Time for mk2 upgrade!

[routercnc]

Hi all,

The time has come to retire mk1 cnc router and build a better one! Mk1 used mainly wood for the frame and gantry, and had too much flex. Photo of mk1 attached, which is now dismantled.

Attached is a render of the mk2 machine. Spec is as follows:
system3 all in one board
33v power supply
3Nm steppers on X and Y
1.8Nm stepper on Z
ball screws all axes, dia 16mm with 5mm pitch
X axis ball bearings running on base frame, with adjustable side preload
Y axis rail and carraige (20mm)
Z axis rail and carraige (15mm)
1.5Kw water cooled spindle motor (Chinese)
1.5Kw VFD from Moeller

Photos show the mk2 progress on the base frame, gantry, and Z axis. Tomorrow the ball screws are being machined to fit into angular contact bearings
The aluminium side pieces need to be replaced with longer ones because during the build I decided to move the side rails out to make the gantry bearing system work better. Another job to do !

Photo of my spindle and VFD unit, to replace noisy router, including mains filter and 200W braking resistor. I intend to use a ThermalTake 850i water cooling unit (for PC CPUs), as I've seen this used elsewhere for this application.