[1Jumper10]

Attachment 332498
Last operation was the perimeter cut out. At first i tried trochoidal milling but didnt like it. So i Re-cam'd it to just a normal cut. I settled on 40ipm feed rate, .015" depth of cut, 1/4" end mill and 12000 rpm. This worked fine until i couldn't clear the chips out fast enough and the end mill clogged up. I only had a 1/4" to go so i took it off and finished the cuts on the table saw

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Ive got to bevel the corners to get rid of the holes that came in it. Tap holes for the Z axis. Plus fit the linear bearing. Should have it on tomorrow.

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Attachment 332510
Corners beveled. 12 tapped holes.

Here's a little tip for anybody who hates to tap holes; get yourself a combination drill/tap. Pilot drill first with an under diameter drill then just run the combo drill/tap into the pilot hole. Before you reverse the drill motor use compressed air to blow the chips out of the hole, then back the tap out. If you don't, the chips can mar the fresh cut threads. This is only a problem when tapping threads in material thicker than what the tap was designed for. In this 3/4 aluminum plate, i counter bored in from the back side about 1/2" so the thread depth is only about 1/4".

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Attachment 332512
First test fit on the gantry. Feels pretty good. A little pre- load but not bad.

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Attachment 332522Attachment 332524

Z axis plate on. Very happy with the fit.
Drive mount installed on the back.

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Z axis attached.

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Cover on the Z.

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Pic follows:

Mechanical parts all finished. Everything went together almost perfectly. One plate to adapt the spindle bracket to the Z axis to do yet. Now its on to cabling.

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[1Jumper10]

Parts are trickling in. Still waiting on the VFD, spindle, spindle clamp and the UC ETH400 motion control board. The UC ETH400 was available on Amazon so i ordered it and a mini computer. The mini computer is going to be onboard the router. The spindle and VFD were ordered from Amazon also but it looks like they're coming from China; projected delivery dates of mid October. But I've already got UPS tracking numbers so I'm hoping they're coming from CA??
The E-chain arrived today. Its surplus Igus chain in real good shape. I made up a bracket to mount it to the X axis. Attachment 332892Attachment 332894Attachment 332896Attachment 332898

Running out of real estate on the X. Its not cramped. Its space efficient.

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With the spindle bracket clamp in hand i started measuring up and designing the plate to mount it on the Z. I downloaded the DXF file of the linear slide from the manufacturers website. With Auto Cad we, my son and I, were able to copy the array of holes from the file onto the plate design. I cut a shoulder in the plate for the spindle bracket to register against. Some quick CAM work and it was ready to cut.

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Attachment 333232

The router drilled the holes, cut the shoulder and cut it out. Attachment 333234Attachment 333238

I used a 12mm end mill to cut the shoulder, a twist drill to drill the holes and a 6mm single flute end mill to cut the part. I kept the chips clear with compressed air and used alcohol for lube.

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I counter bored the holes on the drill press, dressed it up with a file and sandblasted it to make it look better. Attachment 333240

Put some blue painters tape on it to keep it clean then located and drilled the holes to mount the bracket to it. I tapped the holes in the plate. On the bracket, I drilled them a little oversize to allow for tramming.

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Attachment 333248
Z axis. After i tram the spindle i may drill and pin the spindle bracket to the plate just for insurance.


Wish the spindle was here but apparently its on a boat from China.

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[RicknBeachcrest]

That spindle bracket sure looks a lot like the one mentioned in this thread.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...17166-cnc.html

Hope you have better luck with yours.

[1Jumper10]

Wow. Thanks for the heads up. This one is also cast aluminum but i think its a different design than the one that failed. Although its difficult to tell from the pics.

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Got the X and Y drag chains installed today. Spindle is supposed to arrive tomorrow. If all goes well, i might have it moving under its own power by the weekend.

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[Black Forest]

Which actual ClearPath servos did you order?

[1Jumper10]

Which actual ClearPath servos did you order?

CPM-SDSK-3421S-ELN for the X and Y motors. Its their NEMA 34 high torque Enhanced model.

CPM-SDSK-2321S-RQN for the Z axis. Its their NEMA 23 high torque Standard model. The Z axis ball screw is 5mm pitch, ~ 5:1 gear ratio, so I didnt need the extra resolution of the enhanced model on the Z.

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Spindle came today. But i spent the day working on the electronics enclosure.Attachment 333590
I am still waiting for the VFD and a couple other power supply's.

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Started running cables tonight. I had a couple pre-made but tonight I'll be making Molex connections.

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