[nateman_doo]

There was a thread here I was looking at a while ago. Someone built a table from scratch with Aluminum plate, linear rails and ball screws. I was hoping someone would remember it? I was unable to locate it.

I am looking to do the same myself. I am debating on whether or not to buy the rails, and ballscrews from linearmotionbearings2008, but I am not sure about the quality of those linear "ball" type rails if they are even called that, vs the flat rectangular type.

I have to enlist a local machine shop to drill the holes to ensure they are 90° with each other, and to surface the aluminum, but other then that I can certainly build it.

Any recommendations of aluminum thickness? I was thinking nothing less then 1" thick. I was shooting for overall travel of 24x24. The double ball nuts will take some of that away I am sure, so the overall travel will be close to 20x20. Not a bad project to undertake.

[1Adam12]

cant post

[nateman_doo]

you can post just fine. I have problems posting from my mobile device on occasion.

[cyclestart]

For a mill ? Forget about those supported round rails from linearmotionbearings. If you want to go the ebay route for rails there's some advice on the pricey THK stuff in this link:
5 Bears - Ebay is a MUST...
If buying used remember these are bearings and buying used bearings is hit-and-miss.

Aluminum wouldn't be my first choice but I'll let others weigh in on the plus/minuses of that material.

Hope someone remembers the thread you're looking for, doesn't ring a bell here.

[nateman_doo]

I would agree, a cast iron would make a better table for weight/density/rigidity etc, but Aluminum is all I can afford, especially if I have to by good slide rails.

[cyclestart]

There was a thread here I was looking at a while ago.

........ so the overall travel will be close to 20x20.

Hmmm....looks like no one else remembers that thread either

That's a lot of travel, way more than an IH clone on the y axis. It might be easiest to go with a bridge mill design. And yes, it does look a lot like a router
Like this:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/741968-post146.html

I question the use of round rail as see in the link above, depends on what you want to cut and how aggressively you want to cut it. My router uses supported round rail but it's used mostly for wood.

[nateman_doo]

I already committed to NSK rails. I can't believe how sturdy the look and feel when you have them in your hands. Pictures just cannot do them justice!

[Maglin]

How long are your rails? I would think that since you are using Linear rails a 1.5" thick 2024 or 7075 table would be ok. The rails are going to be the weak point. I've had it in my head as well about linear rails and was thinking that having 35" rails on both would be a minimum, but this is just me thinking. You going to use an EG base, or steel? Just wondering.