[roy_okc]

Louie,

Nice looking build. I'll definitely be watching your progress. What's your expected capacity?

Interesting use of your large machine (gaskets/spacers). Googling "garolite" has your Youtube video cutting it on the first page.

After a year off/on with mine, I can see how a smallish one could be handy for a lot of uses. If my middie ever gets busy, I'd probably build a small one of similar size.

Roy

[louieatienza]

Louie,

Nice looking build. I'll definitely be watching your progress. What's your expected capacity?

Interesting use of your large machine (gaskets/spacers). Googling "garolite" has your Youtube video cutting it on the first page.

After a year off/on with mine, I can see how a smallish one could be handy for a lot of uses. If my middie ever gets busy, I'd probably build a small one of similar size.

Roy

Thanks Roy. The Garolite (and most phenolics) can be tough to cut, and I use special tooling to lessen the cutting force and noise. Even then, the sound and smell are rough (even with dust collection) and I keep the basement closed and wait an hour or two for any excess dust to settle before handling the stuff, and even then with a mask or respirator. The resins can be a carcinogen, and there is always an issue with fiberglass dust so I take extra care. Which is another reason for the smaller machine. I can have it in the corner of my office, away from the dungeon as well.

As for work envelope, It's about 14.5 x 8-9 x 4.5-5.5, I don't plan to cut anything over 1-1/2" but I plan to mount a mill vise or drill press vise when needed. While these steppers have some pretty impressive specs, I don't know how they'll preform with the G540 and SmoothStepper. Apparantly these steppers can work with pretty large supply voltage and have a very high max operating temperature, though I don't plan on pushing it that far.

[jasoneule]

is that 1 inch phenolic? Do you source that locally or online? If you to not mind, what is the cost if that phenolic. I think you are on to something with that. Its an excellent material.

[louieatienza]

Jason,

Both. I have a local distributor that sells Arborite (paper based) for about $580 for 1" x 4 x 8. You can buy remnants on eBay for a good price.

On this machine, I used 7/8" Tufnol CE which is a canvas-based phenolic. This would be the third machine I made using phenolic. The extra mass and stiffness seemed to really help. On this machine I've made a point to isolate metal components with the stuff in the design to help minimize the transfer of vibrations. I'm actually surprised that I have not seen any other builds using it, though many commercial CNC routers and machining centers have it as an option for the table surface. But it does surprise me that with all the interest in epoxy granite, carbon fiber (which is also a type of phenolic), and such, that I havevn't seen more people using this stuff. It's a lot cheaper than aluminum, and can be as strong. The paper and cloth based stuff can be cut relatively easily with regular carbide bits. It can also be tapped for bolts that require little removal. You can even use sheetrock screws by making a slightly smaller pilot. Comes in mny colors, wood grains, and patterns if you desire as well (the paper based stuff of course)!

Them stuff nowadays is used widely for bathroom partitions, as it has some moisture resistance, and is very strong. The cloth based is used for everything, including gears, since it has a little "give" the gears can be made to mesh tigher against itself or metal gears.

The Garolite G10/FR4 grade is fire resistant and fiberglass-based, which I cut the car parts out of. They even have a graphite impregnated grade for making bearings and bushings. The earliest Fender Broadcaster and Telecaster guitars used Bakelite for the pickguards and such, which is really a paper-based phenolic.