More hardware: guess I'm committed now!

The CNC machine still exists largely in my imagination. For the last while I've had nothing to show for it other than that cute little box of bearings. Over the past week I've started to receive packages in the mail, however, and the more stuff that piles up (and the more charges appearing on my credit card!) the more it sinks in that I'm really going to do this!

First was the package from vxb.com, containing another pile of bearings (hey, I love you, West 49, but mail order is way cheaper). They also threw in a digital caliper (is it one caliper? A pair of calipers?) as a nice little bonus with my order. I also did a little shopping at the local hardware stores and picked up miscellaneous other nuts and bolts, all pictured above.

Yes, that's my kitchen counter. And this is on my kitchen island:

After much hemming and hawing, I finally ordered my stepper motor kit from Xylotex. I went with the lower-torque motors, because I intend to start with All-Thread rod, and these are rated better at higher speeds. (Perhaps eventually I'll get to Acme Precision Rod and anti-backlash leadnuts... once I find a company that actually will ship the stuff to Canada.)

The stepper motor/driver kit was certainly a chunk of change (I ended up choosing the company that had by far the cheapest shipping to Canada. Hint, hint.) Having now purchased the kit (oh, and add another $44 for taxes/duty/fees at the post office), I feel like I'm really committed to build this thing now...

Bearing down on the start of the project

I took the first step toward building the CNC today (well, if you don't count the nearly $50 I've already spent on books and plans): I picked up a package of skateboard bearings at the local West 49 store. These Destructo Sendai bearings look pretty nice, ABEC-7 rated, but what do I know about skateboarding?

They were kind of expensive at $20 for the set of 8. I'm going to need at least 30 of these things. Going on the assumption that I don't need to have super nice bearings, I've ordered a bunch of bearings from vxb.com. They likely won't come in such nice packaging, but they're half the price.

Netflix!

Today I started a free 30-day trial of Netflix in Canada. Followed quickly by watching episodes of all kinds of interesting TV shows. Not a lot else got done...

Friendly Forums

So I joined the CNC Zone forum. I did a search to see what other people thought about the Solsylva 25x25 CNC build I'm about to embark on, and found this build thread which details one person's experiences. The thread is many pages long, but it is mesmerizing. Over the span of about a year and a half, he builds his first machine, creates some pretty cool stuff with it, then begins using the machine to manufacture new parts to improve itself. I'm excited by reading the thread. This promises to be a real interesting learning experience. As I said before, I haven't got my hands dirty in electronics -- or anything of a mechanical nature -- for a long time.

The folks in the forum seem to be very friendly, and I may even be getting some help from Mr. Crane himself. Very cool.