[Qdoggus]

I recently became the owner of a 3040T and am looking to upgrade it for small milling projects. The first thing I can see which would lead into the second, is the need for ballscrews over the 1204 T12 leadscrews. Would I need to take them out and measure them as a good place to start looking? I understand from my limited hands on (very new to CNC) that if I am able to source the ballscrew and backlash parts, I would then probably need to source bearings for the ends, NEMA steppers of a higher holding and moving torque, as well as better stepper drivers and controller/power supply. The spindle is a 500w 52mm, but I'm already in talks with someone on upgrading the carriage to accommodate larger (realistically) spindles. Any help and advice (aside from bad advice) is appreciated.

[Qdoggus]

Okay, so I am to assume that there are now Ballscrew conversions, frame rigidity components, anti-backlash nuts, larger spindle carriages, etc? Or is it that nobody replies to new post on this forum?

[Sterob]

If you are new to CNC, maybe consider using your achine to learn about how it works and cut a few jobs to find out its capability and then think about mods.
New users can get into alot trouble, shelling out money and getting mods to work on their machines...just sayin'.....

Is the machine new or S/H?

What do you want to cut/make? wood, plastic?


Balls Screws, Linear rails, bigger Spindles are all availalble but retro fitting these is alot of work. Sometimes, its not worth the time, effort and expense, but it depends.....

An old CNC'ers quote is "One must HAVE a CNC Route, in ordeer to make another one..." Not strictly true but you get the idea....its difficult without one.

[peteeng]

Hi Doggus - By the sound of the "upgrade" its more of a rebuild. Your better off starting again, you will always be limited by your chassis. Either find a second hand machine that's suitable and play with it, buy a kit and build it (sell No1 machine) or use No1 machine to build No2 machine. You say "milling" if you mean cutting metal then it's a new machine. You need to look through lots of the threads here to figure out the best path before you walk it. Peter

[ericks]

You might find that you end up still limited by the machines overall rigidity... A good place to start upgrading these machines are the stepper drivers, screened stepper cables etc.
All the best, i am looking forward to see your progress

[Qdoggus]

To those whom have taken the time to reply, a heartfelt "thank you" to you. This is the one I bought...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-CNC-ROU...72.m2749.l2649
(I also picked up the 500w spindle "upgrade")

All good points of consideration. I have cut a few models of my own design, mostly in acrylic, aluminum, and very sparsely in wood. It was alot more accurate after calibrating the axes. A few things I have noticed... After using a Grizzly G8689 manual mill-press for years, I dont think I could ever step away from CNC. In fact, I'll probably convert my manual lathe to CNC (harbor freight mini lathe variant with upgraded 16" bed and DRO from LMS. I've mostly worked with aluminum (I've only had this a couple of weeks), it was bought new, but of course there are a couple of nuances that I think desperately need to be addressed.

I'm not so much worried about rigidity as I am the acme leadscrews and the tendency for the X axis to jerk a little during movement, indicating that the delrin nut needs to be replaced, unless there is a way to tighten it without increasing load on the stepper. So far, using Fusion 360 for CAD/CAM/toolpathing/Gcode output and a legit copy of USBCNC, it has cut and drilled everything I have asked it too, albeit slowly. So, the two main goals in upgrading are smoother and more consistent motion, and higher speeds with aluminum.

I dont know it all, but I promise that with the right guidance, I learn extremely quickly.

[Qdoggus]

So, I have 1204 Trapezoidal screws on all axes. Does anyone know the lengths on the axes on the 3040T?

[Qdoggus]

Okay, so different question.

What upgrades are feasible?

[ericks]

Can you post pic's of your machine and the electronics??

[Qdoggus]

Can you post pic's of your machine and the electronics??

Certainly I will later today. As for the electronics, it has a PlanetCNC clone running official firmware. I think its referred to as the Black Box setup. Also, the box says T-D 3 Axis Controller on it. I have the 500 watt spindle PSU hooked up internally so that it's controlled by the switch and pot.

[ericks]

So what issues do you have that you want to upgrade?

[Qdoggus]

So what issues do you have that you want to upgrade?

Mainly play in the X axis, to the point that it affects accuracy, I am already decided on adding limit switches, and the spindle speed. From my reading, ideally I'd need 20k-24k RPM so that I can have the higher feedrates and not have to tax the motor and power supply so heavily by running them at 100% on every Aluminum job. Also, as a side note, I cranked out my first working (fifth revision) prototype laptop liquid cooling water block today. So far has exceeded my expectations.

[ericks]

Then i would say you correct in going to ball screws

[Sterob]

Nice work with the water cooling part.

You certainly seem to be wringing this little routers neck!..lol

You could spend alot of time and money on upgrading this machine and I'm not sure if it would be good value.
An improvement in one area will probaly expose a weakness in another area and the question is 'Where do you stop?'

I WAS recently considering improving my 6040 by fitting linear rails, dual Y axis steppers, beefed up Gantry but then I had to look at the strength of the bed. That is basically the whole machine replaced.

In saying that ,I have seen people retrofit supported round rails to these machines, mainly to the X axis, I think. Its alot of work and your machine will be down for quite a while.
Google '3040 upgrades' or' improvements' and you will get alot of ideas.

Re: z axis ball screw
You would probably need to remove the acme threaded rod so you could get all of the relavent dimensions to find a replacement.
They would be ball screw size, pitch and length, bearing location sizes, lock nut thread and coupling shaft size.
Most common size is 1605. ( 16mm dia, 5 mm pitch )

This guy explains it well:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...arch&kpvalbx=1

[ericks]

It's not easy to decide whether to upgrade parts or to buy a better machine. From my experience i would say just buy a better machine if you can...

[Qdoggus]

It's not easy to decide whether to upgrade parts or to buy a better machine. From my experience i would say just buy a better machine if you can...

Well for right now, I can print a spindle for the router, but I still need to address the X axis play.

[ericks]

My 6040 has low cost ball screws they been great for over seven years....also the accuracy is fine for my requirements. So going with ball screws if you can is good place to start

[Qdoggus]

My 6040 has low cost ball screws they been great for over seven years....also the accuracy is fine for my requirements. So going with ball screws if you can is good place to start

Thank you for the advice. For what I want, anything larger would be overkill. Where did you source your cheap ballscrews? What all do I need for the rebuild? I'd settle with just the X axis for the moment.

[ericks]

Mine came with those ballscrews standard. Where are you situated?

[Qdoggus]

In Texas, the U.S.A.