[Maglin]

Looks good. On your Y motor mount is their clearance for the table when it comes forward? By the pic it doesn't look like it will let it come forward. Or is the spacer long enough?

That Z mount is sexy. I can't remember did you bore out your head plate for that?

[Ekkekke]

Looks good. On your Y motor mount is their clearance for the table when it comes forward? By the pic it doesn't look like it will let it come forward. Or is the spacer long enough?

That Z mount is sexy. I can't remember did you bore out your head plate for that?

Thanks.. There were a better pic before.. It should fit quite nicely.

I can't even test it anymore because I didn't cut bigger hole to the stand yet, so y nut mount hits it and takes away considerable amount of travel. But it's a little incentive for me so I will tear it down in the summer and fix/finish few things that I won't do now.

Z slide is taking shape, but it's not fully ready yet. Maybe tomorrow. My friends BF20 is working again:

[Ekkekke]

This is the hole I was taking about.. There are some taping, but I don't want to do it now.


Since my y mount is "square" and the hole is rounded, it eats even more travel than stock.. 60mm at least, maybe more.

[Maglin]

Wouldn't you need to extend the head to get any benifit from the added Y travel from removing that metal for travel? Just asking.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[Ekkekke]

No, I can't reach back side of my table without removing that metal. Not 100% sure though, and I can't test/confirm it yet.. Maybe tomorrow?

Have to go to play this madness again:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJhVPnVm9ws"]YouTube - Underwater Rugby filmed with HEAD MOUNTED camera[/nomedia] :drowning:

[Ekkekke]

Started to make some progress with my belt drive at last. Ordered rest of the parts and we did some machining. My friends lathe at work:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHe4pjZG7fM"]YouTube - Some turning[/nomedia]


This is also made from that 115x115x800mm 7075T6 like all of my aluminium parts. Original plan was to saw triangle blocks from the corners, so it would be nicer to turn, but it was too big for the first saw and second could cut only about 50mm as seen on this pic:


Anyway.. the end result:


Next I have to grind a proper tool for V-grooves. Stock isn't HSS, so it will be a time-consuming process, luckily I have a proper diamond file / grinding stone.

[bill south]

Hey Ek;
That is some sexy Z mount. Do you by chance have drawings. I"m getting ready to re-engineer my 45 and I'd like to prep all the parts before tearing it down. That z-mount is something I would love to use.
BTW - Good Job!
Beware------CNC IS AN ADDICTION!

[Ekkekke]

Hey Ek;
That is some sexy Z mount. Do you by chance have drawings. I"m getting ready to re-engineer my 45 and I'd like to prep all the parts before tearing it down. That z-mount is something I would love to use.
BTW - Good Job!
Beware------CNC IS AN ADDICTION!

Thanks! And I know it will be nice to have this kind of machine.. When I was machining some parts with that VMC, I was like "damn, I want one of these" and then "wait, I'm building one.."

I think my Z slide is little different than what I have seen any of these other builds, so I'm not sure how usable my drawings would be. And since this is pretty simple part and dimensions depends mainly your slide (and ballscrew mount) I don't think there isn't any useful info in my sketches. Here's my slide after some machining:


And it's not so clever design either, I think I would have been better to machine that "pin" that go through the slide to that aluminium piece. But I didn't think this through before I started to machine that nut mount and it came out this way, should still be better than that original "plan". Thanks Pete (from TN) for pointing me to the right direction. His new Z mount can be found from here:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/899005-post274.html

Here's some more pictures of mine, I installed it a moment ago, and there was a little problem, I can't slide it if that steel piece is in place, here it isn't flush:



Still got it installed after some struggle with too tight fitting, from the front:


I flipped the nut mount so nut mounting bolts are screwed from the bottom now, opposite to what was shown before. Should be better for the bolts this way and the head won't drop even if all the 6 bolts will break?

Also the fitting still fitted, so I should be able to route my oil line to the nut from there like originally planned.

[Ekkekke]

Wouldn't you need to extend the head to get any benifit from the added Y travel from removing that metal for travel? Just asking.

Couldn't found my head bolts, but did some measuring..

This is where I can "reach" with my spindle center with current hole in the stand. Green cap is presenting the center. (+-10mm?)


There is still 75mm travel before saddle & table will hit Y servo mount.. After I cut the hole so I can use it all, the spindle position will be (a little more to the right, run out of support, it didn't want to float in mid air):



Am I missing something here?

[Ekkekke]

Battled with the x axis a bit, but lost the fight.. I think all of the bolts were too long and I got tired.

Still starting to look like a mill again..

[Maglin]

So you do need to do something to get more Usable Y travel. It's coming together and looking good in the process.

[Ekkekke]

X kinda mounted with belt..


It now fits:


Those wires aren't so nice to route as they leave the motor in a stupid angle, but luckily they are quite flexible..

[rwskinner]

I like how it has a low stick out on the motor but I have a question....

How do you plan on keeping coolant and chips out of there with the space around the motor?

If you make a larger plate to mount the motor to instead of spacers, would that help seal around the motor?

[Ekkekke]

I will make covers for them so hopefully coolant won't be a problem..

[LeeWay]

Coolant is always a problem that must be overcome. Covering the motors will be a balancing act. You don't want a complete cover due to heat, but you can get splash and moisture from evaporation if the bottom of the motor cover is open like mine are.
Just make sure the connections are sealed. That is likely the best you can shoot for.

[Ekkekke]

Yep, bottom will be open and I think those connections should be now sealed as I added some "silicone" to them. Time will tell..

[Ekkekke]

I'm starting to hate these out-of-specs tolerances/fittings.. Had to ground the z axis ball screw also, and now it seems that pulley won't fit.. Damn!

[Maglin]

Due you have a lathe? If not I can see your frustration. It's starting to come along. How long has it been now?

[Ekkekke]

No, I don't. My friend has one, but it's ~50km drive and isn't always available. Maybe 5-6 weeks now? Hopefully I can get all the parts for the power supply this week, and some cables so I could test those servos..

Encoders for spindle & its motor is my main concern now, those doesn't seems to move forward at all.. Any ideas what I could use for ~28mm shaft?

[Maglin]

Why not make one using an optical sensor. You could machine a flat on the bottom pulley with holes every 1-2*. I think it would be best to have it on the motor for better resolution but then you would have to definitely have your pulley ratio down accurately. On the spindle mounted one you can just mount the sensor on the head between the spindle and the motor. Then just mount a cheap 3 wire optical sensor up and of course set up the computer for it. I'm actually thinking of using a dual sensor and have a single spindle position mark. So I would know degree of spindle and one spot would be 0* for indexing. Could use it along with an ATC for complete repeatability of tool changes being the tooling will always be in the same orientation in the spindle.