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1 Attachment(s)
New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
First router/mill build, I've built two tables before but they were for Plasma cutting, this time I wanted something that can cut wood, plastics, aluminium etc.
I thought up some ideas but after asking on here, they were dumped for tried and tested designs to save risk of wasting cash, basic ideas were courtesy of JazzCnc - thanks for the kick-start :courage:
Practically all-aluminium structure, 3NM stepper motors, digital drives, 1610 ballscrews, 20mm HiWin motion, Mach3 control via a UC100 motion controller. Y axis is twin screw with single motor and belt drive via 15mm HTD belt, X axis is single screw/single motor again with 15mm HTD belt. Currently ALL pulleys are 20t 1:1 ratio but being belt/pulley drive will mean I can easily adjust ratios later depending results.
I had a large lump of cast iron 410x600x18mm which was machined on both faces - this is to be the main bed of the CNC, I will use a sit-on bed of 12-15mm machined aluminium for metal work and an MDF bed for wood and plastics.
On order from Aliexpress I have the ballscrews, motion, support bearings and a 2.2kw water cooled spindle and VFD. Intent is to control the VFD/spindle speed via the 0-10v BOB I have got, also got a dual relay board for the water pump, coolant etc.
Most of the aluminium has arrived, it's all 20mm and 15mm machined tooling plate, surface finish and dimension is perfect. The structural beams are 45x90mm heavy-duty section.
First cuts were made today, started on the gantry support arms...
Attachment 17644
Might not look much but thats two heavy slabs of 20mm ally, my idea is to build and get it running then remove the supports and mill them to the customary inverted L shapes and radius the corners for safety.
Fun times ahead but having built two CNC's before, this one should hold few surprises I feel:thumsup:
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2 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Bit more...
Z Axis front plate...
Attachment 17658
Yes, that is a boo-boo in the bottom right corner of the pocket, what happens when you grab the Z axis handle on the mill instead of the Y axis, D'oh!
Its only about 0.5mm deep so will not affect anything.
Z axis motor mount plate...
Attachment 17659
Coming along nicely :)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Also building a fog-buster style coolant unit, seems the best choice, not sure what to fill it up with though???
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Little more progress, started getting parts ready to assemble the Z axis...
Attachment 17717
All the motion parts arrived today, along with the spindle and VFD :)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Looking good Dave, you'll soon be up and running!
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Looking great so far! In this last picture, will that stick out be for the X-axis movement?
If i may ask a question about the Z-frontplate, that cutout for the Z-axis nut, how thin can the wall be in that area before one can notice any weakness?
I dont have a fog buster, but a simple mister from aliexpress, and alcohol works great for my projects. No cleanup needed afterwards, but if you need more lubrication to handle i.e. gummy alu, you gonna want something oily.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Yes, thats the plan, it protrudes enough to get me over the screw so i can fit a drop bracket for the nut. The cutout clears the Z axis motor body.
The Z front plate and the very front plate where the tool mounts are 20mm thick and needed 7.5mm taken out of each to align the rails and screw. I don't feel that will make any difference at all to strength - the tool mount plate is also reinforced by having the linear rails bolted to the back of it. The rear Z plate is has the Z axis linear carriages aligned directly with the support plates (shown in the pic) for the X axis linear carriages - the forces are transferred directly from Z to X.
Having built two plasma tables out 3mm steel which were still very sturdy, this thing is being built like a mini battleship!
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Davek0974
Yes, thats the plan, it protrudes enough to get me over the screw so i can fit a drop bracket for the nut. The cutout clears the Z axis motor body.
The Z front plate and the very front plate where the tool mounts are 20mm thick and needed 7.5mm taken out of each to align the rails and screw. I don't feel that will make any difference at all to strength - the tool mount plate is also reinforced by having the linear rails bolted to the back of it. The rear Z plate is has the Z axis linear carriages aligned directly with the support plates (shown in the pic) for the X axis linear carriages - the forces are transferred directly from Z to X.
Having built two plasma tables out 3mm steel which were still very sturdy, this thing is being built like a mini battleship!
Thanks, I also think the forces are pretty much directly transferred from Z-carriages to X-carriages. One important task the z-plate also does is keeping the rotational forces at bay, and I agree, 7,5mm less wont make a speck of difference.
I will look over my own drawing and see if I cant do the same.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Davek0974
.......this thing is being built like a mini battleship!
I know that one, my Z front plate is 40mm thick...think I only took a similar amount out of that, overkill??!![emoji15]
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Better over than under ;)
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5 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Day off today so hit the project...
X / Z axis finshed...
Attachment 17730
Rear face of the tool mount plate with the linear rails...
Attachment 17731
Front of the Z axis with some linear rail carriages in place...
Attachment 17732
Back of the Z axis with the X axis carriages in place...
Attachment 17733
Rear frame support plate fitted to the main beams...
Attachment 17734
Next up is the front frame plate and mount for the Y axis motor. :)
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6 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Bit more today...:calm:
The bare frame - extremely rigid, surprised me!
Attachment 17744
Inside of the front plate (maybe the back, not sure yet) idler bearings to shift the belt path...
Attachment 17745
The Y axis screws temporarily fitted...
Attachment 17746
The gantry being built up...
Attachment 17747
The Z axis in place...
Attachment 17748
Z axis lifter screw and motor fitted...
Attachment 17749
So far, my CAD efforts have been 100% perfect, every single part drawn has fitted just where it should be :calm: Torsionally, the gantry is very stiff - pushing on one side brings an immediate response from the other which is good, the Z axis looks like it will be just as tight.
Now i need to fabricate an idea for a method of joining the Y axis nuts to the gantry cross-beam.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Tuff littel Bird ain't she.. .:pirate:
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Certainly is Jazz, this thing is probably more rigid then 'Mr Flexy' the Bridgeport ;)
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Small progress today, mostly tidying up loose ends and fitting parts...
Attachment 17750
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Looking a nice little build, still lots of fun stuff to do yet!
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Is that a belt sander in the background? Warco!!
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Clive S
Is that a belt sander in the background? Warco!!
Yes it is, 4" belt vert/horiz, it's one of the most used tools and one of the most gutless i'm afraid, I really need to build or buy a decent unit with a Hp or two behind it. You have to take your time on it - press on a bit and it just stalls out.
Cheap though and has done a lot of work.
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Slight boo-boo uncovered tonight, the belts arrived and the teeth were bigger than i allowed for in my serpentine arrangement, this caused the opposing sides of the belt to rub against each other at the idlers...
Attachment 17771
First option for fixing it was to order up some smaller diameter bearings, should work ok.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Hi Dave,
Looking great so far. The other option is to slot the holes for the lower bearing idlers - might have to be slotted at a slight angle to avoid hitting the stepper.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Yes that would be an option, it would mean having bolt heads on the outside though, not a critical point though.
Will try a smaller bearing, 24mm dia instead of 26mm, should be enough.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
How are the solution for the X-ballnut coming along? Kinda stuck on the same thing myself.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
I have managed to use the standard ballnut mount blocks for all axes i hope, i just need to finish machining the spacer blocks for the y axis and do the fitting, hopefully be all axes connected this weekend :)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Stripped it all down today for final finish and fit, ran out of time to start the rebuild but hopefully tomorrow will get some picture update.
I was going to put the Y axis motor to the rear of the frame but it didn't play nicely and would cost me some Y traverse so I'll leave it at the front. The new idler bearings seem to have sorted the belt issues out, hopefully the motor adjustment slots will be enough to take up the slack without getting a shorter belt.
My plan is to mount the rails and screws square to the beams, its all pretty rigid and square when assembled so with a bit of luck it will all work out exactly as the drawings indicate.
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3 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Got some motion assembled today, final fitting takes a lot of time...
Attachment 17862
Attachment 17861
Attachment 17863
Next up is making the bracket for the X axis motor. Then i might remove the grease nipples on the lower X carriages as they are costing me 20mm of travel by hitting the side frames.
A little more fiddling here and there and we should be ok to start planning wiring runs etc.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
I like how simple it looks, but I know how much careful planning/drawing it took to get there.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sinnsvak
I like how simple it looks, but I know how much careful planning/drawing it took to get there.
It is pretty simple, I am not claiming credit for the design basics as it was given to me by a friend, but the subtle details are mostly mine.
One thing for certain though is that it's as rigid as a rigid thing at a rigid party and it weighs a ton! All of which are good properties i think ;)
Confidence is high as they say.
Drawing it 100% in CAD has been a money and nerve-saver, I am happy i spent the time drawing it all up, It has needed a couple of shims to assemble it but the thickest one was only 0.30mm which i think is pretty damn good and totally attributable to the way i had to cut the beams (manual chop-saw). The rest of it, like the Z axis and X axis have been just a matter of machine-and-fit, pure pleasure ;)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Davek0974
One thing for certain though is that it's as rigid as a rigid thing at a rigid party and it weighs a ton! All of which are good properties i think ;)
So Black Adder you saying one my Baby's is Simple Fat Lass who's Harder than Hard thing in Hard place.!. . . . I'll be sending Hot poker your way.:devilish:
Anyway who said was your friend:hysterical:
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Ok I presumed friendship ;)
Certainly tough-nut though ;)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Davek0974
Ok I presumed friendship ;)
Know what they say about Assuming.??? . . . .Thou ya got it right this time.. :thumsup:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Davek0974
Certainly tough-nut though ;)
Should Expect nothing less from Yorkshire Lass.!. .:boxing:
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JAZZCNC
Know what they say about Assuming.??? . . . .Thou ya got it right this time.. :thumsup:
Should Expect nothing less from Yorkshire Lass.!. .:boxing:
I hear the tea is pretty good stuff too ;)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
One almost oversight i spotted tonight - the holes on the ballscrew nut flanges, i presume these are for grease nipples?
To get to my Z axis ones will mean taking the bed off - no big deal there but the z axis one is buried.
The question - how often do screws need greasing?
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Got the Y axis screws synchronised and belt fitted tonight, fine-tuned the ballscrew nut brackets and the bottom end is just about done, threw the bed and over-bed on for a photo...
Attachment 17900
The 15mm alu over-bed will drilled/tapped for mounting studs etc, it's a little shorter than i would like and cost me about 50mm of Y travel but it will do ok for a while.
Just waiting for some alu bar to arrive for the X axis motor mount and we will be wiring up for motion testing :)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
I think for the size, it will perform very well!
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
As they say, confidence is high :)
It does feel good, nice and rigid, plenty of z height range, easy-change alu bed or mdf spoil-board, if it performs as well as i think it will, I will be a happy chappy.
I need to figure out some chip/splash skirt for the bed but that will come together soon hopefully.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Looks solid Dave, good luck on the big day :thumsup:
.Me
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Got the X axis motor mounted and belted up tonight, all ready for temporary wiring and motion tests this weekend :)
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
Looking good Dave.
Something to think about is whether you want to be able to quickly see the X axis belt to check the tension and general health over the months and years ahead.
Can the machine be tipped up on its side to look underneath? Or maybe a small window cut into the end plate with a perspex cover. Not critical, just a thought.
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Re: New Build, Aluminium Frame Router/Mill
With an assistant, it can be up-ended onto the back plate, the bed will also be pretty easy to remove - just few allen screws and it will slide back or right off if wanted, this would be the preferred method of access to the screws and belt inside.