Strike CNC (My first CNC router)

**Strike CNC** · 16-02-2012

Hi all
there must be some typos wrong the motors are nema 23 4NM
this machine has dual 20mm ball screws the motors are more than powerful to power these personally i would not move up the the 34s as there are inherent resonance issues & problems with acceleration & deceleration as well as the other problems stated in previous post that's not putting the 34s down they are good motors but not needed on this machine our competitors use only 3nm & lower in some cases our are 4NM motors powered & high voltage
RE the bed once the bed is ready for skimming the bed is 34mm thick there will be no discernible flex issues.

**John S** · 16-02-2012

Your observations over using high powered 23's against 34 are exactly what I have come across.
I recently refitted a home conversion done by a third party, they had fitted 1800 oz 34's on a small mill with the understanding that bigger is better.
Once changed to 750 oz in and power upgraded to 72 volts the rapids doubled.

As I said in a previous post that enclosure was a bargain but then again that's the difference between running a business and pissing about in a shed !

**Shinobiwan** · 16-02-2012

Originally Posted by Strike CNC

this particular CNC router was originally a 1200x1200 for this client he then chose to up grade to the enclosure as well as the hiwin profile rails on the 1 axis, we did recommend the hiwin rails on all axis & pointed out they are far superior on all axis as opposed to the standard supported bearings in a ideal world we would only recommend hiwin rails on all axis but this is ultimately the customers decision weather to go for the upgrade or not & we have to supply the customer with what they want.

I would also like to add that you did upgrade the base axis to hiwin rails at cost(£240) simply because I couldn't afford it otherwise and you wanted these rails in place as the machine size pretty much needed them. A real shame I couldn't stretch my budget a little further to get the other 2 axis done as well. Hat's off to you for doing this. I've since looked at the prices of hiwin rails and bearings blocks and they're not cheap.

that said as long as the Z axis rails are not long unsupported shaft for the Z axis is acceptable many of our competitors use unsupported rails on the X & Y which to us is not acceptable.

I think it'll be fine. I have a Bosch GCM10SD Mitre Saw that slides on about 35cm of unsupported rails. Its extremely accurate and the only thing that moves during a cut is blade deflection. With the cnc, as long as I keep to sensible speeds and materials that the machine was designed for I can't see any problems.

This particular machines gantry is our standard range & has heavy gauge 30x180 gantry back support, the upright gantry is heavy gauge 40 series we only use heavy gauge extrusion on all our products including all bases & mini models this gives a more rigid & robust design, the Z axis back plate as well as the front Z plate bearing our logo is solid plate.i do hear your criticism about the supports but once you see the machines in person you get to see just how rigid they are we have been told pictures do not give our machines any justice

Would have been great if I could have moved up to something like a couple of 80x80mm beams for the gantry and 40x200 for the uprights but as always my budget was the limiting factor. Its good to know you used the heavy gauge of extrusion rather than the light or even the eco version that have progressively more and more voids in the cross section.

Again I've got a great base and enclosure so DIY'ing a machine in the future and just bolting it down on the base is a possibility. Something like the Fine Line Automation FLA300 kit or cncrouterparts CRP4848 for example. This isn't something I'd do for at least a year or two however but the option is there if I ever felt the need for higher feedrates or harder materials.

Also the cost of the enclosure was 600.00 this is VERY cheap as we use lexan polycarb (some of the highest quality in the business) this plastic will not break infact you can tie it in a knot bend it even stamp on it & it will not break the cost also includes the larger base for the CNC as the standard machine base was 1400x1400 with the enclosure the base had to be 1850x1750 so included all the materials to make the larger base so this was a very cheap upgrade for enclosure, yes you can make one cheaper out of wood if you go down the DIY route but we are a business & a wooden enclosure may not fit in with the overall look of the machine. This client payed £4460.00 for this model & we thought it was a very good price

I can't argue with the price. You gave a few bits for free or at cost. And I'm pretty sure you lost money on the enclosure if you factor the labour. Price is always subjective but its what your happy to pay that matters and at £4.5k I'm happy. I looked around at the alternatives and the only way you can beat that is by DIY'ing and that's assuming your competent enough to pull it off to the same standard (I'm not!) and you also don't mind spending a good number of hours building (I don't have the time either).

Anyway the machine will arrive within the next few hours and I'll post some photo's.

**Shinobiwan** · 16-02-2012

I thought you guys might be interested to see what the machine will be cutting so have attached a couple of renders to show.

**Shinobiwan** · 17-02-2012

Its arrived!

I can tell you it wasn't fun getting it off the lorry and into position. I had a couple of mates around to give a hand and the 3 of us thought we'd try to lift the whole thing. Wrong! It weighs around half a ton and quickly abandoned that idea. In the end we had to break it down into 3 sections for us to be able to comfortably man handle it off the lorry and into position. We tackled it by removing the router from the base and discovered this was by far where the bulk of the weight was. Once that lump was gone the base was pretty light although a bit awkward to manoeuvre because of the size. Before attaching the router back on to the base we spent a lot of time levelling in all directions as the floor does slope a little. Once that was done we bolted the router back on. Last part was the top enclosure and carrying this around wasn't too bad but getting it back on the machine was a right pain in the backside. The low ceiling in the workshop and tall gantry made it impossible and after some head scratching and a fair bit of swearing we dismantled it and then re-assembled on the machine. Ugh, never want to do that again.

By the time we'd done it was 9pm and way too late to start taking it for a test drive. Its going to be the weekend now before I have time and its going to kill me to wait. At least its setup ready to go now anyway.

First impressions are positive. The build is sturdy and the photo's don't do it justice at all. I've tried to shake the gantry and there's no play or flex whatsoever. Very well put together and polished package.

Here's some images.