New CNC Mill on the horizon

[fvfdrums]

D.c

Thanks

Yes have accounted for around £450.00 worth of "finishing" as it's titled in our budget all those bits really add up I guess I am quite fortunate to have a fair amount of bits "in stock" also cutters and collets included from running a large cnc lathe previous to this but your right it's surprising how it all adds up!

[fvfdrums]

Ok right I have hit the new year running so have a full months work of build time allocated between work over Feb and Mar. Now I have the dreaded tax return out the way I have the rest of this week to work on finalising the design etc whilst I am doing this I would like to try and figure out the best place to source things other than what I already know so if people in the know would not mind chiming in to let me know where they have bought the following from eg reputable suppliers:

Nema 34 & 23 steppers ?? chinese supplier?

Leadshine Drivers ?? chinese supplier wont be ordering these until the machine is mechanically together but would be good to know

2.2kw Chinese spindle ??

Steel Box section 80x40 ideally any good suppliers?

Alumimnium plate I will be getting from aluminium warehouse as this seems the best place for cut to size pieces

Ball screws and lead screws and bearing holders from Chai

Timing Pulleys from Bearing station or bearing boys

Any help with this list would be greatly appreciated, apologies if there is a thread with all this on I have just not come across it as yet

Cheers

Francis

[kingcreaky]

Il help with the bits I can,
I used Aluminium Supplier | Aluminium Stock | Aluminium Warehouse for ali. I did a bit of a hunt and these lot where about as cheap as anywhere else and very convenient.
I also used and have been very pleased with chai.
One thing I will say though, is the BK bearing block for the RM16x ballscrews I bought seem to be very good. However the BF bearing housing seems rather poor. Fortunately, for my two long X ballscrews, I opted to have the screws machined at both ends, and use BK at either end. If I did it again I would also do the same for the Y ballscrew and Z Ballscrew.

timing pulleys, i used htd 15mm from Bearing Station - Adhesives, Bearings, Belts, Chains, O Rings, Oil Seals, Pulleys & Sprockets

[D.C.]

For the steel if you want online try fhbrundle:

Rectangular Hollow Steel Sections - F H Brundle

For the aluminium either aluminium warehouse that kingcreaky already pointed out or ascmetals.
Metal Stockists: ASC Metals Lincoln Ltd. - Metal stockholders for East Midlands/North of England

It is worth phoning around a few local metal suppliers to see what is available from actual people rather than online it might work out cheaper especially if you can collect it.

For the motors I was planning on ordering from cnc4you, the price seems as good as ordering from china surprisingly... Unless anyone has found anywhere better of course.

Nema23 3.1Nm

The spindle/vfd off ebay, I think a few people have used solar.jean

[kingcreaky]

Whoever you use, Id recommend getting all of your electronics from one supplier.

Although I got my steppers from cnc4you also, Zapp Automation Ltd is a site sponsor, and from what I read a member on here and a very good at providing advice and support to the products you buy from him. No slight on cnc4you but if I did it again id use zapp for the motors / electronics as I suspect this area will trip me up most when I come to assemble it. as ive used an array of suppliers I suspect this may cause me a headache when asking support questions.

[fvfdrums]

Thanks for the replies so far thats a great help, to be honest they are all names that have crossed my path before but its reassuring to find people whohave good experiences using them so thank you :)

Quick question Kingcreaky regarding the machining of the leadscrews I was considering doing the same think about having both ends machined but using the fk bearing supports the only problem I have is that I cannot work out from chais drawings when assembled does the leadscrew actually make contact with the face of the bearing within the housing or does it butt up against the seal outside? or is the seal wide enough to accomodate the machined portion of the screw through it ?

I figure a drawing may help here to explain what I mean if I get a load of ?????? coming back :)

[kingcreaky]

Sounds like the very same question I spent best part of a day trying to work out, then Jonathon helped me :D

this is what you are looking for (I think)


So, for me I wanted both ends machined to fit the BK style block. I wanted 1500mm of actual screw. First off, I required type A machining at both ends and I also wanted to drive the screw via a pulley so required dimension F to be slightly longer. so I order 2 of these for the X

** (1603mm Total length) I need (1500mm) of screw, so 1500mm PLUS one end machined to type A (except dimension F to be 25mm instead of 15, and the other end machined again to type A, but without any F


when they actually arrived they are more like 1606mm. (I think this is because in china they have more space for each mm or their tape measures are backwards or something. perhaps the marks on the tape measure have to be slightly further apart to faciliate for the funny letters they use? PMSL

[fvfdrums]

So am I right in thinking that where the screw ends and the machining begins is where it butts up against the bearing inside the housing?

Or put simpler if I ordered 1200mm of screwthread (plus the machining) with the bk attached at both ends I would have 1200mm of screw between the faces of the bk blocks?

I have just redesigned how I am mounting these as to start with I had fixed plates to hold the FK version bearings but was a little concerened that if I order this screw and find its even 3mm oversize length on the machining it wont fit so by going back to the bk style I have a bit more flexibility.

[fvfdrums]

right ignore the last bit I think I have figured it out, is there a small spacer that goes in the bearing block?

[kingcreaky]

Sorry, gonna have to pass on this question in the hope somebody else can reply. Until I get home and have a look atleast. I havent really inspected them. However, I think the bearing buts up against where the screw starts... no spacer.