309 page Army manual covers lots of basic machine tools. Drafting and Shop Drawing A 117 page Army Manual on a shop management basic. Machine Shop Calculation A 127 page Army course on machine shop calculations. Precision Measuring and Gaging This is a 96 page Army course. Precision Measuring Instruments This is a 50 page Army course. Metal Properties A 98 page Army course on metal characteristics. Lathe Operations A 140 page Army course on lathe operations. Milling Machine Operations An 81 page Army course on Milling Machine Operations. How to build a multimachine This eighty page presentation with lots of good pictures and discussion explains how to build entirely from scrap metal a very useful multimachine. How-To Build your own CNC machine (Part 1) How-To Build your own CNC machine (Part 2) How-To Build your own CNC machine (Part 3) CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) for automated production is a very powerful thing that you may be able to develop if you can keep some computers operating. Hydraulic Press - Plans Simple 2 page instructions on how to make your own hydraulic press. Compressor Plans You probably won't be able to find the parts to do this exact design - but it may give you some ideas. Screw Press Plans Two pages of simple instructions on how to make a screw press. Band Saw Operations A 101 page Army Manual that teaches how to use a basic shop machine Welding Operations course. This is a 113 page Army course on welding. Home / U.S. Map / Reconstruction / Recovery / Renewal / Survival / Ark Two

Some Basic Concepts and Tools of Technology

Some Basic Concepts and Tools of Technology Table of Contents: Elements A 124 page book. Elements Properties A 716 page book. UofA Field Tests A 48 page book. Graph Paper A 103 page book. HTML Reference A 98 page book.

How to build your own CNC machine

How-To: Build your own CNC machine (Part 1)

Posted Jun 29th 2006 6:21PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: Features, Misc. Gadgets

Ready for some hard core gadget creation? If you thought your dremel tool was handy before, in today's How-To we'll start  building our own CNC machine. Aside from the geek factor, it can be handy for making things like PC boards without chemicals or maybe some little styrofoam voodoo heads of all your enemies, uh friends.

Gentlemen, start your soldering irons.

Computer controlled mills have been around for a long time. If you just want to buy oneone, Sherline makes mills that are ready to go (pictured is their CNC ready model -- just add your own motors and controller). But then again, if you wanted to buy one, you probably wouldn't be reading this, now would you? A CNC machine is a lot like a precision drill press with a table that moves in two directions -- seeing a commercial unit like the one above should help you visualize the end goal. We'll be making ours from scrounged, recycled, and adapted parts; today we'll be going over the basic parts we'll need to build our own.

[Update: If you're not quite sure what a CNC machine is, check out the Wikipedia article, mkay.]

Parts Hunting
For Part 1 of the How-To, we'll go over all the major components of the project and get started with the controller.
The major components of the DIY CNC machine:

• Stepper motors
• drive positioning screw
• 3 Axis stepper motor controller
• Linear slides

The most important component to determine the construction of your milling machine is the motor. Motors can be purchased from surplus houses, but the cheapest place to get them is from old dot matrix printers. Apple Imagewriters are one of our favorite sources. They contain multiple stepper motors, and the primary is pretty beefy. As a bonus, just about every dot matrix printer has a hardened steel rod that can be useful for our nefarious goals.

A stepper motor is an odd beast. Most motors spin when power is applied, stepper motors contain multiple coils. If the coils are energized in the proper order, the motor will rotate a small amount (a step). We'll take full advantage of the nature of stepper motors with this project. To simplify your life later on, you'll want to find stepper motors with more than four wires. Four wire motors are usually Bipolar motors. They produce more torque, but end up complicating the control circuit. The preferred type of motor for the frugal hobbiest is Unipolar. These usually have five or six wires, and they're pretty easy to work with.

Most stepper motors are labeled. The major points of interest include the voltage, resistance and the number of degrees per step.  Knowing the number of degrees per step is vital for configuring the software to properly control the machine later on. For a three axis machine, at the very least you'll want the X and Y axis to both have identical motors. It's not the end of the world if they don't match, but it's more of a pain later on.

The drive screw is the next piece of our project. Commercial units use linear ball screws or linear gears. The commercial parts aren't cheap, but you can get away with some 1/4-inch threaded rod from the hardware store. Instead of anti-backlash nuts, we'll use these handy 1-inch long 1/4-inch nuts. Just about every hardware store has them, and they produce very little play. Try out the hardware at the store because defects in the nut or rod will produce drag that's easily noticeable by spinning the nut on the rod.

To couple the rod to the motor shaft, we'll use vinyl tubing with a pair of collars. The tubing is 1/4-inch inner diameter and prevents binding by allowing some play between the rod and the motor. You can get suitable collars from a model airplane store (The hardware store had some, but they were overpriced). Alternatively, you can make your own like we did from nylon bushings and hex screws.

Finally, we'll need some linear slides. One easy out is to purchase a used or surplus XY table that's built just for this purpose. Custom designs can be built using ball bearings. Above is the linear rail that ShopBot uses. They machine the edge of a piece of steel and use this cool angled roller bearing.

We built this linear slide from a 1/2-inch steel rod and multiple bearing surfaces. It works, but we don't recommend building it if you value your sanity.

Once uou've bought or salvaged a set of motors, you'll need a controller. The controller provides the interface to the computer, drives the motors and can provide some simple feedback to the computer. The stepper controller has to be powerful enough to drive the motors you've selected. We sifted through lots of stepper controller designs looking for one that presented the best value.

In the end we found this design for a relatively simple parallel port interface that originally appeared in a 1994 issue of Nuts and Volts. Today, the expensive UCN5804B is only available as a surplus item, but now the entire controller can be built for about $22-$30 in parts. (If you use a heavier motor like the ones from the Imagewriter, you might need to add some separate power transistors.)

The parts list at the link is a bit outdated, here's our updated shopping list.

• 3 - UCN5804B - alltronics.com
• 12 - 1N49355 Diodes - Part 625-1N4935 from Mouser.com
• 2 - .01uF Capacitors - Part 581-SR155C103KAT from Mouser.com 
• 1 - 10uF Capacitor - Part 140-HTRL25V10-TB from Mouser.com
• 3 - 4.7k Resistor Network 652-4608X-101-4.7K from Mouser.com (Has an extra resistor, but works fine)
• 1 - D-Sub 25 pin Male - Mouser, RadioShack, etc.
• 1 - Barrel power connector - Whatever works for your power supply. (We used a spare 12V power brick)
• Stranded Cat-5 is sufficient for wiring
• Terminals and male headers are optional, see the page for the circuit.
• Heat sinks for the 5804Bs are needed. We used some aluminum channel.
• Copper clad PC board (We stock up on ebay every so often)
• Etching solution - Ferric Chloride, etc.

We made our own board using the template from the web page. We used similar techniques to the one in part 4 of our iPod Superdock How-To. We reversed the pdf image using Gimp, and printed it onto a laserprinter transparency. This method doesn't create as nice of a trace as the paper, but it's speedier.  Clean the board, and keep the paper backing between the plastic and the iron. Once the toner is ironed, just cool it with water and peel.

We etched the board using Ferric Chloride from RadioShack in a disposable Zip-Lock container. It needs to be warm and agitated to work well. The acid and hydrogen peroxide solution etches way faster.

We drilled the board with our drill press and tungsten carbide bits from Drill Bit City. We had to refer to the placement schematic several times to make sure we drilled everything right. Getting the pins holes aligned for the 5804s is a challenge!

If you want to do a toner transfer of the placement mask, do it before drilling the holes. Otherwise the surface is too uneven to allow a good transfer. If you screw it up like we did, you can cheat. Just print the mask onto a transparency and burn holes for the components with a soldering iron. It works surprisingly well.

Next time we'll start building the actual machine and show you how to build some simple and effective slide systems. For now, here's a teaser of what's coming! Good luck!

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How-To: Build your own CNC machine (Part 2)

By Will O'Brien posted Jul 4th 2006 9:37PM

How-To

In today's How-To, we're still pimping out our dremel tool with parts from old printers. In Part 1 we got started with the controller and covered all the basics. Today we'll get into the details and get busy with the power tools. And that, of course, is always the best part.

Once the board is finished, building the controller is pretty easy. We highly recommend using sockets for mounting the 5804 chips. The thin, flexible legs are much easier to fit into a hand-drilled board. (We were out of 16 pin sockets, so we used pairs of 8 pin sockets.) The rest of the board is standard fare.

The controller is designed to connect to the parallel port, and each connection is helpfully labeled with the pin of the Sub-D 25 connector. We prefer the solder type connectors. Assembly is quick and easy if you have a set of "helping hands" alligator clips.

Electrically, unipolar stepper motors have four coils inside. Every motor we've salvaged has had six wires, so we'll go over that type. To have six connections, each pair of coils has a common lead, while the opposite end has a dedicated lead.

Identify the wires by measuring the resistance between the leads with a multi-meter. If the wire are connected to separate sets of coils, the resistance will be very high. Resistance across two coils will be double the resistance of just one coil. On some motors, the common leads are connected.

Each axis of the stepper controller has six output connections. Each group of three wires connects to a pair of coils.

Linear slides are key to the design of a functional machine. These slides are a half successful experiment. We used 1/4-inch steel rod from the hardware store and some brass and steel bushings. The brass material slides easier, but ultimately we think the smaller size and unfinished rod is too prone to binding. Alignment is critical, but they can work well for very short travel.

Salvaging matching rods from old printers is more optimal. Imagewriter IIs have metal carriages with pressed in brass bearings. The cast material is on the brittle side, but some careful dremel work can really pay off.

Getting appropriate materials for the project can be a challenge. In this case, we're using two of these handy half inch thick cutting boards from Sam's Club. They're about $10 each. Higher quality plastics like delrin can be obtained from suppliers like McMaster-Carr.

The threaded rod needs to spin freely with the motor, but still needs to be anchored. We picked up a 1/4-inch inner diameter ball bearings off of ebay.  We drilled a hole the same size as the bearing, then cut a slot in the piece with a miter saw. Finally, we drilled a hole for a machine screw.

The bearing is sandwiched between two nuts on the threaded rod. They are tightened with two wrenches. Then the bearing is inserted into the block and the machine screw is tightened down. It's a simple and effective design. We usually put one at each end of the threaded rod.

To build the mechanical base of the machine, it's important to put in some design time. Determine how much material you have, draw out your design and estimate how much material you'll need to achieve the size of machine you're going for.

Spend time laying out each axis. Then break it into its components so you can begin laying out your cut sheets. This was our original layout for the first axis of our machine.

We cut our cutting boards using a standard table saw and a circular miter saw. If the blade is sharp, you'll end up with some very nicely finished edges.

The first axis for this table is simple. The base acts as a large channel for the table. We've found that the plastic is soft enough that it doesn't have to be tapped for threads. Just drill the hole with the same bit you'd use if you were tapping threads (like a #21 for 3/16 threads) and bevel the outer edge a bit. Machine screws will thread right into the plastic, and the threads will hold surprisingly well. However, tapping the threads for extra precision isn't a bad idea.

Originally we wanted to use two 1/4-inch rods to maintain alignment, but thanks to the channel design, just one was sufficient. The second rod was a source of binding. We suggest incorporating a larger rod or two from a printer.

The holes for the rods and screw were drilled at one time on the drill press before assembly. The bearing block was added once the screw was aligned. The locknut isn't necessary. If you want to hand align the machine, This is a good place to add a knob or wheel to spin.

Next week we'll build the rest of the machine, mount the tooling and finish the job. See you then!

Would you buy a hydrogen-powered sedan in 2015 for $50,000? -- Engadget

How-To: Build your own CNC machine (Part 3)

By Will O'Brien posted Jul 11th 2006 9:45PM

How-To

Back in Part 1, we introduced the basics and started building the electronics. In Part 2, we finished up the controller and started building our machine. Today we complete our unholy marriage of cutting boards and dot matrix printers in Part 3 of How-To: Build your own CNC machine. Good luck.

Last time we showed you the completed base, with the first axis. The screw drive turns easily and there's very little play in the motion of the table.

The design of the upper axis is simple, but is the most difficult to execute. Originally we hoped to use a pair of the small sliders, but binding was an issue so we redesigned it to use a large printer slider at the base. Ultimately, the binding was caused by the nut and threaded rod we were using. Swapping them out solved our problems.

A simple tower constructed of three pieces forms the basis for the rest of the machine. The tower will be mounted to the outer edges of the base. This allows greater side to side movement to maximize the usable area on the table.The center piece of from the same cut as the bottom of the base. To drill the two sides evenly, we screwed them together and drill the mounting holes with the drill press. One the first screw was in, we drilled the rest one at a time.

The center slider is the most complex to build. Each piece is visible here. We used our usual trick of screwing the opposite pieces together in order to align the holes for the slide and the threaded rod. The brass slider and long hex nut were pressed into the plastic with our bench vise. This technique seems to work well, but alignment is critical!

To effectively deal with the minimum space, we had to get tricky. There just isn't enough room in the carrier to mount bearings for the Z axis. Instead, we pressed bushings into the plastic with our vise. Then we added a washer and a lock nut to the threaded rod at the top and bottom of the carrier. Careful tweaking with a pair of wrenches made for very little play. Just how long this setup will stay tight is in question so we'll have to keep an eye on it as we break in the machine.

This slide and carrier were salvaged from an old Okidata printer. We decided to use it to smooth out the action for the Y axis.

We whipped out the drum sander attachment on our dremel tool and contoured the plastic on the bottom so we could mount the printer slide without compromising the integrity of the cast metal.

Once the slide was mounted, we marked and drilled the mounting holes for each axis. Once the slides are set up, we'll use some screws to lock them in place.

Once things start coming together, they'll get extra frustrating as you begin aligning the slides and drive screws. I took us a while to narrow down that the source of binding was the drive screw and nut combination. We'd overlooked them initially because they worked very, very well in the other cases.

Once each axis has been constructed, we needed a carrier for the rotating tool. We picked up a flexible dremel shaft and created a simple mount for it. The flexible shaft will reduce vibration. The dremel version has the nice button for locking rotation -- far less frustrating to use than the off-brand tools.

We used a couple of tricks to achieve a nice fit. The strips were cut first, then screwed together with some space to spare. Then we drilled the plastic with a starter hole and used the dremel tool to taper and round out the holes until the fit was perfect.

Motor mounts are dependent on the motors you've ended up with. If you're lucky, you'll salvage some motor mount brackets. Creative mounting can be achieved by using new or salvaged pulley systems.

Limit switches are very helpful for keeping your machine from self destructing. A switch is placed at the limit of each axis and wired in parallel. When the carrier or table contacts one, the circuit is closed and the controller signals the computer.  Lever switches like these are ideal, or you can salvage some of the exposed contact switches from printers. The main danger of either switch is fouling caused by debris from your work project. Covering the switch with a bit of latex glove or balloon can help prevent problems later on.

Now that you've got all the bits of information you'll need to build your machine, lets get into some actual software to make the machine work.

KCam - Probably the easiest software to set up and configure, KCam is great for testing out your machine. It ran just fine on our Windows XP laptop. The drawback has to do with the method that Windows uses to access the parallel port. Because of this limitation, the machine won't run as smoothly as it really can.

EMC Linux - Some dedicated individuals maintain EMC and actually produce a stripped down, brain dead install of Linux just for running EMC. It doesn't take much of a machine to run, so it's great for dedicating an old machine just to run your CNC machine. Add a network card and you can operate and send jobs to the machine remotely. It's not too bad to install, but expect to spend some time figuring out the quirks.

Now, what you've all been waiting for... the machine in action! The bit is another tungsten carbide bit from Drill Bit City. (Oh, how we love them.)

If you've gotten this far, congratulations are an order! Oh, and then you should already expect to spend some time troubleshooting your creation. Don't be upset if everything doesn't work perfectly! (Or if you end up ripping all apart and starting all over...)