Building the Avid CNC PRO 4848 4' x 4' CNC Router Kit

hey everyone after years literally years of researching and brainstorming i finally decided to pull the trigger on a cnc machine i settled on the avid pro 4848 which is essentially a machine with a cutting area of 4 foot by 4 foot avid cnc offers many options and upgrades and like i often do with things i chose to incorporate many of the upgrades in this build you may be wondering why i wanted a cnc and why i chose this company i love technology in the workshop we added a 18 inch by 24 inch universal laser engraver to the shop in 2012 and ever since then i've really been wanting a cnc i researched many different makes and models came very close to purchasing a hobby machine or smaller desktop machine on multiple occasions each time i looked at how they were built and how they would likely perform i hesitated because i knew i'd be spending money on something i would immediately wish could perform better i also had to consider whether or not i wanted to build machine from a kit or just have a huge pallet arrive on a truck one day with a machine that was nearly ready to run i like the idea of an avid cnc kit because i think it's valuable to know how your machine is put together having built the machine i would be 100 confident in doing any repairs or replacing any parts in the future and it just helped me with an overall understanding of how the machine functions as a whole added to that there is room for expandability my machine is four foot by four foot but for i think a little over a thousand dollars i could expand it to four foot by eight foot or even ten foot not many other companies can offer something like that so all that said if you have further questions about my decision for this particular machine ask me in the comments and i'll certainly respond but for now let's get to the build [Music] [Music] it all begins with what some may consider an intimidating pile of 16 or 18 boxes let me first say this video is not a replacement for the instructions evan seaton c's instructions are fantastic i went through the entire build without having to reach out to them for clarification that said i did make mistakes and instead of hiding them i'm going to highlight them in this video also i had to do a few steps out of sequence as i had to wait for some parts to arrive that could not be shipped with the initial group of boxes so bottom line follow avid's instructions and you're going to be fine use this video to get a feel for what the build is like and maybe avoid a few of my mistakes assembly obviously starts with the base which is optional but i highly recommend it these anchor fasteners and rolling t-nuts will become your new best friend throughout this build they attach the extrusions that make up the legs you see i put blue tape over the anchor fasteners because at this point they could fall out and i was just trying to avoid the frustration as the pieces are moved around add in the adjustable feet is the next step and this is the first situation where i caught myself not paying attention to detail you'll see here the cap screws that hold the foot plate on should be recessed into the plate had i simply flipped the plate over i would have noticed this and instead as i was threading the foot into the plate and i realized the screws were going to be in the way and then i realized i'd made a mistake so i corrected it next you mark the location of where the pieces come together and start assembling the frame these cross members are located six and a half inches from the bottom at first i didn't have a good way to hold these pieces together for assembly but then realized if i stacked the two boxes that the frame gussets were shipped in it held everything at the perfect height i continuously check for square during the assembly process but these aluminum pieces come together literally perfectly square every time once the fasteners are tightened now the gussets are added to the legs in preparation for the entire frame to come together this did get a bit clunky for one person to move things around get everything aligned for assembly but i wanted to show that one person can certainly assemble this entire machine if they had to do it with no help here i'm bringing the frame soap assemblies together with a long bar that is used to mount the avid plug and play electronics boxes [Music] finally frame pieces are added to the top and cross members can be assembled and installed [Music] [Music] do [Music] these are pretty snug fit and i realized i had left too much play in the fasteners and that was preventing thing from sliding [Music] together front crossmember is secured and then i cut wood spacers to help in locating the remaining parts [Music] once those are in position and tighten the leg gussets are also tightened down this was my first time measuring corner to corner for squareness and luckily it was perfect okay looking back this was comical the next step was to attach the linear rails which ship in these long heavy duty cardboard tubes with plywood stapled into the ends i would guess it took me a good 15 minutes just to get these things opened and out of the shipping package i don't know if i overlooked something very obvious or i'm sure there was a better way but just getting into these things was quite a battle for me these require you to install a large number of these slide-in t-nuts once that is complete they slide right into the side of the frame avid includes these setup blocks or alignment jigs as they refer to them which are clamped to the rails and it positions the rails perfectly the instructions just say to attach them to the ends and tighten all the screws it was likely unnecessary but i attached them to the end tighten several screws at each end and then move the alignment jigs toward the center re-tighten them and continue tightening the screws now you see the gear tracks being installed in a similar fashion except there is not a need for the alignment fixture i think it is usually obvious but i do want to point out that even though i am usually showing assembly or installation of parts only on one side of the machine the avid pro series has drive assemblies on both the left and right hand side now it is time to install new linear bearing blocks i had to stare at these for a while and figure out what the instructions were saying this was the first time i almost picked up the phone and reached out to avid to get some clarification the blocks have to be aligned in a specific orientation both to the machine and to each other and the way they came out of the package i decided it was impossible i then noticed an assembly note in the instructions that stated quote you may need to relocate the pre-installed m6 button head cap screw to the other side of the linear block end quote that one sentence made it all come together once i realized i was able to move these screws and caps from one end to the other it all made sense bottom line it certainly helps to pay close attention to those assembly notes [Music] i haven't even includes a grease gun and grease to get everything set up strangely i did run out of grease just as i was lubricating the last bearing block but no worries i had a three pack of grease tubes on the way from amazon they arrived the next day and it didn't slow my build down at all these are simple dust covers that cover the linear rails now some bumpers are added for each access to serve as a mechanical stop you will see these are not only a stop but also service mounting locations for the optional electronic sensor flags which i'd add in the next step this is the end of the base assembly next up is the riser assembly and this thing is going to quickly start looking like a cnc machine these riser plates attach to the bearing blocks that we slid onto the rails earlier [Music] the riser is assembled and attached to the riser plate with more t-nuts [Music] after attaching the joining plates we get to move on to the assembly of the gantry [Music] these t-nuts get placed with a specific orientation prior to attaching the gantry end cap [Music] the large gantry extrusion is then put in place the gantry is then attached using screws with the back plate as well as screws from underneath [Music] [Music] [Music] it was here that i noticed i needed to deviate from the instructions just a little they i believe arbitrarily have you assemble the left side of the gantry then instruct you to slide the gear rack and rails onto the gantry from the machine's right hand side as you can see my machine's right hand side is fairly close to a wall so i had to remove some of these parts i just installed and you'll see me assemble these gantry parts by sliding them into the left hand side of the gantry [Music] and my little helper materialized just in time to point out i was taking off parts that i had already installed just like on the sides the gantry receives a gear rack and two linear rails one difference worth noting is the rail installation the top rail is located just as the rails for the sides were using the same alignment jib the bottom rail is not completely tightened in this step and you'll see why in just a minute more bearing blocks and another bumper installed [Music] these are the sensor flags for the x-axis electronic sensors [Music] here you see i've just screwed the gantry plate to the bearing blocks and slides back and forth quite easily [Music] the gantry plate is what is used to align the bottom linear rail that we did not tighten earlier the plate is slid to one side of the gantry a few screws in the rail are tightened and then slid to the other side and a few more screws are tightened this is a clever way to ensure the bottom rail is perfectly aligned with the top rail the rack and pinion plate is attached to the top of the gantry plate and it is time to move on to some of the electronics is your wrench adjusted right okay can you put it on that way the nema 34 motors that i got had a plastic nut on them that had to be removed and discarded perfect tool practice for a three-year-old okay now can you take that off can you turn your wrench in a circle there keep going it looks like it's coming off [Music] the motor and drive assembly only have a few components and assembly is very simple the rack and pinion assembly is then mounted to the riser plate here you can see i mounted this little tension post in the wrong spot and had to relocate it this location varies depending on which side of the machine you are mounting this piece to [Music] once in place the tension is adjusted the directions tell you to get the spring seated but not fully compressed then tighten the bolt three more revolutions i marked my bolt with a marker just to ensure i did full three revolutions and this step was done same process occurs two more times there is an assembly on each side of the machine this is for the y-axis or back and front movement as well as up on the gantry for the x-axis or left and right movement [Music] now it's time to work on the z-axis this is the up and down movement and is what will hold the router or spindle in my case i'm using the avid cnc three horsepower spindle with tram mounting plate this comes partially assembled and some of the parts actually have to be removed before they can be installed but again the instructions are very clear the pro model has a precision ball screw that drives the z-axis so the motor mounts to the top of the assembly and just has a coupler that engages with the ball screw no need for a rack and pinion here most of the mechanical assembly is now complete and it's time for the fun of cable management there are a lot of cables to route from various motors and sensors and it pays off to take your time and keep everything neat and orderly the cable tracks are clever little tracks that make good cable management possible but i will also show you why this was actually one of the most frustrating parts of the build for me after attaching brackets and a tray to hold the cable track the cable truck itself is installed [Music] i noticed the screws provided for this are rather short i mean they are short they barely stick out enough to engage the nut on the other side i'm not sure why they didn't give you longer screws but i guess they got the job done the largest cable track goes on the right side of the machine and will eventually have every single cable running through it this is clear in the instructions but likely because i was working on this at 4 am i started out with the wrong track it's important to also note the tracks have a different orientation regarding which direction they bend just take a moment to measure identify the differences between each track and determine which one goes where before you start and you should have no problems [Music] [Music] [Music] now with the cable track mounted for each access it was time to start making all the motor and sensor connections and routing all the cables there's a note at the beginning of this section that simply states you will have to use a screwdriver to lift up the cover for each of these cable track sections in order to route the cables what i failed to realize is that these open in a way that is not completely accessible with the cable track mounted to the trays [Music] here you can see i'm trying to open the sections of the cable track with the area where i would need to get my screwdriver in to pop them open is oriented against the gantry so there is no way for me to get in there and pop them open i did look around and found that a basic paint can opener allowed me to reach back there and pop these tabs up but it definitely was not the right tool for the job and i finally gave up and just removed the cable track opened what i needed and reinstalled it good news is once this is all set up you should not have to do anything with these cables in the future [Music] [Music] now moving on to the installation of the sensors sensors that ship with the kits now look different than what you may have seen in older videos they no longer stick out of the front of the machine and instead are little square sensors that mount to the riser plate these sensors are an optional upgrade but again they are well worth it these allow the machine to be perfectly squared and zeroed every time it is turned on in addition to that they also serve as electrical stops so you should not have to worry about testing the strength of those mechanical stops should you attempt to exceed the machine's range of motion the sensors for the x and z axis are still the cylinder type sensor [Music] one thing that will really help you is to lay out all your cables and mark each one i use color coded electrical tape these are long cables so i marked both ends [Music] okay so i'm not going to break down cnc terminology completely here odds are if you're watching this video you have some idea of what i'm discussing in a later video i'll be talking more about the cnc and how it works for now just know that the instructions are clear and concise and if you follow them everything will end up in the right place the y-axis motor and position sensor are connected and they are actually routed right through a hole in the center of the gantry then the x-axis motor and sensor cables as well as the z-axis motor and sensor cables are routed through the cable track attached to the back of the gantry you may notice i do not have my spindle mounted yet because i was waiting for a part from avid cnc that could not ship with the rest of my machine i later had to go and route the power cable for the spindle through all the same cable tracks all these cables are then routed through the cable track on the side of the cnc before they are connected to the electronics box you see all the cables ready for connection i had already mounted the electronics box to the machine but i decided to remove it to make all these connections easier as they connect to the bottom of the box there just wasn't much room between the floor and the bottom here's a picture of the bottom of the plug and play electronics box that i got through avid cnc and everything will get plugged in here now everything is connected including my ethernet cable emergency stop and touch off plate it's almost time to power this thing up it is important to have your machine square and level i got lucky with the leveling part of the reason i chose this location in my shop is because it was the only spot on my floor that it was fairly level the optional stand with this large leveling feet make this task pretty easy i use the car jack to raise the one corner that needed adjusting and as you can see it only needs to come up about a quarter inch or so if it has a good video on squaring and leveling their machine you should check out if you're going to build one of these now even though my spindle is not attached i'm basically done with the build i powered everything up familiarized myself with the mach 4 software and decided to see if things actually moved of course just in case because i was a little anxious i literally held the emergency stop in my hand during these first couple of moves so [Music] [Music] [Applause] hallelujah machine works a few days later my spindle mounting plate arrived and i attached it to the [Music] [Music] cnc [Music] even though i was looking at the instructions the entire time i somehow mounted it incorrectly at first but realized my mistake and turned it around i purchased the optional charming mount that allows for very simple tramming which is basically squaring of the spindle for lack of a better turn i'll cover that in another video but it's important to have your spindle perfectly perpendicular on all axes and this mounting plate makes it very easy now with the spindle mounted i plugged it in to confirm everything seemed to be working as it should and once again i had to remove all the cable track open up all those connectors route the cable and then reassemble all of it hopefully this is the last time i think i'm going to end the video here i know it was a long video but i wanted to get a solid idea of what is involved in building an avid cnc and show you that literally anyone that would like to build one of these machines is more than capable i estimate i spent about 25 hours total up to this point but i worked on it in small chunks of time early in the morning i feel like had i set aside a couple days to focus on this it would have come together even faster upcoming videos are going to show how i went about setting up my spoil board jamming my spindle making my own dust boot after that i'm hoping projects are going to start rolling out please like and subscribe and of course i'll answer any questions in the comments below i'll get out in your shop and get creative

Channel: Matteson Creations

Views: 68,714

Keywords: avid cnc pro, Avid CNC, CNC Router Parts, CNC Router Build, MattesonCreations, Woodshop, Build, CNC, CNC Kit, Building a CNC, cnc router, Building the Avid CNC PRO 4848 4' x 4' CNC Router Kit, mattesoncreations

Id: fj7OyUftIg4

Length: 34min 17sec (2057 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 22 2021