Welcome to my build log. Although I have tried to start a build log previously it was shelved as it didn’t really fulfil any of my requirements, its size and capabilities would have been too much of a compromise.
I have decided to take my time with this and ensure it has the capability to machine both aluminium and wood and have a working area of at least 1220mm x 1220mm.
The frame of the machine is to be a mixture of welded and bolted 50mm x 50mm SHS and the X axis rail supports 50mm x 100mm RHS, but this requires further development as there is no diagonal bracing.
Although the Z axis rails are rather long at 620mm the blocks are currently spaced far apart to provide rigidity so the movement is restricted to 270mm. This may need revising as I may have the spacing to far apart and could get some travel back.
The bed as shown can be raised and lowered to reduce the amount of Z travel as needed, but the bed currently restricted by the horizontal members welded to the sides of the base.
The Gantry is currently 3 pieces of 45mm x 90mm extrusion with 20mm plates either end.
It is intended to use pulleys and belts on all axis, and run 2 ballscrews and motors on the x axis.
I have the profiled rails, these are HR25 x 1800mm for the X, HR20 x 1500mm for the Y, and HR20 x 620mm for the Z, and I am about to order the ballscrews. So no going back on this.
I would welcome any feedback on this concept as redesigning costs nothing but time.
Jim
