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  1. #41
    Ah. Thanks a lot for that. Aye coming from a belt driven build too so something more stiff is in order this time. Yep the rack and pinion sounds like a perfect solution for that size (that's a big machine, jealous) this one has a cutting area of around 1100mm x 750mm ish but should be big enough for my needs. I do a lot of aluminium work and bits of hardwood so don't need anything too large. You never know i might go for an 8x4 machine down the line.

  2. #42
    Bigger machine needs a lot more space to be usable. This is my downfall. I may well downsize her and go for a 4 or 5 axis design. I'm getting the Itch !!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

  3. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mills View Post
    Bigger machine needs a lot more space to be usable. This is my downfall. I may well downsize her and go for a 4 or 5 axis design. I'm getting the Itch !!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
    I've had a smaller machine than mine for quite a few years, with a cutting footprint of roughly 500 x 380mm and have not found that to be too limiting generally speaking, so didn't want to go too large. If I were to go 8x4 I think I'd go vertical like Jazz's to save space and help with chip clearing. I want to leave some room in my workshop for some other bits too. I acquired an old CNC lathe (EMCO) that I'm upgrading and I'd like to build a small plasma table at some point (maybe 2x4). We'll get this one done firstly anyway.

    A rotary axis would be great, if you could pull off a 5 axis design I'd be very interested to see that come together.

  4. #44
    I may well downsize to 1m x 1 m or 1m x 1.2m. Seriously Don't have the room and no real need for the full size setup. It took me 6 months to build the Big girl! and if I am to be honest I don't know why I went so big. The joy for me was building her but she has never had a full sized sheet of anything on the table!!!!!!!. If I go 1 x 1.2(Cutting) I will arrange it so I can slide a full size sheet into and through her to save cutting it into several smaller pieces. I have a few smaller ball screws that might fit the new proposed dimensions and I would prefer to use those instead of the R&P. This time round I will Catalog the build :). I have some holiday time booked in 2 weeks so I might start the strip down then. Fingers crossed!

  5. #45
    Ah here. It never ends. But I bet the next one you build will be better. My first one was an mdf abomination, second much better, and this much much better (so far) we'll see what happens. I'd never go away from propper linear rails again though, anything else is just a false economy in my book as you spend so much time messing you'd be better to buy something made for the job upfront and save the hassle.

    I've been busy planning the base, but work is busy atm so I won't update just yet. Bits and pieces are on route but ill post info soon to that end.

  6. #46
    I totally agree about the rails. Mine came from a salvaged Bisse industrial cnc router. Top quality parts. Budget usually decides @ 3 meters long! I'm going to try and sell my 50W 600x500 laser cutter/engraver so that might help with the proper rail requirement. Doing a check list at the moment and I have everything I need. Says me as I blindly walk into this project. No doubt there will be something missing when I get to that point of" Shit I forgot about that! .
    The size will be dictated by the ball screws i have (they came from a Salvaged Datron cnc machine) top notch. The 5 axis setup is really something I would like to do but I will start with 3 and keep the other 2 in mind when doing the new re-design. Good luck with the new base and be sure to post some photos.

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  8. #47
    Planning is in the works for the base, I've been collecting materials here and there as I can source them in the current climate. I've decided against the wall mounted option, when I drew it up in CAD it wasn't really saving me a massive amount of floor space (due to the relatively small footprint of my machine) and I really want to make use of high flow flood coolant so felt a regular horizontal setup would be best.

    I've decided to be a bit unconventional with this design as outlined in the images.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The main sides of the structure will be made from concrete based blocks, each measures 140mm(H) x 212mm(W) x 442 (L) and are very strong. These blocks are common here in Ireland and are largely made from a high proportion of granite aggregate along with a minimal amount of concrete as a binder (I'd estimate 15 - 20% concrete/cement) and I hope in this case, given the ratio of granite to cement, that shrinkage will be quite low and vibrations can be minimised too. I've had these blocks for over 12 months now so they should be relatively stable, but time will tell I suppose.

    The intention for the main table surface is to cast this from home made glass fibre reinforced ultra high performance concrete. The intention is to cast this as a 75-100mm thick section in one pass by supporting the open section with ply braced from underneath (pre cut in the middle and siliconed at the joint for easy removal). I have sourced and received the glass fibre strands and the superplasticiser which I'll use to minimise the water content required in the concrete mix. I also intend to embed typical steel reinforcements (rebar or mesh or a combination of) I have yet to source those aspects as local steel outlets are closed for the next week or two. Time wise it's likely to be around the second week of June before construction can start, I'm looking forward to it.

    For wiring/routing I intend to cast some 30-40mm plastic conduit (sink drainage pipe) into the front section, to allow motor and limit switch wiring to be routed cleanly from the left side to right. Controls box for the steppers and spindle VFD will mount to the exterior of the right hand wall.

    I've been experimenting with some cast concrete of late and some alterations in mixes and proportions, likely I'll keep it fairly simple but I'll make some test samples soon to test those out.

    The top of the table will be certainly quite rough post concrete casting, so the intention I have is to allow the concrete some time to settle and after that period level the entire table top with a 3mm layer of epoxy to give a nice flat surface to measure from and secondly, to provide some waterproofing. Part of the idea of designing the base this way is to allow sufficient space for a flood coolant capture tank to be housed in the underside of the 'table' and further design some fluid direction system once a tank has been sourced.

    I could obviously go the tried and tested route and build the base from steel or aluminium, but I'd like to try this out to see how it goes. It's relatively cheap and if it all goes tits up, well I'm sure I can get a sledge hammer handy enough.
    Last edited by Evengravy; 15-05-2020 at 04:11 PM.

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  10. #48
    Good stuff John. I would have never thought of a concrete base but now that I see you mock up it makes perfect sense. It will also be much easier to surround the upper part of the walls with a side/back etc to catch coolant. Flood coolant it a really good thing to have on any machine cutting aluminum. It will save toy a ton of cutters! Good luck with the build.

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  12. #49
    That's a really interesting base design, I've been wondering about a concrete or block base myself in the future as a cost-effective and very rigid structure. I'll be interested to follow your progress.

    If you plan to drain the coolant to a tank underneath then it may help to cast a short length or two of plastic drainpipe through the base to act as conduits for the fluid hoses.
    An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, an engineer says you're using the wrong sized glass.

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  14. #50
    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mills View Post
    Good stuff John. I would have never thought of a concrete base but now that I see you mock up it makes perfect sense. It will also be much easier to surround the upper part of the walls with a side/back etc to catch coolant. Flood coolant it a really good thing to have on any machine cutting aluminum. It will save toy a ton of cutters! Good luck with the build.
    Thanks, yes I think it should work out okay. I'm doing some calculations for mixtures at the moment in the hope to test the mix out this weekend in a very small batch. The only unknown is the shrinkage of the mortar for the walls/block but I'm hoping with a solid UHPC top any shrinkage should even out each side or be small. I'll try to get away with as little mortar thickness as possible but may test the Glass Fibre Reinforced mix as a mortar first to see if it bonds okay.

    I'll upload sources etc when I get the initial test done.

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