Maybe you’re thinking you’d like to cut stuff out of a big piece of plastic. or metal. or wood. You’d like a computer controlled milling machine. Well, you could go out a buy a ready-made version for a few thousand, but that would be ENTIRELY too easy. You’d like to build your own, wouldn’t you?

Part list:

  • Two-Speed Variable Bench Mill/Drill Machine — $621.23 (harborfreight.com)
  • Mini Mill CNC kit #4 — $559.00 USD (cncfusion.com)
  • CNC 3 Axis Package with 425 oz-in motor and KL-4030 Bipolar Driver with 36V /8.8A Power Supply — $404.49 (kelinginc.net)
  • Male-male 25 pin parallel cable
  • Hookup wire, 12 gauge & 18 gauge (radioshack)
  • Mach3 and LazyCam software — $150.00 (machsupport.com)
  • Starter Kit, Mini Mill — $79.95 (littlemachineshop.com)
  • Heat shrink tubing
  • Plastic wire tubing
  • Die grinder $20

Steps:

  1. Install CNC kit onto Mill
  2. Install/wire CNC 3 Axis package
  3. Configure Mach3 software

Useful reading: http://littlemachineshop.com/info/MiniMillUsersGuide.pdf