(Moderator - This may not be the appropriate forum for this post; if not, I apologize. I wanted this to get high visibility, and this is an active forum. If it is better suited to some other location, please feel free to move it)
I've got an idea I just can't seem to get out of my head, so I thought I would outline it here to see how it plays.
Basically, I've been frustrated by the lack of DIY-friendly linear motion components to make it easy to assemble a home-precision level CNC machine. Sure, you can haunt Ebay for months and pick up THK slides and such (I built my 24" x 48" router that way), but what happens is that you end up designing your machine around the parts that you can find, rather than designing a machine to your needs and then buying the parts.
Aluminum extrusions like 80/20 are great because they give you lots of mounting options, and I found the cost to be acceptable for the basic framework (I used 1030 - 1" x 3" - for my frame, and it was a little over $.50 an inch, and now you can get seconds on Ebay for even less). But one thing that always bothered me was that there didn't seem to be a general-purpose extrusion that lent itself to the construction of a linear way system. You see modular linear motion systems that include ways, carrier, motor mounts, motors, ball screws and everything that seem like just the thing to base a machine around, until you find they cost anywhere from $15 to $30 an inch.
Given the popularity of sites catering to the home CNC hobby, and particularly the success here at CNCZone, it would seem that there is a burgeoning market for reasonably priced components that could be used to form linear way systems in home machines. Sort of an "Erector Set for CNC"; or more practically an online "CNC Supermarket". What is needed is a kind of consensus for just what kind of parts are needed, and some way to produce them economically.
What I propose is kind of an "open source" extrusion profile design (or several); where the different consumers represented here at CNCZone could hash out the parameters of what would be appropriate for the various configurations that home and light business users would need. These design ideas could be vetted by the experts that frequent these forums, to keep out "rookie mistakes" and to refine the designs into something that could be economically manufactured by the many extruder facilities out there. No one would be allowed to "own" these designs, to patent them or restrict them in any way. However, like the various commercial distributions of Linux, those with the wherewithall and the desire could take it upon themselves to have one or more of these profiles manufactured; with the expectation that there would be at least some kind of willing market. Perhaps the polling facilities here at CNCZone could be used to gauge buying interest, to prod some entrepreneur into taking the leap into having a run made and then offering them in the kind of lengths that would be friendly to the DIY group.
When I first thought of this, I was anticipating tooling costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, and minimum first-run quantities of thousands of feet. But that wasn't enough to kill the idea - I thought if the right design could be created, the costs might just work out. I was pleasantly surprised to find, on further research, that extruding startup costs are far less than I thought. It seems that uncomplicated dies in small circle sizes (less than 6") can be cut for around $1000 or so, and even more complex profiles like hollow shapes will still fall probably under $3K. It looks like a minimum run is something like 500 pounds, which would probably equate to around 500 - 1000 lineal feet, and I'm assuming the recurring costs would be primarily driven by the cost of aluminum; maybe $2.00 - $3.00 a pound. So for a shape that worked out to about 1 lb/ft, you might have a final cost of perhaps between $3 - 10$ per lineal foot for an extrusion that exactly fits your application. I'd pay that kind of money for an extrusion that met my needs. In fact, I might even spring for the first manufacturing run and see if I could make a few bucks.
So, tell me what you think. Here are a few ideas I have for custom extrusions that I would like to see:
- An extrusion in the form of a Nema-23 and Nema-34 motor, with mounting holes sized ready for tapping or to drill out for a through fastener. A 2" length of one of these would make a dandy motor mount. You could hog out one side to allow access to a shaft coupler or bearing.
- An upside-down T-section standoff profile for mounting the shaft for the open-type linear bearings (priced those lately? $$$)
- A linear way profile that would mate with a complementary carriage extrusion, to build a sliding system that enclosed the lead or ball screw and could be available in exactly the length your machine requires.
- Maybe even a carriage profile with T-slots to hold skate bearings at the appropriate angle for the gas pipe guys.
I'm sure you all have ideas as well. I'd really be interested in a discussion on this. Maybe I have the economics all wrong, but undoubtedly there is someone out there who knows and can set me straight.
Thanks,
Dave