Hi all,
I've been working on my table this weekend with what I am finding out is a crappy design (on my part) where the bearings on the xy rails are concerned. I'm examining whatever pictures I can on the shopbot and from what I can tell there isn't a point of contact for the bearings to protect against gantry lift (for lack of better terms). I am defining gantry lift as the force exerted to the gantry when the bit plunges into the substrate, and the tendency for the gantry to lift up when the bit is pushed down.
Tuesday I'm going to make some test Vee bearings out of aluminum and see how this works.
I'm just curious for those of you that don't use THK's/Pillowblock style bearings what your solutions are.
I might add that I think I would just use the pipe method with skate bearings mounted on angle iron, but my table is 10 feet long and the main supports are slightly bent. Though if things keep getting worse, ie I feel like this guy :drowning: I might reosrt to that method somehow.
-Matt