Hey guys, I'm relatively new around here, but been lurking and reading a lot, putting together information and parts for my first build. First off, I want to thank everyone for the vault of knowledge around this place, and all those people who have taken the time to document everything, it has enabled me to create a pretty sweet, working machine in very little time. I finally finished cutting my last few parts and assembled the machine today for some movement tests. I decided to do a mill instead of a router. First, some machine info:
Machinable area of 13.5" in X, 7" in Y, and 10" in Z
Xylotex 3 axis kit w/ 425 motors (I bought this first and now I realize its downfalls, might have to add a G540 and better power supply soon)
5mm pitch precision ground ballscrews on all axis
THK SR15 rails on X and Y, HSR15 rails on Z
My spindle is a Porter cable 1 3/4hp variable speed (10k-27k) router w/ precision nut and collets
Pretty much got the motors tuned today, seems to rapid smoothly up to 200 IPM on all axes, so that's cool, better than I hoped with the Xylotex kit, the resonance is pretty apparent.
I built the entire machine out of scrap 3/4" cast acrylic from my work. First I faced it on both sides down to .600 so it was flat and consistent, then cut all my parts on our Komo VR510s. There are a few mistakes, couple extra holes here and there, hehe, but it came out pretty nice.
I still have a lot of work getting Mach 3 all setup and dialed in, as well as adding my limit/home switches, E-stop, and I'm considering closing the entire thing in and adding flood coolant. But now I dunno, it's too pretty, I don't want to use it hehe. Anyways, until I'm back with tons of Mach setup, post processor, and home switch questions, here's a bunch of pics, enjoy, question, comment, whatever:
Jesse