[ihavenofish]

you know how you buy machine parts, rails, motors, and all sorts of suff on ebay, then never actually get around to making them into anything because your intentions change and you then buy more stuf... which you never use... and the viscious cycle continues...

well, i decided i would build a machine from my spare parts and sell it off to recover some money.

parts i had:

- 4 THK precision grade KR46 slides with 22.5" travel and a non standard motor mount.
- 15 parker SM232BE 7500rpm slotless servo motors that dont fit the slides and have no matching drive.
- a fully functioning sieg KX1 which i no longer use because i have a bigger mill.
- a weiss WMD16V manual mini mill which was intended to be converted to cnc.
- a weiss R8 spindle shaft.
- an anorad ironless linear motor with renishaw magnetic encoder.
- an all aluminium linear slide with thk "2 way" RSR15 linear rails this had the linear motor inside it.
- some igus cable chain.

so this is what ive got so far. basically a gantry made from the slides on a granite base.

i now need to determine the spindle. i dont want to buy a new one, and the kx1 has a 500w brushless motor and all the electrical to go with it. then theres the weiss r8 spindle shaft. the r8 spindle will make using tts tools and an auto tool changer possible, so i like this too.

so far the only "hard" part is getting the granite "risers" made. they will be made from a 18x24 surface plate water jet cut in half. ill need to figure out how to lap them flat and parallel or find an alternative. anyone have any ideas?

[ihavenofish]

so ive designed a spindle aroung the r8 shaft and 80mm bldc motor. its quite perfect for the mache actually. im working out a power drawbar for it now.

ups the value of the machine as well i think. makes it great for patterns and moulds. i should get 10000rpm out of the spindle with a 2:1 belt.

[ihavenofish]

this is turning out nice so far.

[wcarrothers1]

I like those THK slides, I have 2 using them for my Z on my new machine. Only thing I can say is. Forsure do not let one of the slides slide out of the slide and the balls will go all over and re-loading them is not fun.

Also having them fase up on either side, things will fall in and collect there. Perhaps mount them so then are on their side rather then facing up if you can...

b.

[ihavenofish]

I like those THK slides, I have 2 using them for my Z on my new machine. Only thing I can say is. Forsure do not let one of the slides slide out of the slide and the balls will go all over and re-loading them is not fun.

Also having them fase up on either side, things will fall in and collect there. Perhaps mount them so then are on their side rather then facing up if you can...

b.

i originally had them on their side, but for simplicity flat works best. the y slide sits on the edge of the carriage, making alignment easy.

im putting an air blast on each axis to blow away debris before it contaminates the bearings. the x is high enough up that very little debris will make into the slide to begin with. i will probabaly have a fixed guard extending 4-6" in front of the y slide over each x slide.

[louieatienza]

i originally had them on their side, but for simplicity flat works best. the y slide sits on the edge of the carriage, making alignment easy.

im putting an air blast on each axis to blow away debris before it contaminates the bearings. the x is high enough up that very little debris will make into the slide to begin with. i will probabaly have a fixed guard extending 4-6" in front of the y slide over each x slide.

I like the design, though your spare parts look better than my "keepers..."

[ihavenofish]

I like the design, though your spare parts look better than my "keepers..."

better than mine too! haha. i think i want to keep it now that i made it able to use tts. sadly i need the money more.