Smiler's Build

[Smiler]

Supa! all round Jeff, really nice to see your machine go from start to finish and also the products its been making. Keep us updated with the pics when you make somthing new using the cnc machine its always nice to see, one question...

Why did you go with the supported rail for the Y Axis but guideway rail on the X ?

I will certainly keep posting pics, I have a sign to do for a shop in Cumbria and that will be approx 2ft x 3ft sandwich board and it will have to be very special. It will also be the one I thnk I'll vdeo, I'm only sorr I didn't vdeo the"Tara" sign as it was a really nice job to work on.

I went with the guided rail for two reasons, first, the rails came up on the bay at the exact same time I decided to change from unsupported rail plus it was 25mm and new. The price (103 quid for two rails plus four trucks)was too good to miss. The second reason was I figured that the supported round rail is designed to take a load vertically and my Z axis weighs in at 60+ pounds with router and guided rail would be much more rigid. It also has the advantage of bringing the Z axis closer to the centre of rotation of the X axis taking a little load off the tool.

Red Mega machine!!. . . Vnice:clap:

Nar then are you up for Q&A. .? Cos that is very much the same machine I have in mind to build, just different....Ere.!!. .that dunt sound reet does it!! just trust me I know what a mean.:confused:

Size wise it will be about the same, supports for X rails and the gantry will be made from a very stiff but light Ali beam that I knicked from mi grannys stanner stair lift:naughty:. . kinder like a H beam but looks like this |=| and the rest will be a mix of 50mm box and Ali plate to stiffen everything up.
Jurys still out on wether to run all axis on ball screws or mix belt n screws?
Either way I will drive X from both sides.

So my Q,s (not meny)
Q1: What size steppers u using? and do u like them?
Q2: how do find the belt/rack system?
Q3: Now you've fettel'd it with Y rails how would you feel bout cutting Ali? IE: Precision wise how good do feel it is?
Q4: Errrrrr cant think of 1:confused:

Any help would be appreciated.
cheers
Dean.:beer_smile:
Argh. . just thought another!!. . Q4.1: IF you started from scratch what would you change or do different?

Answer 1, 3Nm wired in Parallel. I took the easy way out and bought the Driver Kit 1 from Zapp and I've been delighted with it.

Answer 2, Rack drive was the one recommended by the Solsylva plans and when you look at his plan book, the guy really has done his homework. He gives options for several types of drive, double ball / ACME screws, belt, chain and lists their pros and cons. The rack drive has the best accuracy/resolution/speed/cost envelope for my machine. A rack system is also easily extendable.

Answer 3, I can only report that the little bit of ally machining I did went very well in that it was very smooth and the finish was very nice. The guided rails have added so much rigidity. I didn't bother with measurements, it was just a manual cut and experimental. I'll do a proper job at the weekend and report back once I've designed and cut an ally webcam mount to replace the PVC one.

Answer 4, What would I do different.....
1 Do loads more research
2 Do loads more research
3 Do even more research.
4 ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE THE MISTAKES
5 Know from day 1 what I wanted to make and how big the machine would need to be. I wasted loads of money buying bits and finding the machine had outgrown them before they got delivered.
6 No unsupported anything

As far as the machine stands now, I would not change anything. It far exceeds the hopes I had at the start.

Oh and any chance of some more pics mainly of the belt/rack and back side of gantry motor mount bits. . . Oh and whats the white box thingys on top n sides? . . . Oh and any chance of closeer pic of router mount cos i got same router kicking around? . . . Oh and I wont ask for owt else promise

Will do Dean, You'll like the router mounts. The slides on the 3612C plunge base are 20mm so all I used were two 20mm round rail mounting blocks and two 125mm long offcuts of 20mm round rail. Space them the same distance apart on your Z as they are on the plunge base, unscrew the fine adjuster on the router, pop the router off the plunge base and slip it onto the Z axis then tighten the locking lever, job done. I will also be adding a bracket to give a little more support to the router at the t

And to everyone else, thank you for the kind comments. This build is not over by a long way and then of course comes the plasma and the lathe and the......

Regards to all, Jeff.