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  1. #1
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    Well, I've decided to start building the router I pictured over at CNCZone.

    Shall i build this router?

    I'll do the build log here at CNCUK because there seem to be several people nearby... :) Thanks for your encouragement so far.

    The build will be in 4 stages, partly to help my planning, and partly to spread the spending evenly (ouch!)

    Stage 1: Build basic MDF structure, bearing carriages, and get it all moving. No alu at this stage. If the machine's looking sloppy or flawed I may call it all off at this point (I'll only be about £120 down).
    Stage 2: Fit motion components to structure (bearings, leadscrews, motors, etc)
    Stage 3: Wire up the electronics and get the machine moving.
    Stage 4: Fit router (kress), make test cuts, then re-cut the final MDF and aluminium skin components.
    Stage 5+ Do useful work. I'm not planning for this to be purely a toy - it will be earning its build cost back. Might also earn itself some upgrades in the distant future.

    Attached pics: (how do I get them to appear in the thread?)
    Initial sketch
    Pile of MDF, with the base layed out dry
    Base glued and screwed, with gantry MDF cut
    Top surface of base, showing screwholes, and holes for later workholding (M8)

    That's enough for now. Next step is to put the lower skin on the base (hope it doesn't fall through the floor), and order the bright steel bar....

    Anyway, I have a prior history of almost finished projects. I hope putting myself under some pressure by posting will be useful!
    Feel free to give me grief for no progress!

    Cheers,
    Tom

    PS. Just tried to upload all the pics, but max size is 800x600. I don't really want to re-size everything manually - any way around this? CNCZone took the biggest size no problems.
    Sorry to keep you in (very mild) suspense chaps - it's late now...
    Last edited by Lee Roberts; 02-01-2010 at 03:26 AM.

  2. #2
    Humm, i thout i'd covered everyone.

    ok try uploading them now.
    .Me

  3. #3
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    Uploads are working today (thanks Lee)

    Attached pics:
    Initial sketch
    Pile of MDF, with the base layed out dry
    Base glued and screwed, with gantry MDF cut
    Top surface of base, showing screwholes, and holes for later workholding (M8)


    The only changes since I made the initial sketchup sketch is I've built the base from 25mm MDF, instead of 12mm. I saw the prices at Great Barr Sawmill and decided it was worth the extra £10. GBS also do a great service of ripping the sheet up to your dimensions free of charge (within reason) using a professional table saw. I got them to cut all the base pieces out, and I've cut all the gantry pieces myself. Fantastic service, and well worth the 1.5hr round trip.

    Steel's all ordered tonight for collection tomorrow from Eggleston Bros, so I might have a weekend of pillar drilling and bit sharpening ahead of me....
    Bearings are also on the way (ordered from ebay), so all the stage 1 ordering is done.

    Just got to build it now ,,,,,,
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  4. #4
    Hi Tom,

    Looking good mate and welcome to the forum.

    Regards, Jeff.
    Nothing is foolproof......to a sufficiently talented fool!

  5. #5
    Cant wait to see the build unfold Tom, who did you get the bearings from on ebay ?
    .Me

  6. #6
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    who did you get the bearings from on ebay ?
    I got them from this chap. Is that you? :) They've not arrived yet, but i'm expecting them to be low-rent.

    Some progress tonight - I got the M8 nuts fitted to the inside of the router base. I thought it would be a 30minute job....

    Ho hum. 74 nuts and 2.5 hours later I've just finished!

    Pics:
    I counterbored the 8mm holes with a 12.5mm bit on the underside of the base.
    Then pulled a nut into each counterbore using a screw. M8 nuts are ~14.5mm across the diagonal, so they're staying put.
    Finished. Just need to put the underside skin on now.
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  7. #7
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    My bearings arrived today. At 27p each I can't say I was surprised when they weren't packed in individual Nachi Bearing boxes, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. They're smooth and were bulk packed very cleanly with no grit in sight. They'll definitely do the job.....! :-)

    Also collected my steel tonight. Very heavy. And about 1m longer than a VW polo.

    Hows your arms?
    Arms are recovering thanks... They need to - they've got to hacksaw this steel up into at least 29 different pieces before I can spend any more money!

    Pics:
    27p "don't bet your life on 'em" bearings
    Worra lorra steel (quite nice sharp corners - never worked with bright flats before)
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  8. #8
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    Hey Kip,

    Yeah I'd love a bandsaw!
    I made the X carriages today (probably put pics up tomorrow). Funnily enough the hacksawing (5 cuts) took half an hour, and the pillar drilling took most of the rest of the day! (44 holes centred, 4mm pilot, then 8mm final size) The end result looks tidy, but blimey that's a lot of holes.

    Some good came of it though - I calculated the proper RPMs for drilling steel at different bit diameters. It turns out I've been drilling steel far too slowly for the last couple of years! It's like butter at the right speed (with some cutting fluid)...

    I've attached the spreadsheet I made just in case anyone finds it useful. The steel figures seem about right, but not tested alu or SS yet.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  9. #9
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    Lots of hacksawing and hole drilling this weekend.

    Pics:
    1) Finished X carriages
    2) X carriages mounted to Y gantry
    3) Detail of rear of gantry with emergency dowels - without these the 12mm MDF was splitting, and the gantry had almost no strength.
    4) The gantry wedged under the table to see what it looks like. Z plate is propped up to get an idea too.

    The next step is to get the X rails drilled and mounted to the underside of the table. Can't wait to get the gantry rolling... I've tested the carriages on the rails already and found them smooth rolling, but sensitive to quite small pieces of debris on the rails. Hopefully having them mostly tucked out of harms way will keep them fairly clean - if not I'll add some oiled felt wipers later.

    I'm quite enjoying this! Hopefully there'll be a 2nd working router in Derby soon,,,,,
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  10. #10
    Tom's Avatar
    Lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 11-11-2023 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 176. Referred 1 members to the community.
    Yes, they are quite chunky - nearly 3kg each.

    MDF is great to work with apart from the dust. I might buy water resistant MDF next time I buy a sheet - the extra resin might mean its a bit less dusty. One other downside of MDF is the smell - I can't wait to paint this thing - my house smells like B&Q!!!

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