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  1. #11
    thanks for the information, i took a look and the site has some good information my machine is having a moving gantry not a moving table due to if you have a moving table you end up with a machine with twice the foot print compared to a moving gantry machine and as i have said i do not have the room to spare so that was the reason i choose the moving gantry and the reason for using the aluminium profile is due to not having any welding equipment if i had started doing this back when i was still working then i would have built a welded frame and also most likely built a much larger one, in the past i use to go to extremes and either go as large as possible or as small as possible, this machine is as large as i can build with the room i have i think it will end up with a working size of 340X300X150 as the rails i have are 420x420x250 and as i will lose at least 80mm for the bearings plus whatever space i leave between them so on the x axis the bearings are touching so i only lose 80 mm as the bearings are 40x40, on the y axis i am thinking of leaving around 40 mm between them so i will get a 300 mm working length and on the z axis i think i will end up with around 150 mm i accept that using the 20 mm profile that the machine will not be that strong but i only want to play around with some softwood and foam board, as long as i have some fun with it it will have been worth the money.
    at the start the machine was only going to be used as a 3D printer but then i thought that i could add a laser cutter/engraver to it and when i came across the low cost spindle i decided to add that to it as well.

    again many thanks to everyone who has given me some feedback,
    regards Poppy Ann.
    If a cluttered bench indicates a cluttered mind what does a empty bench indicate!!!!!! Albert Einstein

  2. i was thinking of this yesterday :-)
    if i had to do this i will make it with 2 gantry on the same bed when one works the other is totally parked at one end.
    the Milling one would be strong, with ballnut.
    the laser + printer head would be fast with belt and pulleys.
    don't see too much interest with a laser diode for cutting, but will work for wood marking.
    cutting PMMA etc needs CO2 with a invisible infrared pathway made with dedicated head, mirrors etc available on ebay

    it sounds interesting...
    Last edited by pierantoine; 01-01-2016 at 07:06 PM.

  3. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by pierantoine View Post
    i was thinking of this yesterday :-)
    if i had to do this i will make it with 2 gantry on the same bed when one works the other is totally parked at one end.
    the Milling one would be strong, with ballnut.
    the laser + printer head would be fast with belt and pulleys.
    don't see too much interest with a laser diode for cutting, but will work for wood marking.
    cutting PMMA etc needs CO2 with a invisible infrared pathway made with dedicated head, mirrors etc available on ebay

    it sounds interesting...
    Hi there,

    Since my last message I ended up changing my machine from a moving gantry to a moving table but that is as far as I got at the moment it is sat not used just waiting for two micro switches to be fitted to the table for the end points but it has been buried under lots of junk as I an in the process of moving everything to my shed I recently had built for my hobbies but after moving around 1/2 of them out it is full so I need to think of something else to get room for everything.
    thanks for your input,
    Regards Poppy Ann.
    If a cluttered bench indicates a cluttered mind what does a empty bench indicate!!!!!! Albert Einstein

  4. #14
    If you want a combination machine have a look at this site http://www.vicious1.com/ I did build but the cnc router is only good for wood and plastics probably suitable for what you need though. It is all put together with Arduino and Ramps 1.4 but uses Estlcam very succesfully with repetier firmware for Routing. Loads of videos available on You Tube if you search mostly printed CNC. If you are interested I have a bundle of parts from the one I disassembled you can have if you pay the postage, you will just need some 25mm conduit and the other hardware all cheap enough on Aliexpress if you're patient enough to wait for delivery.
    Last edited by lucan07; 22-02-2016 at 10:12 AM. Reason: forgot to add link

  5. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by lucan07 View Post
    If you want a combination machine have a look at this site http://www.vicious1.com/ I did build but the cnc router is only good for wood and plastics probably suitable for what you need though. It is all put together with Arduino and Ramps 1.4 but uses Estlcam very succesfully with repetier firmware for Routing. Loads of videos available on You Tube if you search mostly printed CNC. If you are interested I have a bundle of parts from the one I disassembled you can have if you pay the postage, you will just need some 25mm conduit and the other hardware all cheap enough on Aliexpress if you're patient enough to wait for delivery.
    Hi Lucan,

    Thanks for the reply and offer of parts but at the moment I have put the rig on hold as I recently bought one of the mini lathes and I am spending my time building a steam engine the cnc machine is just sat on my kitchen table with just 2 micro switches waiting to be fitted on the X axis to complete it except for the micro switches it is ready to run all wired up set up to run under Mach3 software the site you put up looks like a great easy build, I just downloaded the software Estlcam that it shows on the Vicious1 site and it looks much easier to use compared to Mach3 so once I return to the machine I will give it a try.

    Again many thanks for the advise and offer of parts.

    Regards Poppy Ann.
    If a cluttered bench indicates a cluttered mind what does a empty bench indicate!!!!!! Albert Einstein

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