New CNC Mill on the horizon

[Jonathan]

Thanks for the replies, I also had one from Chai and confirmed the same thing I am actually planning on using the bk12 on both ends so wanted to make sure where the ball screw ended in relation to the placement of the bearing blocks.

There's two reason to use angular contact bearings (bk12) on both ends of the screw. One reason is it increases the axial stiffness of the screw, since you have twice the number of bearings supporting it. The other reason is it raises the critical speed of the screw, so you can spin it faster without it whipping. For the vast majority of DIY builds, the stiffness of the screw is at least an order of magnitude greater than other parts in the axis, so you're unlikely to see a tangible gain from doing so. The critical speed however is important, but for the 1610 screw you've chosen you'll be able to get good feedrates so long as the screw is no longer than 1500mm. According to an earlier post ('1200x900 footprint area with approx 1000 x 800 cutting area'), your machine is well below this length so using two BK supports on each screw will only increase cost with no useful gain.

(Search on google for 'Ballscrew stiffness calculation' and 'ballscrew critical speed calculator' if you want a reference for the above.)

Whilst i am here, this machine will have an adjustable bed, I was wondering what peoples opinions are on a sensible distance between adjustment holes? 50mm 100mm? That is how far the bed moves up and down between one set of holes and the next

It depends on your Z-axis travel. Also no need to have them evenly spaced, why not have more holes nearer the place you expect to be using the bed most often and less at the limits? In the past I've gone for 60mm spaced an 50mm spaced, simply because that what the size of the box section I used. You'll probably only move the bed about once a year anyway! I'm not sure I've even moved mine that often, and the latest machine is so much stronger that it doesn't matter where you put the bed.