[CRFultz]

Hello to all..
Time to "GetErDone". My name is Chuck and I've been lurking about for awhile reading and learning, tryin to come up with a working design.
Since I seem to have alot of extrusion lying about, I figured it would be my best option for a frame. Did the Ebay thing and bought a bunch of worthless stuff, but did manage to get some THK slides and then bought some ballscrews from Reid.
I chose to go with a moving gantry, the gantry uprights are 6061, 1/2" by 8 and 3/4" by 23 and 1/2".
The frame worked out to be about 32 and 3/4 by 35 inches, if I can get a 18" cut, I'll be happy.
The extrusion is by 8020 and is the 2020 and 1020 series.
I'm using regular end connectors.
The steppers for the x and y are NEMA 34 and are expected to give me 420 oz-in. They are rated at 4.8v @ 2.53a. They are 6 wire so I'll be running them in bipolar series.
The z will have a 306oz (unipolar, not sure what bipolar will give) 6v @ 2a
I haven't bought the drives yet but I'm sure they will be gekos.
I did go ahead and get the "PC-to-route" breakout board.
I will be using Mach2 and autocad.
I started the assembly a couple days ago and took some pics along the way.
Also took some pics of me trying to repair a ball nut that dropped a few balls due to my carelessness.
the ideal was simple and it worked
Tonight I will be working on the y and some pieces of the z, I'll take more pics along the way and I'm sure ask alot of question.
take a look and Please offer your suggestions....this is all new to me and I'm making it up as I go..any advice is more then welcomed.
Thanks in advance,
Chuck

[CRFultz]

This is where I'm at ...lot more to go..[IMG] [/IMG]

[CRFultz]

And another...check out my gallery for more

[DSL PWR]

Looks like a good start! Super stout frame, I like it.

[marvinstov]

Looks to me like you got some nice stuff and you don't need much help either. Looks good!

Marv

[CRFultz]

Thanks yall,
I'll go through the pic sequence.
[IMG] [/IMG]
Pics 1 through 5.
This shows the drilling of the access holes for the end connectors.
the little drill jig from 8020 helps keep everything lined up. the #7 hole doesn't leave much room for error, sometimes I have to redrill with a 1/4 to get the 5/32 allen wrench to hook up with the button heads.
Snug em down and it will be there for awhile.

[CRFultz]

pics 6 through 8 show the finished rail and the feet ready to be taped...48 holes threaded to 1/4-20.[IMG] [/IMG]
glad thats done! a cordless and a sharp tap makes all the difference....oh yea..magic-tap also helps.

[CRFultz]

Here is the motor mount and the simple end bearing block.
I will end up cutting off the wings on the motor mount. my ballscrew is only 36" with 3" turned down, so I ran it up between the center rails. I had already drilled the 1/4 inch holes on the side so it hooked up with the tslots in the extrusion...downside...I'm sure I will have misalignement somewhere...tweaking will be called for.

[CRFultz]

Swiss Cheese! [IMG] [/IMG]
Both sides were milled at the same time sandwiched together.
plenty of 1/4 inch holes for whatever.

[CRFultz]

here are the cross support rails
acad said they were 10.359375...somewhere around 10 23/64"...I'll cut these on the mill..thank goodness for the DRO..milled all 6 at the same time to be sure of assembly square-ness

[CRFultz]

remember that misaligned thing i was talking about..here it is [IMG] [/IMG]
I didn't even notice untill I looked at this picture that my assembly marks are on the wrong end...that should take care of the misaligned motor shaft to the ballscrew I'll put that on my "to fix" list...moving on...

[High Seas]

Lookin' My-T-Fine! That 2020 and 1020 is some pretty heavy duty stuff - and the 6061 plate fits in well. Did you draw out the design in autocad - or just sort of plunge in? Its such a machine to be proud of - others might take the same path if you had some dxf files. But, the nice thing with the "Big-Boy's Tinker Toy Set (80/20)" is you really don't need the plan - you can just start and see what fits where... Is your plan to cut metal with a really big router- looks like the rig for it.
More pics
cheers - Jim
your post came in while I was finger fiddling on the keyboard - good alignment compensation!

[CRFultz]

Here is my fix of the ballscrew that I spoke of in post 1.
I dropped 3 balls out of the nut when I was transfering it to the screw...the cardboard carrier tube had a inside bore bigger then the turned down 3/8 ...longer tale shorter....balls hit the workbench...I was luckey I was over the bench or i wouldn't have seen them fall out...ANYWAY...
Took a 1/2 inch piece of roundstock and bored it to 3/8
Then drilled a hole a little bigger then the ball...
transfered the nut to the roundstock quickley so has not to loose another ball in the hole....[IMG] [/IMG]
put a ball in the hole and the roundstock onto the screw....
pushed the nut towards the screw until I felt it make contact with the ball...
rotated the roundstock till the ball was facing down....
turned the nut and the roundstock in different directions while pushing towards the screw....
once the nut starts catching the threads on the screw, I kept rotating the roundstock back and forth till the nut is all the way onto the screw...

[CRFultz]

POOF!
[IMG] [/IMG]
the ball is back where it belongs

[CRFultz]

Thanks Jim...
I do have some drawings but I'm not sure if any would be useable or not...when I get done I'll toss em into the ring and maybe they'll do some good for someone...
The 8020 makes everything really simple....plus all the stuff is already drawed up....I drew it up in the rough and imported the extrusion files and then changed the scale matched up with my bearing rails and blocks.
I tend to make alot of changes from my drawings on the fly because it "just seems right"...
plus I always drill xtra holes when I have my zero dialed in on the part...ya never know when a xtra hole will come in handy
I plan on cutting only wood products....aww whom I kidden...If this cuts air...I'll be happy....I know NuTTin about cnc codes and the such..I just enjoy building stuff

[CRFultz]

And now the questions begin...
I wanted to wait till the table was done before I stared thinkin bout electrons...but I feel i should go ahead and order the stuff to build the power supply...First let me say..I've been a Electrician since 79' but I've yet to build a power supply to power steppers...with that said..
Here's the stats:

stepper x nema 34, 420 oz-in, 4.8volts @ 2.53 amps
stepper y ditto
stepper z nema 34, 306oz-in (unipolar) 6volts @ 2amps
these are all 6 wire so they will be hooked up full windings / series

I have read the white papers and every post in this forum that have transformer in the title.
I'm thinkin a Plitron 750 va, 40vdc @ 9.38 amps (#107026201)
OR maybe...
i have a bunch of transformers that are 24v that should put out somewhere around 8 to 10 amps.....can I build 2 power supplys and hook the outputs in series? Never done that...not even sure if its safe ....same ac phase input should be ok...right? I could get my 40+ volts that i want and it wouldn't cost me anything...I have the bridges, not sure about the caps..but even so...big cost savings..
Any commits? good ideal...bad ideal?

[DSL PWR]

As long as you don't go over the max current of 1 xformer, it should work, if you convert to dc before you series them. If you do let the smoke out of somthing, it was a free fireworks show

[High Seas]

If you do let the smoke out of somthing, it was a free fireworks show

THAT'S never Free!
But it counts as Experience!
:cheers: Jim

[DSL PWR]

He said he already has the parts!

[CRFultz]

thanks DSL, I think I'm gonna give the 24v transformers a try...I like free..free is good thing. If it doesn't look right or safe, I 'll go the other route.