Giant 20' x 3' x 1' (6000mm x 900mmx 300mm) router build
Just started building 3 aixis cnc aprox 20' x 3' x 2' I am building it from 80mm aluminium extrusion and using a 20mm hywin rail system on all 3 axis with rack and pinion on x and y and a ball screw on the Z. It is a cantilever arm style machine and will mainly be used for cutting foam and other reactively soft materials.
The aluminium i have purchased from KJN and the motion control and linear movement parts are being supplied by CNC4YOU who have been exceedingly helpful and a great bunch of guys.
It is still at very early stages but i do have a few pics of the frame coming together which i will post a little latter. I look forward to any feed back or advice.
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
the frame is almost together although it was pretty expensive i think the ease of construction and accuracy has more than paid for itself plus it would be a lot easier to move if i ever need to.
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
As no other replies yet just thought I'd say thanks for posting and please keep it up - watching with interest - should be an awesome huge machine when done :-)
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
no worries, the frame is all locked in solid and started on the gantry. just figuring out bolting the rails down. From what i have read on the hiwin site for the RG20 rail its saying M5 bolts which appear to be a little small in the rail holes but i gees that leaves room for fine adjustment? is bolt them down every 180mm sufficient or do i need to do it more like every 120mm?
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
Wow Charlie what a build this is going to be!
The rails come pre-drilled so you would want to bolt them down using those fixing distances, I dont want to say to much because I dont know what you have planed but it reads as though you are going to bolt the rail directly to the extrusion?
Edit: Just re-read your first post "soft materials".
.Me
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
the rails are pre drilled every 60 mm but have been told that i could probably bolt them less hence possibly going less. The hardest thing i will be machining will be ply wood but mainly 90% of the work will be foam. The rail is going directly on the extrusion which is 80X80 ali and using the centring t blocks. More than happy to listen to any other suggestions, i am basically just going by what i have seen on similar machines that have been built with the same intended use.
many thanks charlie
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
Presumably the rails are drilled at the standard 60mm spacing... guess that could get tedious over 20 feet/6m - approx 100 per rail... but only needs to be done once. Guess you might get away with every other hole (120 mm) but doing them all would add a little to rigidity I would think...
Did you find the Hiwin rail in 6 m lengths BTW or are you going to have to butt two lengths up together? Longest I've seen is 4 m at e.g. WMH Transmissions Ltd - Product List - HGR 20 GUIDE RAIL<BR><BR>PITCH 60<BR><BR>NORMAL GRADE
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
no the max length is 4 meters so would have to have a joint , the cheapest i could get was a max length of 2.7m so would need 2 joints which i have ended up with however using 3 two meter lengths for each rail. We have spoken with hiwin and they have said it is fine to just but them up together without anything else.
Re: Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build
Would definitely bolt every 60 mm then as the last thing you want is anything moving once you've got all the joints perfectly aligned.