Sieg SX2 Plus build

[russell]

For powering the z axis I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that so far I've just bunged the motor on instead of the handwheel, there's at least 1.5mm of backlash through the rack and pinion, but the repeatability is pretty good, I just have the clearance plane in cambam set to 3mm.

Yes, I've seen that done. It depends what you're using the machine for but I would be worried about cutting forces moving the head up and down. How well do you find it works? What material are you cutting?

Russell.

[ian823478]

Yes, I've seen that done. It depends what you're using the machine for but I would be worried about cutting forces moving the head up and down. How well do you find it works? What material are you cutting?

Russell.

Hi Russell. It seems to be accurate to at least 0.1mm as far as I can tell, probably nearer 0.05mm. I have a counterweight on the head and the gib reasonably tight.
I mainly cut aluminium but had a play with some 304SS over the weekend. Here's a couple of pics (if I can work out how to upload them.......)

Cutting the stainless was painfully slow (10mm/min 1mm DOC with a 2.5mm slot drill) but that was to prevent heat buildup (no coolant and just HSS bits). I've definitely got a lot to learn and loads of tools etc to save up for!
I'm still on the original leadscrews/nuts and have the DIYCNC system 4 with 3.1Nm steppers driving direct. (I won't get the max from these motors cos the system4 only gives 3A while the motors can take 4A.) I'll probably change this to a 2:1 reduction even if I don't eventually move to ballscrews.
I'm trying to convince myself I can make a bit of pocket money from it before spending much more!
Cheers
Ian