[tsalaf]

Got most of the mechanical bits assembled. It's starting to look like something. Have to install motors and electronics.
Pics are here www.tac-pro.com/cnc.htm

[balsaman]

Looks great and very very sturdy. You could change the spindle and cut steel I am sure. How you going to power that bad boy?

You have a sand blasting setup? The steel looks sandblasted.

Keep it up.

Eric

[tsalaf]

Steppers. Don’t want to get too complicated on my first CNC project. The finish on the steel is “hammered” paint.

[mwestern]

What is hammerd paint?

Mark

[tsalaf]

Mark, It's paint that looks like it has tiny dents made by a ballpeen hammer. It's great if you don't want to spend alot of time sanding off the grinder marks since it hides them completely. You can find it in most paint stores.

[balsaman]

Nothing wrong with steppers. It will be a fine machine.

Eric

[mwestern]

tsalaf,

Thanks, O will look for it. I like the way it looks. I wonder if it would work on aluminum? I meant to ask you earlier what is the envolope of your machine and what made you go with the turret mill type construction rather than the table-gantry type.

Mark

[tsalaf]

Mark,

The paint looks good on aluminum also. I thinking about painting the wheels on my dunebuggy with it.
The work envelope of the router is a 10"cube which will allow for a vice or rotary axis.
The turret style seemed to me to be easier to design and construct while achieving the desired stiffness and accuracy. So far I have trammed the head at .002" over a 10" circle during initial assembly and expect to get <.001" on final adjustment.

[mwestern]

Nice job I looks very robust, you could probly cut hardend titanium with that thing.

I don't know if you have caught a look at my maching throughout the threads, but one of the things I was trying to achieve was rigidity, I plan on cutting mostly metal with my machine. I have an envolope of about 28"x28"x10". I starting to thing I should have made the whole thing out of steel.

Mark