Fixed Gantry Router

[lateAtNight]

Hey everyone,
Hope it isn't too late to start up a build log. I would have started from the beginning, but work on this thing has been so sporadic it wouldn't have been worth it. But its almost done now, so I figured its time to start sharing :D.

I'll start with the most recent and work back. Just today I was ready to try the router with a bit of jogging. Heres a youTube video of things:

YouTube - CNC router test

Ignore the sound its out of sync. Its also my first YouTube video :).

One problem seems to be that the coupling on the z doesn't hold the screw, and it keeps on slipping. I tightened it up uber tight, but it doesn't seem to work. Might need to invest in a new one.

[lateAtNight]

I definitely ordered a coupling with 6.35 on one end and 6 on the other. The only thing is when it arrived there were two in the box. I just assumed I'd gotten lucky or something, but now I am think one was 6 on both ends, and the other 6.35 on both ends. So I might have accidently put on the 6.35 on both ends. I'll investigate tomorrow.

As you can see, its a speed daemon :)

Edit: Also, your right, the z is a little high. There are two things though. First of all, I have a milling vice which will add quite a bit of height. Secondly the table still needs beefed up a bit, and lastly, if need be, the whole gantry can come down a little.

[lateAtNight]

Right... half moons. It all makes sense now! The T bed on top won't have those right?

That is indeed the housing I'm using. And yup, 16mm ballscrews.

A little concern though. There is only about 6.5 cm between the bottom of the table and the actual table that the machine lies on. Is there going to be enough space with those braces?

Regarding the PSU... I think I'll hang onto it. For £40 I think I'd rather keep it on the off chance that I might need it at some point. Would be £65 new.

Just looking at the beefier drivers though and they are £118! Ahahahahahah, OMG, could be a while until I can afford to convert a mill then.

Good work as always. Look forward to seeing the T plate.

Cheers!
Dave.

[lateAtNight]

There is just over 7cm I think... maybe 1mm to spare?

Edit: I take it you calculated that?

[lateAtNight]

Sweet! It looks so shiny :D.

I think I might have to get one or two of those covers. What was the web site again?

Some things I still need to do:
1) Get opto isolated BOB. Ordered one from Diy Cnc, but Rob is on holiday. He'll be back on the 20th apparently. Also ordered from DiyCnc: limit / home switches. 5 of them.

2) I've started putting all of the electronics into an old workstation tower of mine. Ordered some panel mount plugs for connecting the motors from Rhonmac-cnc.co.uk. I ordered on the 30th, so its taken a while but I've been assured they are on the way. I think I am going put them over two pci slots rather than have them go out the front of the tower. Will also need some sort of panel mount ac power in, and two out for coolant pump and spindle.

3) Get a mini-itx board to fit into the old workstation tower.

4) Get E stop.

[Lee Roberts]

Rhonmac-cnc.co.uk. I ordered on the 30th, so it’s taken a while but I've been assured they are on the way.

I’ve had 3 motors off him before, I think they took about 3-4 weeks to come and two phone calls later, the guy I spoke to did have problems with his leg and was in and out of hospital. I did get the motors however so you should get them, what’s the hold up with your order?


2) I've started putting all of the electronics into an old workstation tower of mine. Pci slots rather than have them go out the front of the tower. Panel mount ac power in and two out for coolant pump and spindle.

I’ve started doing something like the above myself, I’ll post up a build log for it in a sec and repost the link back here for you to look at. I’ve done a nice solution and job of it so far I think, I was going to save it till it was all done but I’ve seen a few posts here now with related things so it’s time to show. You may like to note how I did the AC in option.

[Lee Roberts]

http://www.cnc-conversion.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=229&g2_serialNumber=1


How much for a ballnut holder like that one kip ?

[Lee Roberts]

Ok nps. i Had a look at the SMA16 and the FSU ballnuts last night and the SMA16 unit will take a FSU1606 ballnut units. May not need you to make me one now, that said the mounting holes wont be right i bet !

[Gary]

Allready tried that Lee, while the hole is the right size the fixing holes will not work.
I had some made that were the same size as the SMA20, and this worked.
SMA16 was too small.


Ok nps. i Had a look at the SMA16 and the FSU ballnuts last night and the SMA16 unit will take a FSU1606 ballnut units. May not need you to make me one now, that said the mounting holes wont be right i bet !

[Gary]

Even easier solusion would be to make a bush that has an id the same as the od of the 16mm ball nut and od the same as the ID of the SMA20.
Then there is enough ali on the SMA20 to drill and tap for the ball nut flange.

I had some made that were the same as the SMA20 and size wise it worked very well, but making it was too expensive and now i get them from China allready made.




Simple remedy is to make another flange matching the ballnut flange and use long bolts to fasten it at the other side of the housing?

[lateAtNight]

Does that mean your gong to be selling them Gary? That would be good.

Keith: Contrary to my usual practice, I had my phone with me all day yesterday and it was charged, although being Three it might not of had a signal. Bit of a shame really because the space underneath for the mount probably could have been left untouched, or at least only half a mill taken off, cause it sits slightly lower than the table. I thought I mentioned that? Anyway never mind. Its still looking mighty fine.

I did have a little concern about the channels not being wide enough but looking at my carriages, I'm sure they are. Might even have a few mm to play with.

I might just go for a custom mount seeing as everyone has already pointed out how inappropriate the 16mm housing is... I was expecting it too meet up with the table perfectly according to my calculations, but there is about 1mm, maybe less between the housing and the table at the moment. I was Also going to use a clamp rather than screws to hold it in... temporary measure until I could make my own. But it just seems more eloquent to get a custom one made.

Yesterday those plugs arrived from Rohnmac. I was soldering them yesterday, and I now know I f'in hate soldering. Will post pics later on today. Catching up on Lost at the moment :)

[Gary]

Selling them now.


Does that mean your gong to be selling them Gary? That would be good.

Keith: Contrary to my usual practice, I had my phone with me all day yesterday and it was charged, although being Three it might not of had a signal. Bit of a shame really because the space underneath for the mount probably could have been left untouched, or at least only half a mill taken off, cause it sits slightly lower than the table. I thought I mentioned that? Anyway never mind. Its still looking mighty fine.

I did have a little concern about the channels not being wide enough but looking at my carriages, I'm sure they are. Might even have a few mm to play with.

I might just go for a custom mount seeing as everyone has already pointed out how inappropriate the 16mm housing is... I was expecting it too meet up with the table perfectly according to my calculations, but there is about 1mm, maybe less between the housing and the table at the moment. I was Also going to use a clamp rather than screws to hold it in... temporary measure until I could make my own. But it just seems more eloquent to get a custom one made.

Yesterday those plugs arrived from Rohnmac. I was soldering them yesterday, and I now know I f'in hate soldering. Will post pics later on today. Catching up on Lost at the moment :)

[Lee Roberts]

You can find the ballnut housings here: Click (http://www.slidesandballscrews.com/ball-housing-p-196.html?cPath=72&osCsid=27a4c0d3e14bbecb3209751af48cad54)

[lateAtNight]

I really wish I'd known about those a few days ago...

Never mind. I'll make do.

Some photos... Work in progress on my control box. Hopefully just enough space for a mini itx mobo, my smooth stepper and a DIY cnc BOB. Hopefully in the end everything will be panel mount plugs so I won't have to run cables out of the box itself. Also I had a window on the case when it was used as a workstation, still quite handy I think :).

Lastly one of the router itself. My brother has commented on how un-aesthetically pleasing it is. I disagree :D.

[Lee Roberts]

Looking good so far Dave!

Yea I looked into the market and noticed there wasn’t anything on the market so to speak for mounting ball nuts in a nice easy solution like the SMA units for instance, sure people like kip can machine their own but for people like you, me and so on there really wasn’t much if any choice, so that’s when I pointed it out to Gary that such a product is/could be desirable for people.

Gary then took it all the way to China and now we have a choice/solution, so hats off to Gary for making it happen! The ball nut housings have only be listed for sale recently so don’t feel so bad :).

Ill post up the build log for my controller box later today, need to get some work done first, I have solutions in that build aimed at you Dave so keep an eye out for it (mini itx mob, smooth stepper and BOB).

Catch you later!

O what cnc machine dose your bro run? :joker:

[lateAtNight]

Thats a really good point actually! I'll just drill the underneath of the mount then tap it and then screw in a bolt and then that should be enough to hold it right? Sweet.

[lateAtNight]

Yeahhhhhhh! Woohhooo :beer: Its soooo thick. And shiny. It almost seems a shame for a noob like me to get my hands on it where it will undoubtedly be disfigured.

It seems its all going right today.

Look forward to getting it mate. Sadly I agreed to that little scrap of work, and I'm leaving uber early on Tuesday, so looks like its going to have to wait till I get back. So no rush with the postage. On the bright side I'll be able to afford a few more toys after :D.

Keeping an eye out for your thread Lee.

Regarding wiring and ac power in, do you think its wise to have one source in and then run 3 drivers + spindle and a coolant pump off one source? I suppose there will be a computer in there at some point as well. There should be enough juice right?

Dave.

[lateAtNight]

Woops, I meant Thursday. Freud would have a lot to say about that I think :rolleyes:

It might just be the quality of the photo but I love how it all looks to be one piece.

Yup... that is another thing to add to the to do list. Get fuses and fuse holder. Any idea where I could get one of those?

[Lee Roberts]

lol, looks like 1 part to me to, also you can get the IEC's from maplins they are like what £1 ?, i just mounted one into the back of the case.

EDIT: Have you engraved somthing into the side of it as well kip ?

[lateAtNight]

Is it ready to be paid for keith?

[lateAtNight]

Haha, that is sooo scary! Guess what I (literally) right now was shopping for? An E Stop switch! Thats really good of you. Cheers :beer:.

Of course you don't have to if you don't want to, but could I get the water pump as well :D.

Edit: Also bought myself 2 fuse boxes, holding 4 fuses each. Got it off the 'bay. Figured I could have one box fusing the PSUs and another fusing the drives.

[Lee Roberts]

Cable brading !

[lateAtNight]

Hurah! My mum text me last night to confirm it had arrived. Her exact words were, "Parcel here - very heavy!", which pleased me no end :yahoo:.

Thanks Keith! Look forward to getting back to this box of wonderous stuff you have sent me. :beer:

Small extention to the work contract... will be back around the 27th / 28th. So stay tuned... Also, I'll be driving back from Kent to Scotland this time around! Should take about 12 hours. Nice.

[lateAtNight]

I was thinking that a stop in Leeds might be in order, but we're aiming to be set of from here (Kent) at 4 in the afternoon, so I'd assume we'd pass through (or near) Leeds sometime early in the morning.

Lol... plywood! I belive you about getting into it... the last one was wasn't exactly straight forward to get into.

Anyway... its been a tough few days... I think an early night might be in order. I'll post up here once I'm back and have opened up the coffin.

Cheers,
Dave :beer:.

[lateAtNight]

Good stuff David! if you fancy a stop off at Leeds you know where I am matey :beer: (I bet your mum can't get in the box...3/4" plywood fastened with screws to stop the Parcelforce guys from scratching it :D )

Haha, coffin indeed... See the pic. Taken at about 3 in the morning after getting back, having driven nearly 600 miles. It was fun to open up :).

When it came down to actually fitting the table, nothing went well at all. I had to take off the bearings on my ballscrew from both sides. The fixed end came off nicely. But the bearing on the floating end just refused to come off nicely. I tried being nice, then tried just being mean to it. Nether method worked. Then tried heating it up on the gas hob, that didn't work either, then my dad realised he had this clamping screw thing especially for taking bearings off, and that finally did the trick, but of course by that point the bearing wasn't in the best of shape. It still works, but I think I'll get a new one just to be sure.

There were a few other problems... not really worth mentioning, its all pretty much sorted now.

With all the problems its taken forever :cry:. So its just going to have to wait till I get back again, as i leave again tmrw morning... but as you can see from the pic its just about there.

Thanks again Keith for this wonderful table + the extras inside the box.

Dave.