I've built this machine 100 different times in my head!!!

[Iwant1]

Iwant1: How far are you with the design / build now?

Lots of changes have been made, its an ongoing process with every new thread on here, regarding motor drives and the strongest gantry designs. It gets so confusing. So far, I've managed to sell off my supported round rails and have already bought profiled rails for all axis, got a good price so went with 20mm. I also sold my 50v power supply and got a 2x24v toroidal coil from which I will build my 70v supply. And now I'm thinking about selling my pm752's for the digital am822's. I Know I know, I should have waited before I bought all the wrong components, but at the time, 2010, these were the most popular components. 2 years later I now want an even better machine than I originally thought of.

Anyway, I've also been busy buying all the electronics for my control cabinet. I will be using an old pc case, and filling it with goodies. Around £300 have been spent on all the electric bits, including screened cables, regular 16/0.2 cables, e-stops, limit and homing switches, relay gear, toriodal coil and electronics to rectify it, 12v and 24v psu's, small consumer unit, a selection of plugs and sockets, and the list goes on.

Chai a even sorted me out with a good price for a 2.2kw spindle and vfd, so I went and got some cooling components for this too. Mainly, a water pump with reservoir, double aluminium heat exchanger, 2 120mm pc fans and grills to go with the exchanger. Once these bit arrive, then I will see what size pvc hose I need.

I've been taking pic's of the control cabinet getting made and will post soon.

Adil

[WandrinAndy]

... I've ....... bought profiled rails for all axis, got a good price so went with 20mm ........ limit and homing switches...

I'm guessing that 20mm is kind of the norm for profile-rails and what Jazz for example has used on the majority of his machine pics?

How much space does one need to allow for limit switches?

[Iwant1]

How much space does one need to allow for limit switches?

Limit switches are quite small and can be put in most place, on the frame or moving parts like the gantry or z axis. I bought the regular small lever micro switches by Omron not the cheap unbranded ones.

But the homing switches, if you use good ones can be around 50mm x 50mm and 20mm thick, quite large. Again I went for Omron and got a good deal on ebay

[JAZZCNC]

I'm guessing that 20mm is kind of the norm for profile-rails and what Jazz for example has used on the majority of his machine pics?

Andy I only use 20mm because I get them for almost same money has 15mm so worth the few quid more. . . BUT they are massively over the top and 15mm would be far more than enough so use 15mm if you find some cheap.!