New CNC Mill on the horizon

[fvfdrums]

So its been a bit of a while since the last post ..........

...... Anyway things have moved on a little bit and this coming weekend I am about to lay down the x rails for the final time on a bed of epoxy, weather is not treating me to nice temperatures but have a nice set up in the garage now to maintain a good heat source for a couple of days to aid with the curing.

In the mean time I have a question I am about to order the spindle for the machine, originally I was going to go with the 2.2kw WC chinese style spindle however I was wondering if there would be any benefit in going for the 3kw version? I am looking at mainly machining aluminium on this machine and wondered if the large powered unit would be any better? Is it worth the extra?

I shall be putting up some more pictures etc once I have the rails and everything on the machine after next weekend and then probably posting every 5 min asking about wiring the damn thing!

[Jonathan]

In the mean time I have a question I am about to order the spindle for the machine, originally I was going to go with the 2.2kw WC chinese style spindle however I was wondering if there would be any benefit in going for the 3kw version? I am looking at mainly machining aluminium on this machine and wondered if the large powered unit would be any better? Is it worth the extra?

In short.. yes as the extra torque helps when operating in the lower speed range.

[fvfdrums]

Thanks Jonathan, I thought that might be the case I was not sure how much difference it would make but really the cost at this stages makes no real difference so I think I will go down that route many thanks.

[routercnc]

In case you weren't aware the 3kW spindles are usually 100mm diameter, rather than the more familiar 80mm diameter of the 1.5 and 2.2kW units.

[fvfdrums]

yeah thanks for the heads up I had taken that into account with the mounts one of the other reasons for making the descision so I could finalise those.

3KW version now ordered so getting on boring out the mounts!

[fvfdrums]

Managed to get a bunch done today which was great!

Earlier this week I had some deliveries in the form of a 3kw spindle and inverter, some west system epoxy and extra slow hardener, some more aluminium plate and a few more essentials to move this project along a bit more.

I started out today machining up a mount for the x axis drive motor which is going to be driving 2 screws with one motor so needed a good mount and also space for a good tensioning system. The parts for the tensioners only arrived this afternoon so I have not had a chance to add those yet but they will be going on the taller part of the mount that the nema 34 motor is attached to.

I have managed to get some heat into the workshop so on sunday I am going to get the epoxy resin poured. Any tips? I have read most of the builds using this and I am sure if I follow those steps everything will work out fine! (heres hoping)

Finally I did not order enough aluminium for the spindle mount so mocked 2 plates up out of polycarbonate I had lying around and fitted that on to make sure I could get at everything for adjusting etc. So far so good all looking great, just need to spend saturday on the X axis mounting blocks and the timing pulleys and should be about there ready to pour the epoxy.

One last thing do people recommend drilling the x axis rail mounting holes before or after pouring the epoxy?

[JAZZCNC]

One last thing do people recommend drilling the x axis rail mounting holes before or after pouring the epoxy?

Do it after the pour it drills easy and doesn't cause any problems.

One word of warning with the epoxy and this cold weather.? I've just done a pour using 206 hardener which is faster curing and in a thermasticly heated workshop and after being left 5 days I still got a little sinkage after fastening rails. Nothing major but still enough to need a slight shim to avoid putting bind on the bearings.
Using the 209 I wouldn't touch yours for at least 10days. If you have any spare epoxy pour a little into something to simulate the width and depth your doing and then wait until it's gone hard so snaps when trying to bend. If it bends and doesn't break it's not ready. The surface will feel hard to touch but it won't be cured all way thru.