These are some pictures and video of the CNC router that I made for cutting cores, bases and mold parts. The cutting area is 2′ x 7′1″ with 5″ of travel in the Z axis (you end up with less due to the length of the cutter, though.) The frame is made of structural aluminum. Each axis moves on steel linear slides, and the plates that make up the mount for the Z axis are 3/4″ aluminum. There are 3 stepper motors powered and controlled by a controller in the grey box above the machine. The controller receives the program or manual commands from a small dedicated computer on a shelf nearby. I had originally hoped it might be suitable for cutting aluminum as well, but its really only good for wood (which is just fine… I’m making snowboards after all…)
Here’s a short video of the first full sized core that I machined.
And here are the pictures:
