[Thinwater]

I checked out your web site very impressive I like that replacement for the 10/22 the rail is outstanding...


Lou

Thank you. I made a few rifles built on these receivers for myself also. They are great. I milled a channel down the center of therail on one that I used a factory barrel so I could still use the sights.

I had a bar of magneisium so I ran two receivers in it the last time we made them. I will do some brass ones as soon as I come up with a chunk big enough.

The Mg receivers have to get a special coating and be cerro coated before being used so the steel to Mg contact does not pit the Mg.


This was my latest project (Picture below). Tooling up a horizontal mill is no joke. We are ordering a second horizontal now to replace a Haas VF 4.

[LouF]

Nice project looks heavy duty..

Lou

[Nilesh]

Hello sir,
excelelnt design,
can you please advice with acme threaded rod how you design antibacklash NUT ??
i am at canada, all prices are outragious if you ask littlebit something extra
i am also making some plan to build 60 in X 36 in size router
but i am thinking for 3/4 acme or 1 in acme for aluminium cutting !!!!

my main question is what would be best desing of anti backlash nut ???

you did such an excellent job....

help appriciated...thanks in advance

[Thinwater]

Hello sir,
excelelnt design,
can you please advice with acme threaded rod how you design antibacklash NUT ??
i am at canada, all prices are outragious if you ask littlebit something extra
i am also making some plan to build 60 in X 36 in size router
but i am thinking for 3/4 acme or 1 in acme for aluminium cutting !!!!

my main question is what would be best desing of anti backlash nut ???

you did such an excellent job....

help appriciated...thanks in advance

I used an aluminum block with a hole bored out in it for the actual nut. I made the nut out of UHMW plastic by turning to press fit into the aluminum block tight, and using two set screws to make sure it does not spin. I threaded it with a ACME thread tap. The plastic UHMW is tough and holds the screw tight. From where I am now with backlash I think I can comp it out with the software. I will be engraving text with it so backlash will be bad.

[Nilesh]

hello sir,
thanks for share an idea,

i review few design of anti backlash.. one is closer what you discribe here.
i will go with aluminum block bore with fine thread inside , both side with brass nut with acme thread so i can adjust backlash,

verysoon i will post picture for reference and advice

thanks again for share your design...help appriciated

[Thinwater]

I made the screw for the Z axis today and made a new one for the Y that stuck out long enough to use the Lovejoy couplers. I did not want to use the dirrect hard couplers that I made because any misalignment would burn up the motor bearings.

Now I just need to make the drive block and nut for the Z and mount the z to the X. Then I will need to get the elctronics for it.

[Nilesh]

hello sir,
what type of thread you made ??
you bought regular V threaded rod and machine both ends as needed ??
or you find machine screw(square thread ) ??
how many starts (lead ) and Pitch ??

just curious to know, i am thinking on square thread / machine screw...

thanks in advance

[Thinwater]

hello sir,
what type of thread you made ??
you bought regular V threaded rod and machine both ends as needed ??
or you find machine screw(square thread ) ??
how many starts (lead ) and Pitch ??

just curious to know, i am thinking on square thread / machine screw...

thanks in advance

I used acme threaded rod, precision rolled. Here is the z axis screw. I machined each end down for the bearing and the top has a smaller section machined down to fit the Lovejoy motor coupler.

The screw is captivated by the bearing on top and bottom of the assembly. I trimmed it a few thou at a time until I could fit the top and bottom block over the screw. It has about .001" preload on the screw. This makes for no end play at all. It makes it slightly tigher when turning the screw but that is OK. I used UHMW for the nut, threaded with a 1 in 10 ACME RH tap.

See pictures for details of the drive block with UHMW nut pressed in to it. Also see how the ball bearing limits the travel of the screw so there is no play in it.

[Thinwater]

These are the four bearing blocks on their shafts and the drive block I made. I made the nut for this one out of brass. I dont like it as much as the uhmw plastic because it has more backlash. The rest of the x axis mounts to these brearing blocks and the drive nut. I made the x axis plate out of one big chunk of aluminum. It is way overkill but it wont wear out.

[Thinwater]

I used two monster size 1/2" x 13 x 1" bolts to attach the z axis to the x axis. I messed up when I drilled the holes and lost 1/2" of z clearance. I may move it up one day if it is an issue.

The thing as is weighs 48 lbs. I just need to decide on a spindle to make the mount for and get the electronics. It is pretty much done now.

[LouF]

Looks great some very nice work..


Lou

[Nilesh]

hi,

very impressed by your design...you did such an excellent job ....again thanks for sharing ideas....

AS you are using ACME thread...not ball screw/nut means energy required more than ball screw...so you must choose some heavy duty steeper motor / driver kit
if you don't mine can you please suggest what type/size of stepper motor / driver /breakout board you use it?? where did you get from ???

here in canada i don't know but what you ask any DIY related parts ..first to "find " is pain in butt...than price...rip off the butt !!!!
more over you get same Chinese crappy quality...so why don't buy directly from china over e-bay ??? ..that logic i am using now...

thanks in advance help appreciated

[Thinwater]

hi,

very impressed by your design...you did such an excellent job ....again thanks for sharing ideas....

AS you are using ACME thread...not ball screw/nut means energy required more than ball screw...so you must choose some heavy duty steeper motor / driver kit
if you don't mine can you please suggest what type/size of stepper motor / driver /breakout board you use it?? where did you get from ???

here in canada i don't know but what you ask any DIY related parts ..first to "find " is pain in butt...than price...rip off the butt !!!!
more over you get same Chinese crappy quality...so why don't buy directly from china over e-bay ??? ..that logic i am using now...

thanks in advance help appreciated

I did not get the steppers or control stuff yet. I threw together a quick spindle mount today. I decided to use this Rotozip trim router as the spindle for now. I already had it on hand and only used it for about ten seconds when I first bought it a few years ago.

The spindle mount is 1" thick aluminum, bored out on my Bridgeport with a homemade boring bar to fit the router nose area where its facory mount was.

I bolted it to a 1/2" aluminum plate then drilled 4 holes in the plate that matched the hole location for the bearing blocks. I used long bolts to bolt the entire thing together. Since it is bolted right to the sliding blocks, it shold have the most support that it can.

I did a few test engravings by turning the screws by hand. I am going to replace the brass x axis nut with a uhmw plastic one. They worked much better than the brass (Much less backlash).

[Thinwater]

I took the table off the machine today and drilled a 1" x 1" grid of holes in it and tapped them all 1/4" x 20 tpi. This will allow me to bolt a clamp anywhere that one is needed. I am going to make up a bunch of cam clamps and rocker types the next time I have some cnc machine time available. I did the holes old school style with my Bridgeport using the hand wheel numbers. I tapped the holes fast by putting the tap in a slow spinning gear head drill and used the drill to turn the tap. It still took to long comparred to the cnc machines but it beats twisting the tap handle by hand. I used Dextron IV transmission fluid as cutting oil. It works very well for tapping aluminum and keeps the tap from gumming up. The plate for the table is not 6061, it is much harder and the chips dont string. They pile up in small pieces like a mic 6 cast plate.

I am running out of things I can make for or do to the machine until I get the electronics.

[RTP_Burnsville]

Hi,

Very nice job! What are you planning for electronics, drives, etc? Do you have any idea what sort of speeds you will be able to achieve?

Robert

[bill south]

Tim!
Nice job on the router!!! I was kind of surprised to find you doing a build with all of the nice toys you have at work!! Then after reading the thread I realized that all of your machines are busy making a living! Must be rough to have all of those VMC's and still have to tool up the bridgeport to do your fun stuff! Not taking away from the BP though. I have one that I rebuilt years ago and purchased all of the stuff to cnc it but decided not to do so! I already have a lathemaster bench top converted and to be honest, I kind of enjoy turning the cranks on the old iron!
Have you decided what your first project is going to be on the new machine! I'd almost bet it's not going to be an AR receiver (lol).
Good to see you here.
Bill

[Thinwater]

Hi,

Very nice job! What are you planning for electronics, drives, etc? Do you have any idea what sort of speeds you will be able to achieve?

Robert

Probably around 300 oz/in steppers and Geco drives. I dont think I will get over 60 ipm due to the 1/10 acme screws. I will use ball screws on my next build.

[Thinwater]

Tim!
Nice job on the router!!! I was kind of surprised to find you doing a build with all of the nice toys you have at work!! Then after reading the thread I realized that all of your machines are busy making a living! Must be rough to have all of those VMC's and still have to tool up the bridgeport to do your fun stuff! Not taking away from the BP though. I have one that I rebuilt years ago and purchased all of the stuff to cnc it but decided not to do so! I already have a lathemaster bench top converted and to be honest, I kind of enjoy turning the cranks on the old iron!
Have you decided what your first project is going to be on the new machine! I'd almost bet it's not going to be an AR receiver (lol).
Good to see you here.
Bill

I considered doing a full receiver from billet or finishing an 80% receiver. I plan to mostly do engraving with it. Our jig side plates are a good candidate.

I dont post much on the gun forums anymore since we went into being oem supplier instead of developing custom guns and builds. We are working on getting another horizontal mill (Toyoda) and selling one of our VF4 Haas to make room for it. I hate to sell the Haas, it is in perfect shape and I could make routers on it but I dont think there is enough market for homemade router stuff to pay for it all. We make a huge number of parts now and run well past midnight each night. My first shift comes in at 0400 hrs.

Here is a picture of the Widget Master midi router I was building when I decided that it was to light weight and beefed it up, a lot into what you see in the last few pictures. The little 1/2" rails are not supported, the x rails are only 3/8" and the gantry sides are 3/8" plate. I used 1/2" plate, 15mm linear rails and thk bearing blocks. The Widget may weigh 15 lbs when it is all done, my big one will weigh nearly 60 when the steppers are on it.

I have a rotary design for my machine also and I think I will make it later this week or next.

I think I will go ahead and finish the Widget master machine it since I have the metal I bought for it and paid for the plans.

[Thinwater]

I added thrust bearings to each screw in the machine. This supports each screw and keeps loads off the skate bearings in the frame. It is much smoother now. You can turn any screw with one finger. Back lash is now down to .004-.005" on the x and Y. The z has none since the weight of the assembly always pushes down taking up and backlash.

[keesijp54]

Hi All

Do you have the plans for this cnc machine, or a link where it is.

It looks very good.


regards

kees