welding steel base or just getting aluminium extrusion

[JoeHarris]

Honestly mate those pieces do not need CNC?! Just a drill press and a saw. I would spend you money on a bandsaw and a drill press which you will need later anyway and tell those guys where to go! If you by ecocast it is flat enough and if you take your time you can be plenty accurate enough without a CNC machine??


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[reefy86]

cheers mate, this was a quote i asked for before you guy's advised on doing the methods you suggested, it just came through this morning and i almost spat my coffee out lol.

[Desertboy]

Don't want to be insulting to anyone regarding price but personally i think this is disgusting but then i am no expert on whats worth what when it comes to stuff like this. i have been quoted just under £2k just for 4 pieces and 2 of those pieces are only small plates for the rails

Attachment 23427

I think 1 or 2 guys on here might be able to beat that quote lol.

You're not the only person on here to get crazy quotes for simple jobs Alex was quoted crazy prices to.

It might be an area thing because I got much more reasonable quotes in Leicester ranging from £200 (If I supplied material) to £400.

[reefy86]

i'm going to order the plates and practice on a spare piece and see how i go first. would defiantly need the z axis plates being machined though as that has grooves cut out for the ballscrew mounts.

[mekanik]

[QUOTE=JoeHarris;98003]Honestly mate those pieces do not need CNC?! Just a drill press and a saw. I would spend you money on a bandsaw and a drill press which you will need later anyway and tell those guys where to go! If you by ecocast it is flat enough and if you take your time you can be plenty accurate enough without a CNC machine??


+1

[Nr1madman]

Omg! Crazy prices!
I recomend desertboys advice and ask forum members for help.
For reference I got all my plates milled, pocketed, tapped and ground for about £200. Material included. 15 and 20mm thick steel.
The guy was super nice so I basically paid for material cost in weight and a tap that broke during the job.
I was lucky to find a member on a forum locally in sweden :)

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[Desertboy]

I had recesses on most of my plates which is why I had to have them cnc'd out I know Joe did it in his amazing thread with a router but that's beyond me lol.

I put recesses in my gantry plates so the extrusion sits 5mm into the plates (20mm thick plates) and I will do this on every router I ever build again, never seen anyone do it but I've took a lot of commercial magazine printers apart (my router is made from one) and their gantries are always recessed.

[reefy86]

wouldn't that make it awkward for adjusting though?

[reefy86]

ordered all my steel and paid for my new workshop unit ready to move in on the 5th of january so i am looking forward to sharing with you guys the progression especially from someone who knows naff all lol

[Desertboy]

wouldn't that make it awkward for adjusting though?

I can't adjust anything on my router lol, I'm relying on the quality of KJN aluminium (Extrusion) cutting and drilling and the quality of the plates my machine is made with. Also the straightness of aluminium extrusion.

Anything you can adjust is a potential failure point it's fine for you guys with better build quality than myself but for me if I can adjust it I can break it lol.

It's not quite true because I can home my Y axis independently to square the gantry.