450x300 Aluminium extrusion build from scrap/used parts

[Nealieboyee]

Btw,

Why are the the z carriages up that high?
And close to gether?

Move those to the top and lower horizontal plates.

So top Z and Y and bottom Z and Y carriage are really close to gether, assuming X is the bed.

Thanks for your comments.

I did that because the further I move them apart, the less z height I have, because I have only 300mm rails for the Z axis.

Here is the machine at the moment. The z axis is at the lowest point of its travel. I've modelled the ballscrews and rails etc exactly as they are. They arrived a few days ago. Still waiting for the second ballscrew for the x axis.

My only problem was trying to keep the z axis as close to the Y as possible, so that there is less overhang or twist forward on the gantry. So I had to move the ballscrew to the back of the gantry. Not ideal, but with everything being 16mm and 20mm alu plate, I figured it wouldn't pose too much of a problem. Thoughts?

I have now sourced 80x80x5mm steel box section, and I got it through a friend at work for £76 for a 7.5m length. Not too bad!

I've also ordered a 2.2kw water cooled spindle, 425oz motors and drivers. I'll be buying the transformers and caps soon for the power supply. Any idea what control board I should use?

Note I haven't modelled the second ballscrew for the x axis. Its basically a copy of the right hand side one.

Please let me know your thoughts?











Cheers
Neal