50x50 8020 cnc build

Well I got a pretty good idea of how it needs to be built and started designing it in google sketchup. Below is some of the google sketchup pics and build pics of what is going on so far. CNC - Imgur

So far I have my gantry side plates designed and built out of 5/8in 6061 aluminum. They are beefy! Below is a test of one of the rails and how smooth it seems so far.
Cnc rails - YouTube

Tonight I hope to be able to finish putting spill table together and it being on it's own weight vs being held up by the gantry. This will be the full test of how well the gantry moves.

List of things to still be done

1. mock up y 1/2in acme 5start screw
2. mock up x 1/2in acme 5start screw
3. mock up stepper plates
4. mock up x and z axes plates for router
5. mock up router clamp

Parts already bought

• gecko g540
• 320oz 3/8in shaft stepper motors
• OpenBuilds steel v-groove bearings x22
• OpenBuilds hardcoat rail x8
• cncrouterparts 1/2 acme bearing blocks x6
• dumpster cnc couplers x3
• dumpster cnc super clamps for acme x12
• cncrouterparts thrust bearings x12
• 2550 80/20 1500mm aluminum with L brackets for rails and spillboard area x8
• old router or dremel 4000 till I can purchase a spindle
• micro switches for limit switches x10
• 1/2 acme 5start 6ft x2
• 1/2 acme 5start 3ft x1

Things I still need to get

• pc with parallel port
• misc screws and wires
• wood to make a table for the cnc to rest on
• and other unknown items...

Album will be updated as I get new pics during build.

Cool. Subscribed.

3 new images updated to album and this...

Cnc spill table - YouTube

Yes I can be retarded, but I'm super happy this is moving along! Sadly the table is not on it's own weight.. Trying to figure out what I want to do with that and keep the table adjustable so I can make sure it's level...

Update from last night! Got some legs mounted to the table and finally have the gantry on it's own weight and it's smooth!

Attachment 184934Attachment 184938Attachment 184936Attachment 184946Attachment 184948
Attachment 184932Attachment 184942Attachment 184944Attachment 184940

I was able to test the gantry's movement and mock up the X axes lead screw. I need to find the required bolts for the cncrouterparts bearing blocks... are they suppose to come with the screws needed to mount the face plate on it?

As well as all these images.. here is another video of me being retarded.

Cnc router build - YouTube

Interesting rails. I looked them up and they are hard coated aluminum. Do you plan to cut wood? Just wondering if you will get any pitting on the rails when the swarf gets under the V wheels. Then again I think I read something about V-bearings actually pushing debris out those type of rails. If you don't mind me asking, how much do the rails run?

Main goal was to cut acrylic/wood with some aluminum. It was around $217 for all the parts.

• 20 steel v-groove bearings $115.00
• 6 1500mm hardcoat rails $90.00
• 2 500mm hard coat rails $12.00

So far I like them! What I don't like tho, and this is something they don't really express... they are skate bearings and thus use tiny M5 screws to hold it to anything. They also have a tiny aluminum spacer between the bearing and object it's bolted to. My concern with these on larger project is the weight they can hold with those spacers. With the vgroove being so far out the leverage on them was going to be huge and I figured I'd probably snap a bolt... So I went with removing the spacers and instead adding a tiny washer so the bearing doesn't bind. But doing this means I can't use their concentric spacers to adjust bearings tightness to the rail. So I had to improvise by creating slotted areas for the adjusting bearings. Honestly..it's a pain in my ass to adjust them and without thread locking any of them... I can see some slip. So far.. it's a learning process!

These bearings are probably awesome for a smaller project and I'm probably putting them to the test on this larger project. Honestly tho.. they aren't my concern on this project... it's the acme screws.... the x and y axes are about 5 feet long.... I haven't had a chance to tighten down the acme screws for those areas yet but with them just hanging there.... I feel whip badly and not sure how much less I'll get on those by tightening them up.

On another note! I have more pictures of my Z assembly.
Attachment 185478Attachment 185480Attachment 185482Attachment 185484Attachment 185486Attachment 185488Attachment 185490Attachment 185492

Currently I removed the center bearing in the Z assembly because it was impeding the lead nut. The Y axes screw is still not fully mocked up. In the pictures I don't think I'll have it right there. I will probably mount both bearing blocks to the inner part of the gantry sides. This will slightly shorten the acme screw in hopes that I'll gain a tiny bit more strength. I will do the same for the X axes. As the gantry mount point for the x axes is a bit more forward I have about 1ft of space between where it is currently mocked up and how much more I can probably move it forward to take up some of that slack and strengthen it too.

Ok, so in for another installment of what's been going on!!

First things first... ended up redesigning the gantry side plates for better bearing support. I saw that with my original slotted design that it worked... but was a giant pain in my ass to adjust and keep the tightness to the rail. Eventually the bearings would work loose. So redesigned it to have a tapped screw at the bottom that can be adjusted and keep tightness to the bearings against the rail. Also had to redesign my Z assembly due to the same thing. However I had an even bigger issue... I had the bearings to mid way on the z assemble for me to be able to even had a set screw... Had to redesign it with bearings at the bottom and how high the gantry would naturally sit.

• lowered gantry rail
• added adjustments to all lower bearing assemblies
• added nema 23 motor mount for y axes
• removed some load bearings
• shaved a good bit of weight off the gantry sides
• designed blocks that allow for crp bearing blocks to be attached directly to the 8020 without drilling through it.
• inverted the original z design to have the bearings on the inside of the assembly vs outside
• counter sunk all holes for bolt attachments for nice finish

and without making this a super long post.. here are the pic and videos!

As always here is the whole album CNC - Imgur and below is what can be attached.

Attachment 186146Attachment 186148Attachment 186150Attachment 186152Attachment 186154Attachment 186156

These seem to be to large to attach via url grabbing.. so here is the direct link to imgur
http://i.imgur.com/D7NYBMh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hnOR9XN.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BnPx8I2.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KuRDAEz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Y2Ow90Y.jpg

And as always my retarded self showing off the new gantry.
Gantry test with new adjustment screws - YouTube

Seems I missed a video upload... oh well here is a quick video showing off the adjustment screws on the gantry plates.

Gantry adjustment screws - YouTube

Another quick update... as always here is the album CNC - Imgur or the direct links to the new images below.

here you can see the new set screws in place
http://i.imgur.com/dZDEw40.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Qhay8Ny.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/AhemJjo.jpg

sadly I did not find 5mm x 20mm set screws... so had to make due.
http://i.imgur.com/VV46Ht1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/17VcYpn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/un7uHEH.jpg

Here you can see the reason why I need allen socket bolts.. the hex does not fit and impacts the lower bearings. The countersink was designed for a allen head to sit flush and not impact the lower bearings.
http://i.imgur.com/AAbbisY.jpg

after attaching the z assembly plate on both the old and new revisions... seems my holes are every so slightly off. When the Y is at the end of it's travel it does not sit flush with the gantry plates. It's tilted and has a slight gap of about 1mm on either side. So looks like I'll have to make a slight slot to one of the top screws to adjust the plate.

I also forgot to buy the allen socket bolts needed for the bearing blocks on the z assembly which is what my countersink is based off of. So I couldn't attach them to do a full assembly of the z axes because the hex bolts don't fit my countersinks :(

Next up will be the small blocks to attach the crp bearing blocks to the 8020 for the Y axes. I've ordered another 2576 rail for the lower gantry rail so I can finally start finishing up that axes as well.

Quite a bit of updates :D

• created the 8020 bearing attachments for acme rod
• created bump stops for all 4 corners
• added rails to the z axes
• add stepper motor attachment to z axes
• created attachment point for Y axes lead screw

CNC - Imgur <-- the current album

and here are the direct links to the new images
http://i.imgur.com/LnV8Hyc.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/UFkqTH7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/owwWV5J.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yq9VPCn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/aiL0T9N.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/84z0T3b.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/b0EGQ05.jpg

Seems I'm missing the images of all the 8020 bearing attachment blocks... I'll have to find out why they weren't uploaded and post them later. Still waiting on 2 more 1500mm rails from 8020 to add to the gantry. One is the lower rail for the lead screw attachment, and another is for the upper part behind the y axes lead screw to increase rigidity. After those arrive I have to mock up the x lead screws attachment and determine if I'll have issues with whip or not. If so I'll have to move in the bearing blocks and reduce cutting size.

I already created the attachment point for the Y axes but didn't get a chance to take pictures last night. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to show it off. It's getting closer and closer to being able to finally plug up all the electronics and start seeing it actually alive... I still need to get my mdf for the spill board and still need to actually build a table for the whole thing.

Didn't get a chance to take any pictures last night due to being busy with other stuff... But! I did get in the 2 other 8020 rails I needed to stiffen up the gantry.. and boy did it do that! Now I have a few tight spots... Got to figure out whats causing it. Tonight I'm going to do the following to try and fix it.

• remove center rails for table
• loosen the hard coat rail on the 8020 in case it's not totally flush
• measure the top and bottom gantry to make sure the are exactly equal distance

Hopefully once this is all done and squared I can re-add the 2 support rails for the table. I'm betting I might have to shave some of them a slight bit due to not being exactly same length.. can only be like .5mm off probably, but enough to cause tightness in bearings. At this point I'm getting really close to being finished and being able to test the electronics part. Here is a list of what's left I believe.

• make X axes stepper motor mount
• cut aluminum angle bracket for both x and z axes to attach to lead nut
• shave lead nut so that it's oval and drill and tap holes for attachment
• cut router support and it's rail to attach to z axes
• Build table for cnc to rest on... I know I know.. should have done that long ago...
• Swap out wood legs for 2550 8020 legs
• tap the 8020 legs for adjustable feet
• wire up limit and home switches
• test electronics

I already got my 17in lcd monitor and a dell optiplex 745 with 1gig ram. I have emc2 installed however need to actually set it up. Haven't had time to read the manual to get a full understanding of it yet. I have found my current solution to software until I get money to buy the good stuff. Plan to use google sketchup with the sketchucam plugin for gcode for now, once I get some cash I'll buy probably mach3 then either cut2d or vcarve pro.

As for the lead screws.. I think I have a semi solution to the whipping besides reducing length... I saw another post on here where a guy took some hpde and made some sliders for the screw. Basically there was 2 per screw with a rod that attached them together. As the Z assembly pushed 1 towards the end it dragged the other with it basically supporting the lead screw in the weakest area at all times. It was machined well enough that it fit the contours of the 1/2 screw without causing any binding. So what I've done is order some 8020 linear bearings aka the delrin/hpde stuff they use and will make some form of screw support for both the x and y axes. Hopefully this will get me through for awhile untill I can afford to swap to rack n pinion.

Either way, I'm getting closer to seeing chips!

Another update showing the new bracing and my Y axes lead screw.

Here are the 8020 mounts I created to allow me to attach the crp bearing block.
http://i.imgur.com/FozFdqZ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/CABfZ9F.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DeoCsy0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2HOYGzS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a2hqiLU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KmwLf3D.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2pAcDTv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/X3qu8Sn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lB13M0Q.jpg

here is the 2 new rails added for the lower part of the gantry and upper bracing.
http://i.imgur.com/lKoSwpI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3yWFLVX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PCnJaS2.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/NYT3j8F.jpg

Last night I did my measurements of the gantry and they are indeed both equal. So decided to take out the center support rails on the table and boom! smooth rolling again! Tried to refit the support right where the rail was and indeed I was .5mm off! Quick shave of the 2 rails fixed the center part... however the 2 outer supports are also a hair off.... will need to fix those this weekend as well.

This sunday, I will try to have both y and z axes done with full on attachments. I would like to have the x axes stepper mount done as well... however my bday party is happening saturday... so doing a cajun crawfish boil!! muahahaha

Awesome build nekidfrog! 'Subscribed'
Happy belated B'day :cheers:

Wasn't able to get anything done on the cnc this weekend... my truck's timing belt failed on me... going to be a pretty hefty repair... Might have to take a break from this cnc to get my truck fixed.

So truck is fixed, and that means BACK TO WORK ON CNC!! Got most of the main table the cnc is going to rest on built last night... Will take pictures today and post them up. Hoping to get the X axes done soon as well. Then I can probably start playing with electronics.

So finally got another update. Here is the pictures to the wooden table the cnc will rest on.

http://i.imgur.com/aul9lYH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bF77Op9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/oFnAH9v.jpg

I've already topped it with 3/4 MDF and have the cnc on top. I still need to remove the wooden feet and use the left over 2550 to make correctly sized legs which will place the cnc at waist height. After this I will continue to attach the leadnuts to the axes they belong to. Hopefully this weekend will have all of that done and have my dell optiplex 745 pushing some gcode out to test stuff.

Impressive build!!!!Big size for sure!!What do you have invested so far in aterials???rail the lauminum extrusions and all.and why did you pick such a big size??

Little over 2k so far. Originally I had only planned for a 2x2 design but friends found out I was designing one and well.. they suggested I make one big enough to be able to cut out panels needed to make arcade cabinets. So ended up scaling a bit bigger.

Today, I manage to get the Y axes hooked up and working good.

Here is the cnc on it's table and now using the much smaller 2550 aluminum feet. Also the Y attachment to the screw and leadnut.
http://i.imgur.com/OVQ3Gsz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WC2fDNk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZIv9dgE.jpg

Here is the modified leadnut on the z axes. In fact all 3 axes have this modification done to the leadnut to make sure clearance is available.
http://i.imgur.com/gYqiru1.jpg

Tomorrow, I plan to get the x axes connected and the z router plate connected if possible. Then it's just connecting it all to the g540 and testing it in emc2

Looks damn good!!!looks like it gonna be a pretty nice machine.What sort of material will you be working in mostly??