OK, enough talking about it, here is the log of my machine. Firstly why am I building a router ? Well, the original answer was to make timber fishing lures, I have been looking at making lures for some time, nothing like catching a fish on something you have made. Checked out plastic moulding - didn't like the idea of playing with all those chemicals. Decided on timber, looked at carving one at a time, then thought about what happens to lures, they get bitten by large fish with very sharp teeth, I needed a steady supply - hence the CNC router.
I live in a very wet part of the world, unfortunately this means that a JGRO style machine is out of the question, the humidity hovers around the 90% mark for a lot of the year, wont do much for the MDF. Decided to use steel as a frame, with ideas from the JGRO design incorporated - skate bearings, bolt on rail holders with bolts to adjust rails.
Now I must point out that machining isn't my trade, I am an electrician/data tech, so please allow for that when you take a look at the pictures.
My main thought process is to make a fairly rigid base, use acme thread initially, then if/when it gets going, look at upgrading the screws later on. Remember that I am only looking at making lures, from what I have read, this setup will do fine for that. Later on I will probably get inspired to make other stuff with the machine. I also want to keep the framework as simple as possible, uncluttered but strong.
I made the base out of 100mm by 50mm C shaped Channel, cut to length then welded together to form a rectangle. Gangtry is fixed, to help with rigidity. At the moment thats as far as I have gotten, I am using 40mm solid bright steel bar as x axis rails, 30mm for y axis, and not too sure about z yet. I intend to support the x-rails in the middle point, thinking of a triangular shaped bracket bolted onto the channel and onto the rail itself somehow to provide support, can I drill and tap the bar without weakening it too much? Thought about an 8mm hole drilled/tapped into the bar to fix to the supporting bracket, probably only half the depth of the bar. Any comments on this would be appreciated.
I am putting the skates on the inside pushing out btw.
Now for some pics...
:cheers:
Russell.