[Farasien]

Hi all-

I mentioned in a thread I posted a while back that I'm currently going to school for machining at the local community college. The teachers are all great, not only for their knowledge and enthusiasm, but because they let me use the school's machines to do personal projects as long as I'm signed up for at least one class. I'm not the only one doing this, as there are about 3 other guys like me who take an 'independent study' course to get access to over a million $ worth of machines, tools and available expertise.

Its not an official club, but not a bad deal, methinks.

I've been using it thus far to make all the parts for my X2 CNC conversion, and now that I have all that stuff done, I was planning on turning my time to making major improvements to the overall design. The first issue I think needs attention is the X2 base. While I'm awed by Hoss's extended Y conversion, I think a total rewrite of the base might be a better path to go overall. Besides, I have the time, the machines to do the work and such, so I figure I'll start there.

My ideas for the base:

1. The Y travel: I figure the main issue with the base at from what I can see is the lack of available Y travel. To remedy this, I was thinking of essentially cutting the base to be about as long as 2 bases fit end to end (or maybe a bit longer) from a single piece of steel.

2. Improved stability: I was thinking widening the base and extending the bolt-down flange all the way around the base (with a cutout for the Y axis screw attachment in the front/center) instead of just having 4 small feet for a firmer attachment to a bench surface.

3. Base clearance: The stock X2 base is problematic in that if left as a manual machine, the hand wheels almost touch the bench. I was thinking of adding another 1-2 inches of height to the base to remedy this.

4. Plumbing lines: I was thinking of running some oilier plumbing lines through the base like another poster (sorry, forgot his name and the name of the post) mentioned he did.

5. Turntable dovetails: I got this idea from running an older horizontal mill at school. I don't know if this is feasible as yet, but if I could make the base so that the angle of the dovetails could be adjusted, it might make for more interesting upgrades later (a mini vertical AND horizontal mill like the larger model made by grizzly? Hmm...) This one might be a bit much, but worth looking into.

6. Tiltable dovetails: I see more than a few tilt tables out there for sale and in use in some of the older manual machines. If all goes according to plan, this machine’s going to be a fully CNC’d 5 axis beast when its finished. I figure it might be interesting to have the ability to tilt the base itself (or the dovetails thereon), though much like #6, it might not be feasible while keeping things interchangeable with the original design.

7. ...?

My question is, if you were designing this thing, do you have any suggestions as to upgrades, ideas or improvements to the base that would be doable if made from a solid piece of iron or steel using either conventional machines or 3-axis CNC mills and about 2.5 years of training and enthusiasm? Ideally, I'd like this to still be interchangeable with most of the other X2 parts (same dovetail setup for the saddle, axis screws still in the same relative location, flat attachment for the column in the rear of the base, etc.), but other than that, I'm open to any and all suggestions that don’t start out with ‘you just ought to buy an x3…’.

Oh yeah, I have a month and a half to design it and gather raw materials before next semester starts. I have drafting and CAM software at home. I'm on vacation for the next 3 weeks, so sleep is optional...

-Farasien

[SCzEngrgGroup]

You do realize the piece of steel to make such a part will cost more than the cost of the entire machine?

[Farasien]

Actually, it won't be as much as you might think. Besides, the school also provides stock, and has a few large pieces sitting around that aren't useable for classes offered. They get donated by shops in the area as a tax write off.

[The Blight]

If you were to do this, then mill out dovetails directly into the base to mount the Z axis collumn. Should reduce flexing.

[Farasien]

Hm... the dovetail thing might be pretty good... I was giving some thought to maybe milling out the entire slot at the back of the base under where the column hovers over when bolted to the base. The thought was that at some point, maybe fabbing a new column that bolts directly to the base and to a base plate.

The dovetail idea sounds good though... the only issue with it is, how do I cut out something like that given the size of the piece? I think the largest Z travel I'll have using the school's mills is just over 18 inches... I drafted the first pass of the base last night and its looking like its likely to be about 26 inches long. I could cut out the slot for the dovetails by milling the block on the side, but cutting the (30 degree?) dovetails vertically... Any idea how I ccould approach that?

...And yes, I am going to do this. I'm already trying to track down the stock. Anyone have any cast iron suppliers who might sell a 10X26X3.25 inch block for less than the price of a mortgage?

-Farasien

[The Blight]

We have some knee mills at my school where you can remove the table so that you have a vertical clamping sufrace. If you could do this, then you could mount the whole block to it and mill it out that way.