[mykrowyre]

Hi guys, I am probably going to order the finelineautomation 2x3 kit based on the plan discussion here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...=73670&page=22

I will be shaping (foam) wakeboard cores. They are 4' long but symmetrical.

I am thinking of using small index pins to line up the work, so that I can simply do 2' (half) of the shape, and then flip the material around 180 degrees and do the other 2' using the exact same routine.

Of course I'd rather extend the machine by 1' if possible.

I am not sure if this could be done without major redesign to prevent racking due to the single lead screw design? I emailed Nate but haven't seen him around lately.



Thanks
Tom

[jalessi]

Tom,

I believe Fine Line sells a 4X4 kit, model FLA-300

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...?postid=824901

Jeff...

[mykrowyre]

Tom,

I believe Fine Line sells a 4X4 kit, model FLA-300

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...?postid=824901

Jeff...

Hi Jeff, 4x4 is bigger than what I need and will not fit in my shop. Maybe I can get a mix and match of the two from Nate and get a 2x4?

[jalessi]

Tom,

I don't see why not, they seem to be very accommodating to CNC Zone customers.

Jeff...

[Dorsal]

Nate made up a 3X3 kit for Crashman (Crash at TheCrashCast). I'll bet he can easily make up a 4 X 2 if you need it.
Have you looked into Joe's 4X4 Hybrid? http://joescnc.com/index.php
There are a couple discussion threads about it, here, but I think you can find them. That's what I'm building.

[ahren]

Fine Line actually has plans for a 2' x 4' system although they aren't up on his site. It's beefier than the 2' x 3' (built on more 3030 extrusion than 1530), and utilizes a dual Rack and Pinion drive system on the 4' axis -- it's a nice design. Nate doesn't check cnczone that often, but I'll alert him to this thread.

Ahren
www.cncrouterparts.com

[mykrowyre]

Thinking about it further, most of the boards will just be an inch or two past 48". If the 2x4 kit will give me that much travel, it would work. Otherwise I'll have to flip the work anyway, so I could just go with the 2x3.

[mykrowyre]

I still haven't heard from fineline. Anyone know where I can find the 2x4 plans?

Thanks
Tom

[mykrowyre]

I did get a reply from fineline, and have been emailed the 2x4 plans. The design looks great!

[brtech]

I have a 4 x 4. See my build thread at http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112073. Note the cautions at the top, but a couple of people have the 2 x 4 (FLA-200) so you may be able to avoid a lot of the issues I had.

It's a great kit, and really is just screwed together. Mine has an inch or two more than 48" of usable area on both axis.

[mykrowyre]

I have a 4 x 4. See my build thread at http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112073. Note the cautions at the top, but a couple of people have the 2 x 4 (FLA-200) so you may be able to avoid a lot of the issues I had.

It's a great kit, and really is just screwed together. Mine has an inch or two more than 48" of usable area on both axis.

Great thanks for the info. An inch or two over 48" would be perfect.

I did notice one small error in the BOM for the FYA200... looked like the part numbers for the MSC thrust washers and needle bearings are one line off from the part name, leaving one part number missing (I believe the missing part # is for a collar).

[sebring115]

Hi Would you be able to email me plans too for the FLA200.

I look forward to them.

Mark

[mykrowyre]

Well, it's been a week and I am still waiting to be able to order the kit. I just can't seem to get a response from Nate other than one email.

Has anyone tried to order items through his website (not a complete kit)? Was the turnaround time reasonable?

I've priced everything out and am considering just ordering everything myself.

Trying to decide if I want to drill the rails and racks myself or order them from nate.

[mykrowyre]

Gave up on waiting, I decided to order the parts myself. Took a long time to get an order together because the plans are not complete yet (mostly just some typos, or drawings from a different set of plans), and there were some slight differences in the racks available, etc. Fortunately www.cncrouterparts.com had everything I needed to resolve that issue, most importantly the rack clamps. Turns out I do not need to drill the racks, only the rails, which is simple. Will also need to do some drilling and tapping of the 80/20 which is also easy. I ordered the 80/20 pre-cut to length from www.flomoco.com.

Ordered everything required from cncrouterparts.com, msc, onlinemetals, and mcmaster carr. Price was exactly the same as the kit price.

Tom

[mykrowyre]

Started my build over the weekend. Everything I need arrived. All of the 80/20 pre-cut to length, rail material pre-cut, all of the steppers and driver, racks, etc from cncrouterparts.com, and a box of bolts from msc. I have to admit when the boxes arrived from cncrouterparts.com I cringed thinking that I had about $900 worth of stuff in those boxes! The mail guys must have kicked it down the driveway! Fortunately it was VERY well packed, and everything arrive unharmed.

I managed to get the Z axis completed, and the table work area, and one side of the table frame completed. Need to finish the other side of the table frame, and then mount the rails so I can start on the gantry.

[brtech]

Good start.

You might read my thread (referenced in this thread) where there is some information that may be of use to you. One is that Ahren at cncrouterparts has posted an alignment process for the rails. The other is that there should not be a high collar lock washer between the R&P plate and the carriage, which is what the plans show. Instead you use the shim included with the R&P kit. This reduces the number of high collar lock washers to 1 per R&P drive.

[mykrowyre]

Thanks for the info. I have actually been reading that thread closely and saw that mentioned. One problem I had was that the BOM list for the plans I have shows the shorter trucks being used on the Y axis, but the drawings showed the longer extended carriage trucks. I decided I had the wrong trucks and sent them back for the longer ones, and then did the math and realized the shorter ones would have been correct to achieve 24" in the Y axis. But then your gantry has the extended ones on the Y axis. Anyway, end result is I spent more money and lost 4" of Y axis travel. I probably won't need that 4" so it's not a big deal, and the extra rigidity of the longer trucks may be beneficial, so I am not going to sweat it. In the end either would be fine, better to error on the larger set.

Since I decided to piece everything together myself, most of my time has been spent drilling and tapping holes. I think I probably spent a whole day on the Z axis, and tapping all of the 80/20. This week if I can find some time, I am hoping to get my X axis rails drilled and installed and finish assembling the table so I can move on to the gantry.

[brtech]

Yeah, I think they use the regular ones on screw drives less than 3 feet, and use the extended ones on R&P and over 3 feet. My 4 x 4 has 6 extended and 2 regular carriages.

When you drill the X and Y rails, remember that the distance across the short axis is pretty critical, but the distance along the long axis isn't. The predrilled rails are drilled pretty tight on the hole size - there is very little slop. You want the rails to be very parallel to each other (on X), and level on Y. It's CRS - drill press territory. Might be worth making a jig.

[mykrowyre]

For the drilling pf the X and Y rails, I'll use a jig with the drill press, and also drill the holes 3/8" instead of 5/16" as suggested by Ahren @ cncrouterparts. This will give me a bit of extra play to get the rails adjusted correctly.

[mykrowyre]

Drilled the rails today and assembled the frame. Started with a cheap harbor freight drill press that I borrowed from I friend. I quickly discovered it had about 1/8" of runout, and would stall before making it 1/4 way through the rail even with a new bit! No good for drilling anything but wood. Ended up pulling out the old black and decker hand drill from 1990, which chewed through the steel with ease. Drilling these with a hand drill was tiring (and my hand drill required cool down time), but in the end it was just a couple of hours of effort. Really the biggest issue was constant interruption by a locust who thought the sound of my drill cutting steel was actually another locust chirping love calls. The locust would disappear when I took a break, but as soon as I started drilling again, would return to land on my head, my leg, my shoulder, the drill, or sometimes TRY to land on the drill bit itself! This went on for 2 solid hours until I finally stopped drilling and he headed off seeking a better companion.