Brand new newbie

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Martin,

With those friends then your sorted and just need a decent design that's tailored to your requirements. It's not difficult really and a lot easier if you can narrow the use to a specific area like Woods, plastics etc. If your wanting a machine that cuts everything IE: Soft and Semi hard materials like Aluminium then it gets more critical regards design.
To build an all-round-machine then really it will most likely be "Jack of all trades master of none" and it's very very difficult to build a machine that excels at everything.
I find from experience that you get a much better machine with an easier build if you identify your Main need and build to suit that need.

Now from what your saying wood use will be your main Use and that makes building decent DIY machine much easier has the tolerances and strength required for wood are much less than say cutting Aluminium or cutting to Very fine engraving tolerances.
Now I'm not saying you can just throw it together and still needs certain amount of care to design and attention to build quality but the it's much less forgiving.

If you have experienced Welders and Grinding services available then it will certainly help big time regards build accuracy you then just need a design that suits your requirement best and correct choice of components.

Post your ideas and lets have look.!!

Good luck.

[Grit monkey]

Hi Jazz,

Thanks for your advice. I've seen quite a lot of threads you've posted on and you sure do help a lot of people, for which I'm sure everyone is very grateful!(how on earth do you find time to get into the workshop? haha.

I will try get a rough drawing knocked up in sketchup and post here on this thread. How soon I do this is entirely dependent on my nearly 2 year old daughter giving daddy time(or not turning off the computer!). I have seen links on threads on here where I can get some plugins for the parts needed which can then be added to the drawing.

I think I would, at some point like to make an entry into machining alloys (think tax disc holder for the bike, just pretty basic stuff really) so I take your point about not being able to throw stuff together and expect excellent tolerances, but I do tend to over engineer anyway. I've done lots of concrete shuttering, so this is where the over engineering comes from.

Anyway, thanks again Jazz, I'm sure I'll be calling on your knowledge at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future :)

Due to my low paid job, the build will take quite some time, but it would be well worth the wait.

[JAZZCNC]

I've seen quite a lot of threads you've posted on and you sure do help a lot of people, for which I'm sure everyone is very grateful!(how on earth do you find time to get into the workshop? haha.

Ah well that's the beauty of CNC.? . . .Setup. . click cycle start and walk away. Thou it does take a while to get the trust in machine to do that and walk into house.!! . . . . Often thou on an evening I'm sat in my swivel chair in workshop watching it cut while typing these replies.! . . Like Now. . Lol

Crack on and get in-touch when your ready

Dean.

[Grit monkey]

Ok, I've managed to grab a few minutes on sketchup and here is pic of the torsion box.

The method I've used makes for an extremely rigid construction. The top and bottom would be 15mm alu, and the inside of the box would be 10mm alu with the perimeter double skinned to allow plenty for any fastenings.


Ps, the overall size of the box is 1100mm x 700mm x 130mm

[~andy]

What's your calculated weight for this monster base?

[JAZZCNC]

Ok, I've managed to grab a few minutes on sketchup and here is pic of the torsion box.

The method I've used makes for an extremely rigid construction. The top and bottom would be 15mm alu, and the inside of the box would be 10mm alu with the perimeter double skinned to allow plenty for any fastenings.


Ps, the overall size of the box is 1100mm x 700mm x 130mm

Massive OTT really and you could easily get away with half the amount of material and still be plenty strong enough. Your mate won't thank you either having to Weld that lot. . .Lol

Also You say your short of funds do you know how much Aluminium plate costs.? . . . . Even at mate rates that much plate will cost plenty.!

[Grit monkey]

Thank you for the chat Jazz, very informative and certainly lots of food for thought and I think I'll be taking your advice and going with a wood machine.

Anyway, time to get sketching!

[Grit monkey]

I have taken on board the advice given and have drawn another base.
The top is 1100mm x 700mm x 15mm, the sides are 100mm x 10mm as are the braces on the inside. The channel I have left because I'm undecided whether or not to use two steppers for the x-axis or just the one, in all likelihood it will one in the centre
with an upgrade to two when funds allow.
So far the base alone will weigh somewhere iro 50.6 Kg. I haven't yet sourced a stockholder but will ask for recommendations when I'm ready to start buying.

With the base, I will need to think about where to fasten the linear rails, will they be better on the side of the base giving more work area? will they be better on the top for rigidity? Does where I want them to fit have a bearing on the type of linear rail used?

Comments welcome.