***Edited the title to create a new name/space for people instead of sharing their upcoming dominator homes (the original title) instead to share their builds/build progress as dominators begin to make their way out into the maker community.
Looks good.
Question:
Is there a reason you didn’t wye off the rigid pipe down to your jointer? You’d probably be able to cut some of the flex hose out doing so.
@Chris You have a keen eye. It is just out of Frame but there is a rigid vertical pipe that comes down from that horizontal portion and is what that slinky hose is connected to. I just moved my jointer over to where it is in the picture a couple days ago, while I was rearranging my shop. I moved my router table over to where the jointer used to be (which was a direct hard pipe connection). I will eventually splice in above the jointer and reconnect it with rigid pipe.
Right now its a stop gap solution, Also not seen / hard to see on the connection for the boom arm that will go over the cnc, all the duct work ends with 'magRings" they work so great to connect sections of the slinky hose and have them for the router table, lathe, bandsaw and table saw.
Also cheers for using “wye”, so few people call it that anymore, so at least there are two of us still, haha.
Here here
I’ve been trying to find a good plan for my own setup, and yeah, it’s been a struggle
Yeah, it’s an ongoing process. I’ve re-invented / reorganized (and expanded) my shop several times. I like to think each time brings productivity improvements and better organization. I’m not sure that is always true, ha, but I like to think that it is.
We have progress!!!
I can’t believe how much wildly studier this is (than my previous cnc), even just in this unfinished state, it doesn’t move, AT ALL. It also doesn’t even have the top assembly and cross members let alone a MDF spoil board that will lock it together making it even more stout. I work with 80/20 at my job, so I thought it would be a solid machine, but this thing is seriously no joke!!
I barely had to make any tweaks at all to square it up to dead nuts on. It more or less “bolts together” perfectly square on its own. I’m working on capturing as many of the steps I can in video to share after I have it all together along with a full review of the process.
It’s been a really fun build and I’m very pleased so far.
(and its puppy approved, so I guess I can move forward.)
That is very good to see it getting it set up, and what an adorable shop pup! I did not know you worked for 80/20. Our sales rep with Neff Power (who sells the 80/20 parts) lives right in our neighborhood! ![]()
We are looking forward to getting the rest of it out to you! Can’t wait to see the rest of the set up.
Thank you, she is total ham for attention and pictures, haha.
Sorry for the confusion, I don’t work “for” 80/20, but work with the products at my job all the time building fixtures and all kinds of things. I work for Sub-Zero Group. (a luxury appliance company).
I’m really looking forward to the rest of my parts as well!! So excited to see it all come together.
80/20 assembly complete! Can’t wait to start the next steps. Hopefully the UPS man comes soon!
Really impressed with how square the machine is just from fastening it together. Very very little tweaking needed. Took extra care to ensure all the front and rear facing corners were all in plane/flat/flush, as they will have the lead screw plates on them and you want a super flat across all the parts that come together in those corners.
@Rizzo. Thank You for the assembly updates. Your pics give a good view of the process involved in the assembly. It also gives a closer and better understanding of the Dominators design and structure.
Now I can get a much better idea what is expected to assemble it. Unfortunately, there are no videos or online manuals to download yet for studying. I’m sure those will follow as time permits.
So again, thank you and keep the info and picks coming.
Joe
Assembly is moving along. (Posting back here in the builds section). Per the post I made in the other area, here is an image of the digital protractor that was so insanely helpful. Highly recommend it as well as picking up a really nice quality large sized square. They were very helpful tools during the assembly.
Also, already inspired to start cad’ing up an accessory I have an idea for. ![]()
First, it appears you have a digital angle finder/gauge? When I searched for “protractor,” I found (and thought you meant) the following to make sure all intersections are 90 degrees:
I already have one of these, for which can I assume it provides the same results as yours?
Also, sanity check here, can you explain how you use this digital device? Are you setting its zero reference to one of the vertical or horizontal frame parts then comparing to another?
I think angle gauge and digital protractor are common swapped terms, if you zoom in on the image of mine is says protractor on it so that is what I called it just so that people could find it on amazon and get one if they wanted.
I think the one you have should work fine. I have one of those as well, by the brand “wixey” I use it for my bandsaw and table saw.
I went with this one because I wanted a slightly longer base for added accuracy and because it provides audio feedback when making adjustments so you don’t actually have to be able to see the screen to dial in perfectly level.
Regarding use: I first extended each leg about an 1" or so, just so that there was plenty of adjustability in all the legs for the next steps. Then I went around with my 4ft bubble level and got things as close as I could with the level, which thankfully my shop floor is quite flat and close to level already. After I had the cnc more or less level to the “earth”, I could switch to the digital one and put it in relative mode. I chose the front rail for zeroing off of. After zeroing off the front rail, I moved around the machine one rail at a time making tiny adjustments with a large crescent wrench to turn the lower nut on the leveling foot. I was able to see the screen pretty easily so the audible feedback while nice, wasn’t supper necessary as it turns out, but it was still helpful.
I just went around and around make little changes until I had zeros on all the top extrusion rails. I checked all the legs (vertically, but relative still to the front rail as zero) and all but one were dead on 90. One of the legs was off by a tiny bit, but there wouldn’t be a good way to solve that as it is likely being pulled in by the lower ring of extrusions making the bottom shelf. It was only off by 0.15 degrees so I left it as is. and the legs being 90 don’t really matter at all for the most part other than my OCD (as if the legs were splayed like a coffee table etc and 70 degrees, it has no bearing on if the top is flat and level.
The next step was confirming that the entire top was fully in plane. This “should be true” with all the rails being zero’d to one another, but… again.. ha, the OCD got me.
The best way to do that is the fishing line test. Using some extra m8 bolts and some roll-in m8 t-nuts I temporarily set up points on the corners where I could affix fishing line and run them, corner to corner, crossing in the middle. (I will try and post a couple pictures, but fishing line is hard to see)
Pull the fishing line tight and then down so the line runs tight against the corner rails on its way across to the other corner (it CAN NOT be raised above the rail, unless it is above the rail by exactly the same amount at all corners so it is best to just have the fishing line touching off on the rail at each corner). This creates an “x” in the middle where (if perfectly in plane, meaning no twist at all in the rails corner to corner) where the fishing lines cross they should just barley “kiss” one another. If there is a gap or if by moving one line you see the other line move, then those 4 points are not in plane.
The dominator was perfectly in plane, which was a welcome surprise as it means: 1) This machine is awesome! 2) taking your time to work slowly and methodically to set it up properly pays off. 3) my previous cnc wasn’t even close and needed to have the corners shimmed to bring it into plane. 4). the digital gauge did its job in leveling the rails (and the rails are perfectly straight.
There was maybe a sheet of paper gap between the lines and the middle cross rail, but that is very minor and can easily be accounted for in surfacing the waste board.
It lives!!! such a fun build, scrutinizing each adjustment to try and squeeze just one more thousandth of accuracy in the main assembly. Hoping to get sheets of MDF and begin the top assembly tomorrow, then hopefully an inaugural first carve… what should it be? (@Daniel you should share the Pwn logo DXF or SVG that you did a carve of in one of your video / instagrams I think)
Lots of cable management to do and some custom 3d printing brackets etc to hold often used accessories. Then modifying my current CAD design for all my tool holders to live having off the front rail.
Going to be a busy weekend.
(what’s the best way to share videos? I know you can’t post them natively, do people have a favorite hosting solution.. do I just create a YouTube account?)
If your talking about the pwn P with like 5 tool changes, that was me. I’ll try and upload it tomorrow
Youtube, you can mark them as unlisted
With the build complete and the machine operational/soft limits set etc. I’m moving on to cable management and tidying up. I have a really good idea for cleaning this up significantly, I’ll be creating a beta panel for the shelf and messing around/ seeing what works and making tweaks then cut the final on the dominator. Assuming it works out-ish… ha… the way I intend, I’ll make the file available too.
First step labeling both ends of every cable/tube.
And a sneak peak to what will be the “unseen” part of my plan.
I can’t attach it here directly, but here it is on my google drive.
That carve file didn’t survive upgrading my cnc design computer (this one i’m on, vs the old one it would have been on)
Cable management beta complete. I think there is real promise here to design a cut file for this shelf. Just need to do some measuring and design a final version that I can then make available. Massive difference in cleaning up the cable situation. Even was able to sleeve my coolant lines to the chiller.
Just finished designing and printing my MPG pendant mount, came out great,
Moving on to front mount tool holders for the ATC, printed a prototype last night and it came out fantastic. Can’t quite get 20 across the front with my spacing, but 19 tools is not too shabby.
Getting closer and closer to operation. Completed the waste board install (still need to flatten it and etch in a grid etc.) Was able to lay down a sheet of 3/4" mdf which is secured around the full perimeter with twist lock t-nuts, which are super handy as they can be added after the fact and don’t have to be slid in, or rolled in. Then I used the cnc itslef to mark out holes for the t tracks so they would be perfectly aligned, which was super handy and made install a breeze. After that, some measuring for tolerance and a bit of tablesaw setup with a sacrificial fence for rabbiting and I cut the actually spoil board parts and rabbited their edges, these will lock down the t-tracks so the tracks don’t let loose from the MDF with just their little screws.
I “greened” out my tool holder as I’m just about ready to sell it. But I’m super happy with how it came out, printed really cleanly and looks really sleek across the front of the dominator. I did it in matte black filament and it looks great with the anodized parts.
One step closer to running a job.

















