Ivan Miranda Made a Steel CNC Mill From Scratch
And the YouTuber's machine is capable of milling its own parts.
YouTuber Ivan Miranda recently shared a video showcasing the process of constructing a CNC mill from a 40x40x2 steel box. He often produces large 3D printed builds — including a tank and the world’s largest Nerf Gatling gun — and following the creation of a 3D-printed CNC mill, decided to build one completely out of steel.
Pieces of the frame were cut from the steel box, and TIG welded into the machine’s frame. Though a few pieces on the XY table and elsewhere were 3D-printed in the initial build, they have since been replaced with parts milled by the machine itself. To ensure that the machine, cut and welded mostly by eye, is as square, straight, and coplanar as possible, many of the parts are shimmed with washers of varying sizes.
A test of the CNC mill can be found at the end of the first video, and it can be seen in use in another when it mills its remaining parts. It machines 20mm thick aluminum with ease, though does not yet have the proper bits for various materials as of the posting of the second video. For now it’s a perfectly serviceable build, and Miranda says he may try another iteration of the frame for a better chance at it lying completely straight and parallel.