I'm working on building a moving gantry router. I am having problems mounting the motors and getting it so that the motors can actually move the gantry.
if I hold the motor on the coupling for the Z axis it works great, better than I expected it to at least. I attached the motor for the X axis roughly, but it can barely move the gantry. I'm not currently using a very high voltage supply on the motors, so that might be a problem for when I try and go faster, but it still has a hard time moving it at low speeds (3ipm).
The gantry moves relatively easy on the pipes.
It was quite a problem to get a nut mounted on the screw and attached to the gantry.
At this point I'm willing to scrap the bottom part of the gantry, and possibly even remake the panels for the X axis if that's recommended.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to attach the motors?
Or about how to attach the nut for the leadscrew on the gantry?
How about an easy anti-backlash design? (my current one does not assemble very well)
Also, I'm really having a hard time figuring out how to mount the bearings for the leadscrew on all of the axis. Currently it is resting on some bolts that stick out for the Z axis and that seems to work ok, since it has weight holding it down.
But I can't figure out how to hold the bearings for the other two axis, at least not enough to actually hold weight. Should I just drill a hole exactly the size of the bearings and just shove it in there? or is there a better way?
Any preferred designs for any of these that can be made easily?
A big problem that I've had is my lack of construction ability. I have a hard time drilling a perpendicular hole through something, and I don't have access to a drill press or mill.
(Although I suppose now that the Z axis moves I could use it as a makeshift drill press once I get the motor mounted.)
I've kind of decided that once I finish this one, and get it working, that I will have it re-make most/all of the parts, to make it straighter and fit better.