Hi From Hereford

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Don't waste your time with any of those designs they are Junk.

..... Good luck don't be afraid to ask.

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Noted - but don't agree that the plans are "junk" the machines portrayed in the plans serve a purpose and have been put together for a budget conscious builder (as a pensioner I include myself in that category). I'm not fooling myself that they're super accurate machines but not every piece of work needs to be done to the 'thou' sometimes ± 1 mm is close enough. As the research goes on I'm finding that I probably need a smaller 'accurate' cnc and a larger less accurate one...

Francis

Hi folks, I've been doing a few things: looking at commercial desktop machines and how they go together, looking at build threads and how they evolve, looking at some of the rebuild of the Chinese stuff and doing some parts costing. Initially looked at linear bearings and tracks for the Y & Z axii, motors, lead screws etc., even though I'm looking at a quite small machine the cost is rising sharply. Sharply enough for me to look as supported rails rather than linear bearings/tracks. Not looked at the electronics yet. All part of the learning process, I need to take more time. I was hoping to get this project going quite quickly but I think it will be a few months before I pull all the bits together ready for assembly.

I'll put some of my drawings up for discussion over the next few days to see if my thinking is in the right direction. Still looking at a fixed gantry with moving bed. Twin support rails under the bed (Y) and across the X axis and paired rails on the Z axis...

Not decided yet on the type (diameter or pitch) of lead screw for each axis but decided not to use toothed belt drives.

Cheers
Francis

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Originally Posted by fwm891

Noted - but don't agree that the plans are "junk" the machines portrayed in the plans serve a purpose and have been put together for a budget conscious builder (as a pensioner I include myself in that category). I'm not fooling myself that they're super accurate machines but not every piece of work needs to be done to the 'thou' sometimes ± 1 mm is close enough

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Ok well build one then.!! . . . Some times folks have to learn the hard way.

I'm going to move design thoughts over to this thread: http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/11661...neral-thoughts to avoid confusion and flow...

Francis

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Ok well build one then.!! . . . Some times folks have to learn the hard way.

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Hi Francis,

Sorry I fired off here a little quickly here but sometimes folks need bit of "shock n awe" to slap sense into them.!

You are obviously the type to buy on impulse otherwise you wouldn't have bought those plans in the first place. Anyone who had done any decent amount of research would have quickly seen the flaws in those designs.

Cannot stress enough the importance of doing the research which unfortunately means trawling thru threads and lots of reading.
Now sadly many don't want to do this so instead prefer to cut corners like with kits etc. We here on the forum know this recipe for disaster and wasting money.
So WE and I try to steer people away with our advice which has been accumulated while doing our own due diligence and over many years of building and using machines like in my case.
After many years of doing this you get used to people ignoring advise and doing there own thing. Which is perfectly fine that's there choice.
However now and again someone, You, in this case, will catch me on an off day where I just think "Stuff You" learn hard way.
Now You'd think after all this time I'd learn to just think it rather than say it but I've always been FIK got me in loads trouble has a Kid...Lol

So please accept my apology for being so blunt.:rolleyes:

Not a problem JAZZCNC, I'm very impulsive and very nearly pressed the BUY button on a Chinese CNC on *bay but fed the name of that machine into *oogle as the add on the bay had very little detail. The search though pulled up more problem posts than positive, same with another Chinese m/c...
Then I found a link to this forum... :thumsup:

Zapp Automation make their own router that might be worth looking at, it looks quite nice to me. All the hard work done you just have to put it all together.

Thanks Snapper, it does look solid - However I discounted this quite early on purely on price. But they do quite a range of DIY build parts.

I can't remember how much it is, but I remember thinking it's not too bad for what I think would probably be a carefully made British machine. And all the help and support you'll get from someone who knows their stuff a phone call away.

Price up a DIY build and it soon starts getting costly. Linear rails, ballscrews, exstrusions if you use them. Then having machining done for end plates, Z axis plates, keyways for the rails etc. and to get everything nice and square. Unless you have access to machinery to do these bits yourself, building a solid DIY machine on a budget isn't going to be easy. Not that it's ever easy anyway!