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Mad Welder... thanks for the thorough answer. I'm looking forward to trying out your technique on some 18 or 20 ga. steel. I've got a plasma cutter, but no bending brake... so continuous welding is...

I'm intrigued with Mad Welder's process for sheet metal welding. The intent seems to be to localize and minimize heating of the metal to reduce the shrinkage in the weld zone.

I'm not sure I got...

Nice work with the metal... That one piece bottom looks great, and the partial weld is a good solution. I really like the machine covers, but you're gonna cost me money. Which 3-in-1 machine did...

What gauge sheet metal? I've had the experience too... Sometimes less weld is better. Maybe a lap joint, partial welds, and bondo would do the job. Any chance the bottom could be a single sheet? ...

Hi Ryan. Back in post #49 you gave us a map of your ball screw error, which was about .0085inch per foot of travel. Not sure if it got discussed, but I think that was just a constant pitch error,...

Hi Bigspike...

I like your choice of XPR screws and the doubled SRT nuts. I couldn't find any info in the Nook catalog that directly stated they were compatible with each other, but I do see a...

So, it seems to me that your servo drive with step-direction inputs looks just the same as a Gecko or other stepper drive to the Kflop. I'm thinking you can just use the kflop closed loop stepper...

Hi...enjoying the thread and your excellent build. I am slowly converting an RF-45 starting with scraping and adding Rulon 142 (like Turcite) to the ways... which were terrible. Servo vs stepper is...

Matt makes a good point about motors needing full amps at zero RPM. That's how they accellerate an axis and apply cutting force. It is unlikely that any servo will run at full hp, since that would...

An observation: it starts to look a little cumbersome to invent your own 3-phase power company :mad:. It looks like it takes a 10-15hp motor generator to supply a maximum of maybe 2.5hp shaft output,...

Adam (and Matt)... great thread for exploring 3-phase issues. Yes, I misread output current as input in your manual. Looking more carefully it suggests 0.65 kVA (roughly KW) for the PR03 servopack...

Back again... so I found a manual for your servos, and attached a page of interest. It says the 3 phase supply is 200-230 VAC plus 10% minus 15%... so +/- 5% should be no big deal. But I'm...

Matt makes a good point about being careful your rotary converter is "cnc rated". Not exactly sure what that means, but the Temco data sheet claims to be designed ground-up for cnc machines :). Not...

Hi Adam. Whoa! This thing is a beast. I like the idea of staying with the 3-phase as long as you can figure out how to either use existing control electronics (if available) or interface your own...

Hi Christofer... I'm thinking the upper surface is the top of the base. He painted or powder coated it, then went back and milled the surfaces for the rails (long and thin) and the column (the large...

I've been enjoying this thread. I'm cnc'ing an RF45, and it's interesting to compare working with existing iron to starting from scratch with steel, linear slides, etc. My machine is so roughly...

Hey Handle... good points in both posts. Simple is often a very workable solution. But sometimes robust is the right answer. The sherline approach seems to work superbly for small machines with...

Hi ChrisJH. Interesting thread. A couple of thoughts...

1. Your early posts sent me to Nachi's catalog to understand the Double Row's capability... It was tough to find anything on axial play. ...

FYI... The bearing locknuts discussed above from McMaster are, in fact, the nylon variety. So an additional nut isn't required (but shouldn't hurt).

Ray B.

Another thought... You may not even require the free-end support on that length of screw. I depends on the max RPM you plan to turn it. There is a calculation for "critical speed" that tells you...

Bummer. Hey, I was wondering if you can't just work with the screw as is... I guess it depends on whether you have any way to extend the mounting surface for one of the bearing blocks by a couple of...

Try this... from message #62 in the thread...

The tightness you are feeling is preload torque. (See post #48 in this thread). You should expect to get about 20 oz-in of preload torque with a 200lb...

Hi Nateman... Your arrangement of 4 washers is perfect... In "series" like that you get 4 times the displacement for the same load. It appears you've got that all figured out. If you stay in the...

The bellville's from Mcmaster have a "deflection at load" spec (others spec the force at 75% deflection.) So if it says 0.030", that's how far you compress it from "finger tight" to get the rated...

Is your 1605 an "anti-backlash" nut? I have a 2005 that is, and it feels smooth and tight, using offset tracks to limit "clearance". I can't measure backlash yet, but I found a post claiming a...

Sounds like you've got a plan. Thanks for starting the thread, I think several of us learned a bit through the discussion. Best of luck with your machine.

Ray B.

I wonder if 16.3mm is enough clearance, and how you will get and keep things aligned so nothing rubs on the ball screw...

BTW...MSC direct, Reid Supply, and others also carry the washers, and in...

Sounds like an interesting application with the copper sheets. So... with an 80lb vise, you've got about 200lb to accelerate plus cutting forces. Not too bad. Thats just 30-40 lb for acceleration,...

Hi Nateman. Responding to your last two posts. The forces you need to overcome are moving the table/vise/work against friction, accelerating the same mass, and pushing the work into the cutting...

I was thinking about the coil spring as well, and concur with Ray L. If you were right, Pat, then disc springs wouldn't work well either... their spring constant is stiff, but not stiff enough to...