Build Your Own CNC Workstation Cart. Recently we needed a sturdy, standing height computer workstation for our workshop. Build Your Own Cnc Router Pdf' title='Build Your Own Cnc Router Pdf' />So, we designed and built one. It has turned out to be one of the most useful things that weve ever made. And now, were releasing our design, so you can build one too A little background This computer station is the one that we use to operate our CNC router. Previously, we had been operating that machine from a laptop on a rolling tool chest. While having a tool chest handy was great, the laptop wasnt, and the height was backache inducingly awkward. Once we swapped the laptop out for a desktop computer that didnt fit on the tool chest, we needed a new solution. We needed a new computer workstation that would actually fit the computer, be comfortable for working at standing height, be sturdy enough for use in the workshop, roll where we needed it to, and offer a decent amount of storage space for tooling and supplies. Our workstation is CNC cut from half inch plywood. It is rock solid sturdy, yet comes apart easily for transport or modifications. It features a main computer bay with an optional door, five spacious drawers that cant fall out, enough room on top to comfortably fit a laptop in addition to the main computer, stainless hardware, polyurethane casters, and a stiff vertical neck that supports a swing arm VESA monitor mount for the main computer. The top deck of the workstation is a flat surface 2. Theres ample room for a keyboard and mouse, as well as the occasional tool or notebook, and a little wall around the sides to keep everything in place. Perhaps most importantly and as we mentioned, theres room to fit a second laptop up on top. The five drawers are wide and front to back deep inside, with an interior area of 2. The interior vertical space of the drawers is three inches, for the top three drawers, and four inches for the bottom two drawers. The drawer pulls are made from two layers of half inch plywood glued together. They also have beveled edges, which we made by routing along part of their outline with a V carving router bit. You can also bevel them by sanding, with a little patience. All of the exterior surfaces of the workstation drawers  and pulls included are finished with water borne polyurethane varnish. NTA2WDUwNg==/z/CB4AAOSwd4tUGIdW/$_1.JPG?set_id=880000500F' alt='Build Your Own Cnc Router Pdf' title='Build Your Own Cnc Router Pdf' />The Vectric Difference. Vectric software is used by a wide range of CNC Router operators, from large professional shops all the way to homebuilt hobby users. Chapter 1 Introduction to CNC Systems This chapter introduces you to terminology used in the rest of this manual and explains the purpose of the different components. FA6/YGX0/H0OIULUS/FA6YGX0H0OIULUS.MEDIUM.jpg' alt='Build Your Own Cnc Router Pdf' title='Build Your Own Cnc Router Pdf' />The drawers are designed so that they can easily slide in and out, but are captured to prevent them from falling out accidentally. Our other tool chests have a mixture of plain drawers and drawers with ball bearing slides. In this case, we opted for plain rails rather than slides, in favor of simplicity, space savings, and the way that we thought it should look, feel, and sound. As the drawers are fully built from  plywood, they are tough enough to handle it, and the fine wood of the drawer sides is not hidden behind a metal railing. When you have a CNC router, making a giant mechanical iris isnt that difficult Easy Build Your Own Shed Lifetime Storage Shed Model 6405 Easy Build Your Own Shed Makeup Vanity Ideas Woodworking Plans Pool House Garden Shed Kits. Meanwhile our longtime collaborator Geoff Kerr of Two Daughters Boatworks helped his daughter Sheldon build a beta version from a kit in November 2015. Theres only the reliable friction of wood on wood, not the creaking, wobbling, and clicking that you sometimes get with drawer slides. We ourselves ooh and ahh over a good drawer slide now and then, but sometimes there are other good solutions, too. In the photo above, you can see that the top deck of the workstation is attached to the side wall by two sets of tabs through slots and two screws the latter are more visible in subsequent pictures. Each screws is attached to a square nut in a T slot in the top deck. Similar tabs, slots, and screws are used to hold the rails that support the drawers, as well as the bottom deck of the workstation, and a few of the other structural components. Using tabs and screws like this provides a very rigid assembly, yet allows the whole workstation to be disassembled for transportation, or to replace or modify any of the major components. The screws that we are using are stainless steel 14 2. Near the front of the workstation, where each drawer sits, is a through hole. If you look in the top of those holes, you can see one more screw head. That screw is actually attached to the side of the drawer, and slides through a groove on the interior of the workstations side wall. When it gets to the front of the groove in the position shown  it acts as a stop to prevent the drawer from falling out. The through hole is provided so that you can insert or remove the screw, to lock the drawer in place or to remove it. If we remove the top drawer, you can see the groove that constrains its motion. You can also see the rails that the top drawer slides on. These small rails are used to support three of the drawers. For structural and isolation reasons, the middle drawer and bottom drawer actually have full width platforms beneath them. And, fully pulling out the second drawer, you can see that the rails above also prevent this drawer from tipping out. Heres what one of the drawers looks like on its own. The front and sides are made of the same finest grade maple faced birch plywood as the rest of the workstation. We used a less expensive grade of 12 birch plywood for the back and bottom of the drawer, which are seen less. Each drawer is assembled with interlocking tabs and held together with wood glue. The bottom, back, and two sides are glued together first. Then this assembly, which has short, 14 deep tabs sticking out towards the front, is mated and glued to the drawer front, which has a set of machined pockets recesses positioned to receive those tabs. Finally, the drawer pull again, made of two layering two 12 thick cutouts is inserted from the front of the drawer and glued in place. The drawer stop is a short 34 button socket cap head screw though the side of the drawer, with a lock nut on the inside to keep it in place. Weve found that adding a 12 OD washer underneath the head of each screw gives more reliable performance. Down below the drawers is the front bulkhead of the computer bay. We carved our logo into this part you may want to leave it blank or add your own logo instead. The bulkhead is held in place by four sets of tabs and screws with T slots on the left and right side. Down yet further, there are four 2 diameter red polyurethane casters two that rotate and two that do not. Each is rated for 1. The computer bay is visible on the back side. And, please excuse our rats nest. The top and bottom sides of this compartment are solid pieces of wood, rather than just rails. The casters are bolted to through the bottom face, using four sets of button socket cap screws and hex lock nuts each. Our original intent was that this could be a dust resistant environment for our computer, so the power and other cables are routed through side holes that can be plugged with low density foam or other filter media. You may also notice that there is a small lip wall, 1 high, protruding from both the floor and ceiling of the computer bay. This provides a solid surface a ring all the way around, that you can cap. The rear cap is a rectangle of plywood, positioned where this mockup board is located. Best Foot Cream For Cracked Heels Australia. Our plans include this optional board, and two draw latches positioned on either side to hold it in place. Additionally, you may want to put a cork gasket between the two for a snug fit weve called out a sticky back 12 wide cork strip in our list of parts.