[CanSir]

Funny, I thought it had 6" of travel - I must have gotten the specifications mixed up. Sorry about that. 3" of travel does limit it's usefulness. My Fireball V90 only has 3" of Z-travel, but then again it's running a Dremel tool over a cutting area of 12" x 18" so 3" of Z travel typically isn't a problem. I'd want a minimum of 6" travel on a bigger/sturdier machine.

- Dean

[calgrdnr]

If you go to this link http://www.cnconabudget.com/index.html scrool down aways he talks abot 6 inch version so I would talk to him before giving up on it

[GibbonsRock]

Hi Guys!

Alright alright, pipe down about the pre-built Z axiseses.

While you guys were chatting about finely-machined Z-axis, I was working on my CNC machine.

In our last episode, I'd bored holes in the steel rails. Since then I've spent a really stupid amount of time working with the Unistrut bed. I had a hard time getting it square and parallel; it was a string of rookie errors. After rebuilding it twice, I finally found a configuration that worked in the 2x4 format.

Then I attached the aforementioned holy rails to the 80/20 and started the crazy process of getting the 80/20 mounted to the unistrut. The T-nuts that slide in the grooves of the 80/20 have about 1/2 turn of slack in them before they'll all off the screw- so it's tricky to get them to slide into place without dropping one.

After a lot of sweating and swearing, I got the base of the machine assembled with those sweet 80/20 rails ready to rock:

and guess what?

[GibbonsRock]

Here I thought I was DONE with that darn Unistrut bed, but three things happened:

1) I discovered that parts of the gantry hang down farther than the edge of the table- so I have to widen the bed and narrow the wooden table. This was a potential crisis, since I'd already cut all that unistrut.

2) In trying to level the 80/20 rails, I discovered that the angle brackets I bought are slightly taller than they are long. When I doublechecked my construction, exactly half of them were installed inverted.

3) This is the big one: Joe saw the pic and reminded me that a certain amount of clearance had to be factored in at the end of the machine- and I didn't factor in a single millimeter! I assembled it wrong!

That was the last straw. I rebuilt the whole thing with different- better brackets and cut down the table and just barely got everything sized right without having to buy new unistrut! I'll take some pics of the new table tonight.

[GibbonsRock]

One serious thing that is hampering my progress is that I don't seem to have a lot of patience left. As much as I love tinkering and inventing and building things, I've been working on building a CNC machine since last winter, and and it has been a trying experience.

Even with this build, I've found that every time I hit some difficulty, I seem to immediately get ticked off and have to walk away from it until I get back to center again. I've lost track of how much time I've spent getting angry at unistrut!

Well, I'll tell you what, gang: Nothing in this experience has been as much of a kick-in-the-pants as the MDF and HDPE parts that arrived from Joe's factory machine yesterday. They are PERFECT. I fit them together and tapped them into place with a hammer and I'm just stunned. They hold together perfectly, without any screws or glue. With the Joe kit, it's clear that this isn't just a whole different ballgame, this is a whole other LEAGUE.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here's about five kilowords:

[joecnc2006]

Great to hear you worked it out and ready to rock now

Joe

[swaggs21]

Don't get to discouraged, you arent far from getting it running now.....

Believe me, if you knuckle down, it will go together real fast.

[GibbonsRock]

Don't get to discouraged, you arent far from getting it running now.....

Believe me, if you knuckle down, it will go together real fast.

Thanks swaggs21! I actually took a step backwards recently. I was pushing myself too hard, and making too many mistakes. Working harder than smarter.

Since then I've been much more balanced. It'll be done when it's done.

Cheers, Jim

[GibbonsRock]

Hi Guys!

I painted my MDF parts recently, so here's some pics. It was inspired by the lifter/loader operated by Sigourney Weaver's character from the final scene in the movie Aliens. Lot's of moving parts here- keep your fingers out of the way!

Enjoy!

[Don Kellogg]

Bumble Bee...

Hey looks like things are coming along nicely. That's a pretty cool paint job I'm still trying decide what color I will use.

[artwood_decor]

Any progress since your last post?
I'm watching you...
I was looking at Joe's 2006 and maybe I'll build that first in a reduced 4x4 and then reuse as much as I can to the 4x4 hybrid in the future.

Lucian

[khdroj]

thank's

[GibbonsRock]

Hi Gang!

Lucien, my advice: do the hybrid machine instead of the original 2006 model.

Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been building steadily, but neglecting the build log!

After painting the parts, I needed a rubber mallet to get everything back together- The parts Joe made are SO precise, the paint was thick enough to prevent them from going together again without some serious coercion.

I got it together and assembled the gantry. The assembly is tricky, theres a perfect order to do everything in, and once I had everything in place, I realized one of my carriages was backwards. SIGH. This is what it's like to be me.

[GibbonsRock]

The plans call for a table made entirely of Unistrut. I had already built a table out of wood for my other machine, so I simply built the bed of this machine on my wooden table.

I had a rough time getting my bed just right. Unistrut takes a little knack to get used to and the 2x4 configuration didn't translate easily. There's also the tricky job of getting the 80/20 parts installed, and then getting everything square and parallel.

I think this is the hardest part of the build- Once you get the bed of the machine done, the build goes very fast.

Here's a couple pics for you....

[GibbonsRock]

Once the gantry is assembled, the next trick is to get it mounted on the machine. This involves mating up the V groove bearings and getting everything tightened down precisely, but it is do-able by one person.

Once everything was tightened down, the gantry rolls incredibly smooth. At this point you will realize what a strong and reliable machine this will make.

after playing with the gantry, I bolted on the bearing plates for the X axis, and then bolted the Z-carriage to that. It too rolls very smoothly.

[j.guenther]

Nice job Jim, that is some seriously impressive work. I am also looking at building the 4x4 as a 4x2 and have been pondering which axis to shorten, you have now answered the question for me. It is getting close to time for me to order the plans from Joe and start accumulating the material to get started on this project. Unfortunately my shop here is too small to hold anything much bigger than a 1x2 but maybe I can put it in the storage unit or convice the wife that I can keep the dust down to a reasonable level and then have it in the house (Yeah Right, fat chance on that one ever happening).

Any way, nice work.

[GibbonsRock]

Hey John!

Thanks for the nice compliments. I actually think my machine is kind of rednecky because I haven't really....finalized....many of the connections. Like my controller hardware sitting out there in dust land. There are a numnber of things that I think I could probably do better if I put some time and thought into them.

Anyhoo- let me offer some words of wisdom from the perspective of hindsight: If the workshop geometry offers it, make your gantry travel the shortest side. i.e.: It would have been cheaper to have the gantry travel 2' instead of 4'. I did mine the way I did because the machine with weird access: It's easier to load work from the front than the side. I should just raze that shed and build a larger one.

Cheers, Jim

[j.guenther]

Jim,

Thanks, I was thinking about building it that way. I have worked up some ideas for both orientations, I need to purchase the plans and then see what I can come up with.

As for the things you feel could have been done better, given you level of frustration after your previous failed build I can understand that completely. You can always go back and correct or improve things after you get it going. I have done that on many occasions for the same reasons.

[big tex]

First of all I have to say sweeeet job on Joe's 4x4 !!!!! I like colors as well.

I have been watching this log and Joes machine looks solid at DIY price tag.
I noticed people asking on some dimentions for smaller unit, in my case I would like to build mine bigger to be able to cut industrial 4x8 (49"x97").
In my book building small and reusing parts in couple of months due to need for bigger machine just does not make sense.

Joes design is quite interesting, that is why i was following this and other build logs. In my case not all it will work for me due to size. 8' travel calls for rack and pinion..

Once more compliments, I can't wait for test drive video.....

[swaggs21]

Joes design is quite interesting, that is why i was following this and other build logs. In my case not all it will work for me due to size. 8' travel calls for rack and pinion..

There are 4x8 machines that are being built via the Hybrid Design using rack and pinion, so it isn't out of the question or a major modification from the original design