GRBLShield CNC Mill Conversion

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By Adam Flaherty
Posted 2011/09/02 @ 4:00 am
Category 3D Printing, Arduino, Workshop

Bay Area maker John Knoll (of ILM and PhotoShop fame) just finished converting his old manual milling machine to CNC with a GRBLshield and took the time to thoroughly document the process. If you’ve ever thought about attempting this conversion, you won’t want to miss this informative overview. In it John runs through the entire process from start to finish, beginning with converting a model using a Python script, sending G-code to the board using a Processing sketch, and ending with cutting the part. [Thanks, John!]

BY Adam Flaherty

I make cool stuff and write about other people making cool stuff on makezine.com. If you have something you think I should see, send me a tip.

In the Maker Shed

14 Responses to GRBLShield CNC Mill Conversion

Ken Norris on September 2nd, 2011 at 12:42 pm said:

Very impressive. Excellent job of documentation. Makes me wish I had a Milling machine.

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Ken Norris on September 2nd, 2011 at 12:42 pm said:

Very impressive. Excellent job of documentation. Makes me wish I had a Milling machine.

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Ken Norris on September 2nd, 2011 at 12:42 pm said:

Very impressive. Excellent job of documentation. Makes me wish I had a Milling machine.

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Jay Alexander on September 2nd, 2011 at 12:51 pm said:

That is awesome! Thanks for the great video. Really makes me want to build my own.

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Halfvast Conspirator on September 2nd, 2011 at 6:05 pm said:

This link for the shield does not work. How would actually go about getting one of these boards?

https://www.synthetos.com/webstore/index.php/assembled-electronics/grblshield-grbl-arduino-diy-cnc-shield.html

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- Alden Hart on September 3rd, 2011 at 9:55 pm said:
  
  The link is up now
  
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- Alden Hart on September 3rd, 2011 at 9:55 pm said:
  
  The link is up now
  
  Reply ↓
Halfvast Conspirator on September 2nd, 2011 at 6:05 pm said:

This link for the shield does not work. How would actually go about getting one of these boards?

https://www.synthetos.com/webstore/index.php/assembled-electronics/grblshield-grbl-arduino-diy-cnc-shield.html

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Halfvast Conspirator on September 2nd, 2011 at 6:05 pm said:

This link for the shield does not work. How would actually go about getting one of these boards?

https://www.synthetos.com/webstore/index.php/assembled-electronics/grblshield-grbl-arduino-diy-cnc-shield.html

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Anonymous on September 3rd, 2011 at 2:43 am said:

Here’s the link to the project page: http://www.synthetos.com/wiki/index.php?title=Projects:grblShield

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Andrew Sayler on September 6th, 2011 at 5:44 pm said:

Beautiful project with wonderful results. I’m curious, how did you account for backlash in the lead screws? Commercial CNc’s use recirculating ballscrews, which are very nearly backlash free, but the typical manual mill has ordinary acme threads with a fair amount of clearance, enough to mess up even moderately precise work.

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- riley porter on November 23rd, 2011 at 3:57 am said:
  
  i asked that question to him too. He accounted for it in his python code, he said. But a more accurate setup is to replace the leadscrews with higher quality ones and place backlash nuts on it.
  
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Andrew Sayler on September 6th, 2011 at 5:44 pm said:

Beautiful project with wonderful results. I’m curious, how did you account for backlash in the lead screws? Commercial CNc’s use recirculating ballscrews, which are very nearly backlash free, but the typical manual mill has ordinary acme threads with a fair amount of clearance, enough to mess up even moderately precise work.

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joe gagner on March 8th, 2013 at 5:11 am said:

john, i am very interested in converting my msc mill to cnc, are there any plans and/or parts list(s)that you can offer? i have the sister mill to yours, anything you have to offer would be greatly appreciated!!! thank you joe

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