Thread: New Machine - Work in Progress

The gantry sides are a bit tricky beacuse we wanted to keep the weight over the X axis linear rails as well as mount the Y axis motor on the gantry side.

Best solution was to cut them on my CNC router so that we could get it perfect. The first photo shows the plate mounted and the job finished. Yes under there are some good parts.

I used a 3mm drill bit to peck drill the mounting bolts and the pocket, engraving and profiling was done with the same 1/4 inch carbide mill bit. All up about an hour and a half to do the job.

Second photo shows the table cleaned up and the parts still held to the plate by tabs. The plate was 460 by 300 by 8mm and the RPM stands for Rod and the first letters of both our surnames.

Hopefully I will have more to show tomorrow.

Is that pop rivets holding it together ?

How long did it take to cut the gantry sides and how deep do you cut on the passes, I hope you cleaned the swarf off your shoes before you entered the house

Hi Sean,
They are stainless steel round socket head screws. Lower profile so they look neater than the standard socket head screw. I have counterbored into the 10mm plate and used standard socket head screws where I could.

Depth of cut on each pass was half a mm and it took about one and a half hours to do the job. Feeds were 600mm/min and die grinder at about half speed. A squirt of WD40 on each pass as well.

Advantage of wearing thongs is you can leave them by the door but the swarf was all over me. I clean up immediaitley after a job like this as it spreads far and wide.

We trimmed the Y axis and mounted it to the gantry sides. Also fitted a wide plate under the gantry to stop racking. This is a very important feature I stumbled on in my first build.
The spindle plate was also done as were the ballscrew covers.
I have also attached a photo of the ballscrew we will use on X axis. A bit of overkill but it was the right price on ebay.
Maybe some more next week.

Got a bit done last week and hope to finish a lot more off this week.

The X axis ballscrew is in place - see photo - Double row angular contact bearing on the motor end and a deep groove bearing on the free end. After a few adjustments the screw and gantry run free enough that tilting the machine the gantry travels under gravity. Bearing mounts were made on the CNC X3 mill.

Finished off the motor mounts and mounted all the motors. On the rear of the motors I have turned up knurled wheels that help move the axes around as well as acting like a flywheel to reduce a little of the mid band resonance in the stepper motors. Helical couplings have been fitted between the motors and ballscrews on all axes. These take care of slight misallignments and take the load of the motor bearings.
Lashed up some wiring and a Xylotex board and gave it a test run on Friday night.
Motors are Nema23 269oz on all three axes.

We have a little DC spindle that is going to be fitted while we wait for an Industrail Sherline Mill Head (10,000 RPM) to be send from USA.

The table will be fixed and dialed in this week and then limit switches and some serious wiring added to the machine.

Our objective was to make a portable machine but this has already dropped to the moveable category because I always over build and it has added too much weight.

A photo to show how the table is clocked in. A couple of dial gauges temporarily mounted on the sides of the Z axis so that I can reach both edges of the table.

The grub screws set the height and the cap screws lock the table down. You have to go over the table about three times as each adjustment affects the adjacent fixings.

The table is within one thou all over and I will need to do this again in a couple of weeks to make sure everything is settled.

Hi Rod,

Looking good now

Thanks Bob

We fitted a temporary spindle last night, ran four jobs in acrylic and the machine works well. I wont post pictures as it is not how it will end up. It will be a month before the spindle arrives so I hope it works out OK.

You built it, it will be fine

I reckon we should make you put at least one photo up just to prove that it has cut something

I am cutting my first real lithophane on Corian right now as we talk, probably an hour or more to go yet

I agree with Bob I think ya just having us on

Can't put anything over you blokes.

Best I can do is show you a photo of the spindle mounted. We ran four jobs and then disconnected it all. We are waiting on a spindle from USA so no point going much further after testing it with this little fellah. Need to do heaps of work - cross clamps, enclosure, trolley, console and tidy up all the wiring in the process.

Oh, the other photo is something that arrived from China this week. At 1100mm long there might be something brewing in the pot.

These are repalcment screws for Obott (my first machine) and I am hoping to get an increase in speed as they are 10mm pitch screws. Curently 5mm pitch screws on it so maybe twice the speed with these.

dam rod you make it look so easy.

Rod,

This is really a very nice machine. I love the precision measurements of the base. I will have to have a chat to you about some ideas I have for aluminium jigs that would attach to this sort of base.

cheers, Jason

Nifty looking spindle, even for it's small size

The screws look like the business too, should get Obott singing