Thread: CNC Gantry Router #A

I have just read the specs on the Gecko drives and they have a maximum of 50 volts so back to the drawing board on the power supply for me. I said I was electronics challenged.

The power supply specs have been sorted out through a PM which saved me from making a fool of myself on here.

The machine itself has started again and I have managed to get a bit done this week. A couple of night checking parts and measuring making sure the plans in my head were going to work.
I thought I would post a couple of photos showing how I join the angle iron to the side plates. I use stainless socket head screws (with a spring washer) and tap into one part (doesn't matter which one) and drill an oversize hole in the other. In this case I drill 6.5mm for a 6mm screw. This allows for fine adjustment to make sure the fit is perfect. The angle iron joiner has one edge sanded round to fit the inside corner profile of the angle iron. The photos should show all this. I know this is basic and boring but it might help newcomers.

I have fitted a temporary 32mm thick chipboard top to the trolley so I can screw jigs and whatever else I need to make construction easier. You can see another switchboard under the trolley which is for the next machine - can't help myself if there is a bargain out there.

I have done a bit more and it is now starting to look like it might become something.
All the steelwork is finished for the base and assembled. There will be a piece of 76mm X 10mm aluminum angle running down the outside of the steel plates and this will hold the X axis rails.I dropped in a couple of lengths of 50 X 25 RHS down the guts to help support the cross rails. Probably not necessary but I had them and it is easier to fit them at this stage than later on. I have also overdone the rails but better to be stronger than on the flimsy side.

Photos are from front and rear and sides so you can get an idea of how the collection chamber will work. I will have to rip it all apart on the weekend and paint the steel then get serious about allignment on re-assembly. While the paint hardens I will do the lathe and mill work for the motor mounts and bearing blocks. I have already sandblasted and primed the steel so it just needs a bit of colour on there.
All the aluminum I have recycled from a scrap yard so it does have a few marks but the flash makes it look at lot worse than it is.

Obott has found a new home at my son's place so there will be two of us making a noise at night now - he lives close to my house and I am really pleased he has decided to give CNC a try. He already has an order for hundreds of trophies (family connection in Sydney) so it looks like he will pocket some funds straight out of the starting blocks.

Gecko drives arrived yesterday and I have all the electrics/electronics now for this machine. I will have to pick up on this machine as I don't have a Gantry router to play with anymore.

I remembered to take a couple of photos of the type of jigs I use.

I have to attach 76mm by 10 mm ally angle to the outside of the steel uprights. This needs to be referenced to the table so measuring from the outside has no relevance to the table height. Plate steel is guillotined so the edges are not square and plate is never perfectly straight so the jig overcomes this..

This is a simple mdf jig just glued and braded so I can set the ally angle parallel to the table rails. Obviously care was taken to make sure the jig was accurate.

A couple of hours later here is the result.
It has straightened the steel plate niclely and I have plenty of cap screws to keep it in place.

One of the problems with my lack of planning is coming across the unexpected. I had intended to fit the screws from the outside but I could not get my counterbore tight enough to the inside of the angle to get a good fixing. The difference is cosmetic but hats off to those who draw their machine in detail and get a chance to plan against this sort of problem.

I have cleated the table rails to the centre bearer and it has improved it considerably. I was sitting on the rails while I was drilling the holes in the side and there was no flex in the angle.

Hi Rod,

Looks good

Been having a ball with Aspire and I am starting my new website now that the Company no longer owns it.....

Hi Bob,
Alright for you retired blokes you have plenty of time to tinker. I have only run a couple of jobs on Aspire but these could easily have been run on VcarvePro.

It's all systems go this week and have attached the rails and cut the gantry sides. The gantry sides were done on the trusty Obott much to the disgust of my son, the new owner. Note the woodworking influence of housing the connecting plate into the gantry sides.

The connecting plates were done on my CNC X3 mill and the finish and cut is much better than on the gantry router as the mill has flood coolant. The mounting holes are slotted to allow for adjustment when I put it all together.

Cutting these parts on a CNC machine is a big advantage as each part mirrors the other making assembly easier.

Last pictures show it all together.

I have cut the ally table top but are avoiding the 170 tapped holes I need to do to fix it to the machine.

Looking great Rod,

Cant wait to see what masterpieces will come off this machine.

Daniel

Thanks Daniel,
How is your build going?
SWMBO laughed when she saw this machine and said you won't be selling this one. It is too wide to get it out of my backyard.

LOL.

Yeah my build is still going, but it is a lot slower than i would like, but then again a lot of what is slowing it down is a good thing. We are looking at building soon so it is a push to get the cnc done before we definitely have no money. lol. Shouldn't be too hard. Steel was meant to be here friday but its not, so its jut one of those builds i guess. Ill be happy once the machine has a proper frame since it will ahve shape and its pretty much downhill from there. The Pulleys have been ordered for the reduction and next week should be the gantry 80/20 still not sure which way i want to go with it, it really depends on wether i go with R&P or ballscrew.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,
Building a home is fun so good luck with that. I had to backtrack and do a base for mine so at least you are starting on the right path.


I had some concerns about the gantry sides only being 10mm plate so instead of making new sides I decided to do a bit of badge engineering.
I CNC'd a piece of 20mm plate and engraved the name so now there is no going back -it is so named Morphy, son of Obott and brother to Jabott, Nobott, Rodot, RPM and a couple mills and cousin to many.
OK to get serious the additional plate worked a treat and it was a cheap way of fixing the problem. The ally was ex scrapyard and fairly marked so I hit it with the orbital and the finish is now great. A quick easy fix for any of you that want to improve a surface finish on ally.

Hi Rod, looking good so far

I missed your earlier question regarding power supply cap's, I generally work on a rule of thumb of 1000uf per amp drawn. This is for servo's but I think steppers would be the same in this case. So for your approx 8 amps a 8000uf should be OK, it does sound a little small, but you can always go higher, Jaycar sell a nice 10,000uf cap with mountings that I am going to use on my next build unless I find something better. Having said that I am running an 80,000 uf on my red machine with servo's that would be lucky to draw 15 amps in total, but it was free !!! Mind you the transformer groans a little at startup.

I may have missed it but what are you using for a spindle ? I am planning a build but am thinking of a dedicated spindle rather than a router, the noise factor alone should be worth it, also it gets hot wearing earmuffs all the time here Also it offers some toolchanging options but that is another can of worms entirely...

Cheers.

Russell.

Thanks Russell,
Greg sorted me out on the electrics and I am going to get Bones to check my connections before I fire it up. I sort of know but are not foolish enough to do it without somebody knowledgeable to check it over.
I am going to use a 1.5kw, water bucket, 3 phase spindle with ER16 collet. I also got the VFD from them as well.
3 phase water cooled spindles are really cheap ($210US) at the moment. See this thread and how prices have come down.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f170/cnc-spindles-ebay-80283
You could probably get hold of a VFD in your field.
I think we have all had a guts full of the router screaming in our ears for hours on end. I have been using the X3 all afternoon and evening and really enjoying the low noise and slow going. I had to back feeds off to 100mm/min as I broke 3 carbide V bits on the job - only 4k on the spindle