I have been playing with my Taig for awhile, but now I have a need to machine some wood that will be like 32" long 7.5" wide 1.5" deep.
Not within the Taig's X-travel, not by a long shot. Thought about running one 12" section, remounting the work 12" further down, running the next 12" section. People said go start over with a gantry router, which is certainly a good idea.
But I did have another idea. What if I JUST build a long X axis here, and mount it onto the Taig table, move the stepper there, and disable the Taig's native X-axis? This kinda makes sense I think. I mean we're not building an entire machine which saves a LOT of $ and work and problems to deal with. There's plenty enough Z-clearance over this kind of stock to accommodate the height of the extra hardware. There was never a need for more Y. I think if I bolted the Taig down so it doesn't just fall over, it shouldn't be bothered by the off-center weight. It's only wood and super-accuracy is not a top issue. Nor will the table need to deal with coolant dripping on it so MDF isn't out of the question.
But, I could see using this quite a bit. Something that wears out easily could become a problem.
Make sense? Where am I gonna get a 32"+ travel leadscrew and slides... cheap?
I see a few "lathe" leadscrews on eBay that long. Is there any reason they can't be a CNC milling machine axis? I see ones with a "slot" cut down the entire length, through all the threads. What's that even for?? I saw mention of "not for power feed" on some. Is that because the threads won't support fast travel or what? If the seller doesn't say, how can I identify one which is appropriate for CNC use vs one which is not?
I did note that if the auxiliary X-axis could in theory be used in conjunction with the existing X-axis, and it would only need like 20" of travel because the X-axis can already move 12". But it'd create absurd, perhaps insurmountable complexity on the CAM software and in Mach3, as well as an extra driver and wiring. I don't see how I could justify this to save 12" of leadscrew and slide length on parts I'm gonna have to go out and get anyways.