[dlpaul]

Hello

I've finished designing my first cnc router and would appreciate any comments or tips before I get any farther in the design, as I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement. The machine itself is 80/20, mostly 1530 with 1545 on the Y axis. I've listed my own concerns below.

Concern 1: The X axis has one long carriage per side from cncrouterparts. Should I consider adding a second set to the inside of the rail?

Concern 2: The table is 44.25''X13''X.5'' 6061 T6 aluminum. Should there be an 80/20 support frame as well?

Thanks
Paul

[Reed92]

I think a single carriage should do fine.

You might want to consider moving the gantry forward and mounting the y axis on top of the supports toward the back. Right now, there is a lot of weight toward the front of the gantry, which is bad for your bearings and such.

[DonFrambach]

I think your machine is prone to racking along the gantry axis. I would suggest that you beef up the supports behind your gantry. I just built a small fixed axis router and commited a large portion of my 8020 material to the gantry. (and used 1/2" and 3/8" aluminum reinforcing plates

[DonFrambach]

Here's another shot of the back showing a 3/8" aluminum reinforceing plate on the bottom of the back of the router.

[DonFrambach]

I would also consider using dual (slaved) steppers to drive your bottom table because the table as you have it drawn is likely to twist around the Z axis as you cut at the far left and right sides of the table.

[jsheerin]

Yes, I would support your table. It depends on what you're going to cut, but unless you only plan to do foam or something similarly easy to cut, I would support it more.

[p38nut]

I think a single carriage should do fine.

You might want to consider moving the gantry forward and mounting the y axis on top of the supports toward the back. Right now, there is a lot of weight toward the front of the gantry, which is bad for your bearings and such.

I agree whole heartedly. I have a rail on both the top and on the front for this very same reason. My X axis is over 60" of 3030. Thanks. Mike

[dlpaul]

The comments have been extremely helpful, sorry for the long delay between posts. I didn't realize that building a fixed gantry machine with a cutting area 44'' long would be quite so difficult, which is why all the comments are so appreciated.

Thanks for the suggestions donframbach, I never thought about the table racking due to cutting on the ends. I'm going to redesign and make the machine a moving gantry, for which I'll post pictures under the same thread (though I will rename the thread).

Paul