Thread: Chris's Extruded Router.

looks good Chris actually love the look of it blue and silver rocks my boat .

So your going with duel screws

Who did you get your Extrusion from I am going to build a small desktop and was thinking of using extrusions as well this machine will have an cutting envelope of about a A4 sheet of paper.

Very Nice!!. How many pillow blocks are you runing on your long axis? 3 per side? Does that improve performance?

Brad.

Originally Posted by WillyInBris

looks good Chris actually love the look of it blue and silver rocks my boat .

So your going with duel screws

Who did you get your Extrusion from I am going to build a small desktop and was thinking of using extrusions as well this machine will have an cutting envelope of about a A4 sheet of paper.

Modular Compents supplied the aluminium and also they supplied the 4mm stainless plates on the side (They combined my order with one they were already putting in with the laser cutter so I got them for a good price)

Modular Components and Automation Australia - Item Aluminium

Price was reasonable and he was was very helpful. I delt with Wesley. They are the Aussie resellers of the Item extrusion.

item | Aluminium profiles, fasteners, t-slot nuts, linear guides, aluminium extrusions,

Originally Posted by spidey4fun

Very Nice!!. How many pillow blocks are you runing on your long axis? 3 per side? Does that improve performance?

Brad.

Yea 3 on the X axis, I doubt it makes much of a difference but at a few dollars each why not.

2 of the bolts on the gantry will be replaced with countersunk bolts so I dont lose much travel on the X axis.

Cool... I got room for another 2 per side on my X-axis... Is there a down side to additional bearings?

Brad.

Originally Posted by spidey4fun

Cool... I got room for another 2 per side on my X-axis... Is there a down side to additional bearings?

Brad.

I'd say the little bit of friction it adds.

Unless I am missing something.

I have run three bearings on the last two machines. It help carry the load and doesn't add any noticeable friction.
Nice work Chris.
Are you running Homann motors?

Originally Posted by rodm

I have run three bearings on the last two machines. It help carry the load and doesn't add any noticeable friction.
Nice work Chris.
Are you running Homann motors?

Nope just some 387's for the X and Y and a 269 on the Z all from MS or from AusXmods whichever way you want to look at it.

Ended up just grabbing the 1.5KW air cooled spindle from love-happy.

For the VFD I plan to use the Hitachi X200 or the Sensorless Vector model, mostly because the price isnt that much more over the chinese VFD's.


Those who cut aluminium here what speeds do you run the spindle at? I'm just trying to figure out if its worth the extra for a sensorless vector.

Hi Chris,
When cutting ally I run the spindle at top revs and adjust the feed to get chips. The reason for this is the maximun size cutter I use is 1/4 inch so I figure it needs a good peripheral speed to work. Adjusting the feed until you get it on song and observe good chip making verses grinding dust. I did a big job recently and managed to get nearly 1400mm/min with just the odd spray of CRC and the finish was excellent.

Drilling is totally different and you need to drop the spindle speed otherwise the drill squeels and doesn't cut well. I go about 120hz and again adjust the feed speed (plunge) until I see strands of swarf coming off the drill bit.

Thanks for the tips rod

I'll stick with the standard VFD.

Hi Chris,
I am very interested in this build. I have a heap of second hand T slot and last week got a gantry beam off ebay so the planets are alligning once I have finished the current build.

Are you running two screws on X axis? Looks to be set up for belt drive in the first photos.

I got some 1204 ballscrews and bearings from Chai for mine but plan on one central screw for X. I noticed in your photo you have a couple of plates for what looks like a central screw.

What table are you planning? I have been looking at T slot and came across some interesting profiles from Marchant Dice and PH posted this link for some he used. As it turned out I had a complete T slot table in my stock which I forgot I got many years ago. It is only 450mm long but sized for my machine which will have 300 by 300 travel.

For your coolant have you thought about a mist sprayer as it will not create the mess of full flood coolant. Have you seen this and there are other makers and plans to make you own around. It would be good to run one of these off the electromagetic air pump but it only puts out 20 PSI pressure. I might try it one day with a nozzle off a garden sprayer.

I wish I was a bit closer as it would be good to visit and compare notes.

Dual 5mm screws on the X axis, I was planning to run direct driven belts just to cut some mounts (If it was possible) for the ballscrews but I decided to just buy some pre-made mounts that chai sells. Running dual screws as I just dont want anything running under the table.

Regarding the plates with a centre screw its from a previous build which didnt get too far, but I plan to reuse the 80x80 heavy extrusion to build a Vinyl / Gasket cutting machine, just need to finish this one first so it can make the mounts ect required.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f170/c...-router-90421/


* For the tabletop its still up in the air, I have been thinking of using the 24.7mm slab of aluminium that came from the scrap yard, but with all the pits ect it would require facing which I dont think I can do on my DM45 mill. (I remember seeing a user here do the same thing with new stock and it turned out great)


* There is also full T-tracks from the aluminium suppliers, Modular Components (Item) stock a few designs

Aluminium Profile 8 for Automation, Machine Guards, Trolleys

Item also has a heavy duty 200x28mm T track on their site but at 10KG a metre its likely to be in the region of $200 a metre.


* Then there is a sealed MDF tabletop with the T tracks inserted.


Yea I think a mist sprayer will be the way to go, I'll have a go at building something when it is up and running but I will probably stick to using the compressor.

Hi Chris,
You have done a lot more research than I have - thanks for the links.

On your X axis you say 5mm screws - are these 1605 screws? and will they be mounted in the location you have the belt drive mounts?

cheers,
Rod