Belt driven 3 axis machine

since doing my last build a lot more people have joined starting their journeys. I get a lot of pleasure out of building things as that is what learning is all about. With the build i aim to meet a very certain criteria

• As large as i can possibly afford and fit in my ever shrinking garage
• Do not break the bank
• Follow the KISS philosophy
• Keep her indoors happy along the way

I had a serious reason for building the last one and that was to build a machine to help me build parts. This one i hope will allow me to do that better. Scrappy works but needs improvement and if i was to invest anymore time and money into it i would not get the bigger machine built.

Let the game's......BEGIIN !

No games this time Lee, been following every thread going on belt drive and i believe i have taken the best bits and formulated a reasonable design of my own. Already purchased 30mm X rails, 25mm Y rails and 16mm Z rails with perspective linear bearings. Have 50mm box section and angle in place to build the table. Just trying to source 10mm Ali plates for the Y sides Z faces. Its going to fun trying to drill and tap out the ends of the rails on my little lathe??? One thing for sure this is going to be a heavy little beast.

Wow thats some big size kit your going to use, look forward to seeing this baby come to life, keep us posted !

Dont get too exited about size, the rail entghs are only 1.4m for the 30mm and 1m for the 25mm. The spec is to be able to cut half sheets (4'x2'). This is realistic as to what i can fit into my workshop (garage), i'm also going to experiment with a home built spindle model based round a straight shank ER32 collt chuck. That 500w fern hole saw is just way tooooooo noisey.

Been very busy today and managed to get the frame built, run out of welding wire 3/4 way through and had to go out and get more. There is always something to interrupt the flow, what was more bloody annoying was the welder not working properly after changing the wire???? anyway i will get the frame top finished tomorrow and maybe some paint, shave a bit off the X rails and grab a beer :smile:

Anybody recommend a good brush on paint that does not streak? goint to have to do this paint ob outside due to limited room the workshop to spray it :-(

Hammerite! or smoothrite....

Brilliant stuff, i'd eat it for breakfast as well as paint metalwork with it if I could....

Looking forward to this thread, planning a wee build of my own, not just as big, particularly interested in the pulleys, belts and motors being used.

Not sure about the hammerite?? was hoping for something a bit better as even that leaves streaks...as for the belt system well we will have to wait and see how that turns out, buying the right type of belt can work out just as expensive as leadscrews.

Hammerite can be used with some sort of electrostatic gun ... gives a good finish from what I have seen ...

Just looked at the Hammerite Metalmaster on their site and i have to agree it looks impressive. Still £40 to buy the machine and the paint canisters are over a tenner a go. (excuse the bold could not change it after copy and paste)

try looking for a paint called oneshot, its a high gloss automotive and signwriters paint specificaly designed to be self leveling... evil stuff mind

Thanks for the advice i bit the bullet and bought some smooth hammerite (silver). If you have a shop called 'The Range' near you , they do the electrostatic gun for £19.99 and the paint for £6.00. Shame ours had none in stock. Got the bed finished and nipped over to my mate to have the ends of the rails shaved and drilled ready to be tapped (perfect fit Roger). I can only go up to 25mm down the spout of mine so will have to upgrade that at sometime in the future. Tomorrow i will finish off paint and if dry enough sort out the rails and start looking at the Y axis. i still need to make space for it in the garage (hope it does not rain tonight).

Well got the paint on today and as i suspected not that impressed, might have to give it a rub down and spray a further coat instead of the brush. i Tapped the ends of the rails out and looked at the Ends of the Y axis. As usual I'm thinking of changing the design already :-), nothng drastic just to utilise material i already have (save firing up the furnace to make the parts i need). More next week with some piccys