[jeffg]

Hi Everyone I Got The Cnc Bug About Two Years Ago. After Looking At Web Sites And Ebay For A 1 1/2 YEARS I Realized I Was Not Going To Find A Good Used Or Cheep Cnc So I Bought A Stepperwold Kit And Built One. Dont Laugh At My First Monster I Built It Before I Found The Cnc Zone [had No Idea What I Was Doing] Anyhow I Came Up With This New Idea And I Think Its Going To Be Pretty Good So I Thought I Share It With You Guys. I Will Post More Pics. Along The Way. sorry i didnt have room for pics of 1st machine in this post i will put them in next one.

[jeffg]

Heres Some Pics Of My 1st Monster

[jeffg]

Ok So I Got All The Alu. From 80/20 Garage Sale. I Was Very Happy With It. 6105-t5 Nice Stuff To Work With. I Used Pan Heads Counter Sunk To Bolt The Frame Together. After I Squared It Up I Had To Add A Few Shims To Make It Perfect I Will Post More Pics Tommorow

[jeffg]

Ok Building The Bearing Blocks. The X Pieces I Used Are The Same Inserts You Use For Bolting The Frame Together They Are Threaded On Two Ends You Just Have To Cut One Ear Off {be Carefull!!!}.then When You Start Bolting Tmem Together The Side Play Adjustment Is In The Form Of Shims And Washers Top And Bottem Play Has Slots On Bottem Of Side Plates With 10/32 Socket Heads For Adjustment. Be Carefull Respect The Machine Becouse It Does Not Respect You.

[studysession]

Nice -
Where would you get lead screws that long?

[joecnc2006]

I do not think leadscrews will work well for this project unless you are traveling 20ipm to avoid bad whipping, So that being said I would go for a rack and pinion system or belt drive with a min. of 2:1 reduction if not more.

Joe

[joecnc2006]

the only problem i see so far is the hardened steel rollers will wear on the alumn. pretty quickly and you will need to adjust the rollers a little more than usual if it was an all steal construction.

Also another note: If you add a cross piece along the bottom of the gantry side to side this will help prevent the Alumn. from tilting on the sides.

Please consider these as an opinion only and just as a help sugestion.

Joe

[aspenelm]

looks good, I hope you add a lot of bracing to the framework. Also are the bearings running on the aluminum surface? unfortunately that wont last long, but it looks like you could easily subsitute a piece of 1/4 steel plate and bolt it on to the sides.

I know what it is like to build a monster, my first running router is about 4' square cube in space, yet only cuts 28"x18"x4". Just used materials on hand and that is what resulted.

sorry, didnt see joe's post about the rollers...

[jeffg]

HEY GUYS THANKS FOR LOOKING.I AM TRYING TO WORK OUT THE BRACEING AS I GO. TO ANSWER STUDYSESSION WWW.ROTON.COM HAS ALL ACME AND BALL SCREWS THEY STOCK IN 12 FT LENGTHS WILL CUT TO ORDER AND NUTS GOOD PRICES THEY CAN SHIP UPS GROUND UP TO 9 FT.I WAS THINKING ABOUT A 1"ACME WITH BRONZE NUT FOR X AND 3/4 FOR Y. MY OTHER MACHINE CUT AT A WHOPPING 12 IPM I WILL BE HAPPY IF THE NEW ONE CUTS AT 40-80 IPM THE OTHER ISSUE IS THE ALUMINUM WEARING I THOUGHT ABOUT THAT THIS STUFF FROM 80/20 IS 6015 GRADE T5 TEMPERED WHEN I CUT THE 3/8x6 FLAT STOCK ON MY CHOP BOX I WANTED TO SAND OUT THE BLADE MARKS ON THE BELT SANDER IT TOOK SOME TIME TO CLEAN THE EDGES UP BESIDES I HOPE BY THE TIME I WEAR OUT THE RAILS I FIND A GOOD DEAL ON SOME THK RAILS. HERES A PIC. A LITTLE MORE PROGRESS

[jeffg]

HEY GUYS I AM GOING TO NEED SOME HELP IN THE ELECTRONICS DEPT. I WAS THINKING OF USING KELING DRIVES I AM NOT SURE WHAT STEPPERS ? MAYBE NEMA34 600oz? I BOUGHT A POWER SUPPLY ON EBAY 24v 18amp REGULATED CONTINOUS. WHAT IS THE REGULATED AND UNREGULATED?? HERE IS A PIC OF THE POWER SUPPLY. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK??

[ger21]

Depends on the motors and drives you choose, but you'll probably want a 36V to 48V power supply. Something about 15-20 times the motors voltage rating.

And try not to type with the caps lock on.

[jeffg]

Hi just wanted to post some pics i am done with the build i just have to wire it up!

[Torchhead]

Jeff: [Soft sell follows]. Take a look at the RouterPaks we have. The RouterPak 1 without motors (if you want to keep the steppers you have) will drive that table nicely. I don't know the lead on your screws, but on mine that is similar that uses a 2 start 10 trhead (5 TPI equiv) I get nice smooth 150 IPM rapids and lots of accuracy and torque.

TOM CAUDLE
www.CandCNC.com

[jeffg]

I got it working with some 2.5 amp drives i got on ebay it cuts at 50ipm, i bought one keling k8078 to try and i got the x to jog at 300ipm so i think i need to save up a few more bucks and get two more keling drives.

[joecnc2006]

machine is looking good. what is your z-axis made from?

Be interesting to see how the alumn holds up with the bearings riding on it.

Joe

[jeffg]

the z was a complete axis i bought on ebay is was 25" long i shortened it to 12" and mounted my stepper on it , i made the router mount ,i cut the holes with mach 3 circle cutter on my old machine. and i will let you know how the rails hold up .

[foam27]

I do not mean to insult you, or anyone here sharing my opinion below....

I admire your willingness to build...but I have to comment.......

I see these homebrew rollerblade bearing slide things here all the time....

Look at how much work went into those, the little pieces, the time, etc....all for an inferior slide..... compared to USED industrial strength, linear rail/trucks(THK,HIWIN,IKO, STAR, etc,etc) you could purchase off ebay, or a number of other places..

I just don't understand why so many people here go this rollerblade bearing crap. If you say it's because you can't afford it, I call BS. All those bolts, plate, bearings, add up when purchased from a rip off hardware store, and saving the money to buy these, couldn't take more than a month. The same amount of time to build this.....stuff.

So much of your machine begins with good linear rails, that are slop free in all the non-travel directions.

Just my IMHO..I'm going to go build me a car with a SPOON now.....

[joecnc2006]

I do not mean to insult you, or anyone here sharing my opinion below....

I admire your willingness to build...but I have to comment.......

I see these homebrew rollerblade bearing slide things here all the time....

Look at how much work went into those, the little pieces, the time, etc....all for an inferior slide..... compared to USED industrial strength, linear rail/trucks(THK,HIWIN,IKO, STAR, etc,etc) you could purchase off ebay, or a number of other places..

I just don't understand why so many people here go this rollerblade bearing crap. If you say it's because you can't afford it, I call BS. All those bolts, plate, bearings, add up when purchased from a rip off hardware store, and saving the money to buy these, couldn't take more than a month. The same amount of time to build this.....stuff.

So much of your machine begins with good linear rails, that are slop free in all the non-travel directions.

Just my IMHO..I'm going to go build me a car with a SPOON now.....

WOW, what a comment, some people like the DIY feature of it, Why build a house if you can just buy one????? Because some people like the fun and satisfaction of doing it yourself maybe?

Joe

[Kipper]

Build a car with a spoon! The url is available! Please post details of your build And for a brief on topic comment...... It looks nice and shiny and it appears to knock the snot out of MDF so all's good :thumbsup: Did you enjoy building it? :cheers:

[foam27]

I build my own cnc's too Joe...I would build my own house too but, if I don't know how to pour a stable foundation, I'm not going to build my house on a foundation I poured....

It's just that the Japanese, Germans, whoever.. have perfected the art of linear rails over decades, and if you can have a piece of that, why not, for a reasonable price, if your going to the trouble of building a cnc. It's better and easier.

Heck, even Thomson followed suit in the design...

Joe, I love your designs, creativity, and ingenuity..I think it's amazing what you have done with MDF....and I'm not looking to pick a fight with anyone, i'm just expressing my opinion.

It could be that I just don't get it...but, if I'm going to DIY it, I want to be the best it can be, even if that means using parts I didn't create....do you make your own rollerblade bearings?

Oh and don't get me wrong guys...the stuff I build is probably garbage compared to professionally built stuff......in their eyes.....

Not looking to make waves....just an opinion....peace..:rainfro: