Roadrunner CNC

Hi to all thought I would start by showing some pics of where I am in my build so far.


Before anyone asks yes this is our lounge and my good lady is ok with it being there as long as its only assembly work :encouragement:


I have inherited my dad's "overkill gene" with the Y axis and X axis having 160 x 40 Aluminium Profile apparently lightweight !


1.5 metre 20mm Twin ballscrew Y axis with 4 Hiwin carriages per side on 20mm square rail.


1 metre 16mm Ballscew X axis 4 Hiwin carriages on 16mm square rail.


The Z axis was a pre made assembly 250mm travel.


Gantry plates 10mm and bearing mounts 15mm and Z axis 10mm mount machining to hand drawn drawings in aluminium cant get to grips with CAD just yet :cower:


Nema 23 4NM motors now fitted


Will add more pics as I go.





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You could significantly increase stiffness by adding some 90 degree braces on the outside of those vertical plates but depending on what you intend to cut that might not be necessary,
Regards,
Nick

Have you got any specs on this, i.e. size, what you want to cut etc? What controller/BOB/Drivers are you using or thinking of using etc. etc. etc......

Will look into whether it requires reinforcing on the gantry plates see how she goes firstly but thanks for the observation comment taken on board.:encouragement:

For an idea of its size ballscrew's on Y are 1.5 metre's and X 1 metre

As for the electrickery side of things I have bought the following to motivate it all,:cower:

Just to mention I have used 1 supplier pretty local to me for all the major parts not sure if Im allowed to mention them in the post or not :whistle:but wanted to be in a position that if anything went wrong with what I have bought I can stand in front of a human and get it sorted out there and then.

1 x CP0-10V CNC 4 Axis with charge pump
4 x Nema 23 4Nm Stepper Motors
4 x CWD556 Microstepping Drivers
1 x 480Watt PSU 48Volts

I have downloaded trial of Mach 3 and installed it onto a Dell OptiPlex 780 running on a fresh install of 32 Bit Windows XP.

Will be using a UC100 motion controller to do the interpreting between PC and Bob.

Looking at acquiring Vectric Aspire software as my design software.

Hi Roadrunner,

Nice looking build you have going on there.
I am almost in the same level of components (electrical wise)
1 x CP0-10V BOB
4 x Nema 23 4Nm steppers
4 x CW5045 Drivers
2 x 36V PSU
1 x UC300 motion controller
1 x 24V PSU (Safety circuit)
1 x 5V PSU (BOB etc)

Did you by chance purchase through CNC4YOU?

I also have the same issues with CAD, I am a mech engineer and pencil and paper are what I know, but I guess we both need to brush up on CAD.
I am looking at FreeCAD its looking good so far.

Will enjoy watching your build as it might be in tandem with my own build.
ATB,
Ian

Hi Ian

Many thanks on the comments and yes bang on with the supplier really helpful and good quality stuff.

As for the CAD software I have been tinkering with Fusion 360 it works on Microsoft and Mac my favourite platform.

The software is free to hobbyist's and has built in CAM to boot so will experiment with that.

Feel free to ask away if I can help I will do my best to get you an answer

Regards Steve

Things have moved on a bit since I last posted we have been evicted from the warm lounge now to the final resting place well the machine has ................I think hehe.

Water cooled spindle was definitely the best choice for noise level!

Still need to finalise the limit stop positioning but getting very close to actually starting my first project.




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Well its not very detailed but for a 6mm ball ended cutter im happy with the initial results.

Attachment 19767

Always good to have something to show for the effort, looks good.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

Hi
Why Z slides are so close? There is room on X-plate could've been wider apart.
Unsupported rails are not stiff enough
I made mine narrow too but X plate was the same width
Attachment 20132
Otherwise is nice and clean

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tom J

Hi
Why Z slides are so close? There is room on X-plate could've been wider apart.
Unsupported rails are not stiff enough
I made mine narrow too but X plate was the same width
Attachment 20132
Otherwise is nice and clean

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Hi Tom

If I was to build another I would change a few things :ambivalence:

Not sure what the unsupported rails is in reference to ?

regards Steve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roadrunner

Hi Tom

If I was to build another I would change a few things :ambivalence:

Not sure what the unsupported rails is in reference to ?

regards Steve

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Hi Steve
You have nice Hivin rail on X and Y axis and round rails on Z which are supported at each end. Those rails can be supported like in the my picture or free like in your case.

Attachment 20138

Yes its true, every time you build new machine is better and better, question is where is the end?
Just spend one day revising my latest project because somebody point me on overhanging issue of my spindle in relation to the gantry. I managed save only ~50mm of that distance but with price of complicating design.
It was wright approach as I probably would regret if I kept like was.
Your work is good - clean and nice, wish you happy new year
Tom

Hi Tom

A belated but happy new year to you to.

I have been trying to wrap my head around now putting my machine into CAD world by using Fusion 360 its taken some time but the way the software

is damn clever and I'm slowly getting there.

Will attach some pics shortly of where I have got to with the model.

Cheers Steve


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Steve It is well worth the time and effort and you will thanks yourself later by learning the CAD stuff now as you WILL need it later when the machine is finished.

I know you have built the Z axis it seems a shame to put Hivin rails on X and Y and not use them on the Z.

In fact, the total of four Hiwin rails, two each side, for X seems a bit OTT and using a pair of those for Z instead would probably be worthwhile. I doubt that you need more than one rail each side for X and adding more than that complicates the build without adding any real benefit.