1st Build - Woodshop CNC Router to handle 1220x606mm sheet materials

**glynster** · 19-03-2015

Wow I love the Festool laminate trimmer mount, beautifully done isn't it. An expensive router to smash into a table surface though :-)

I like your design for the table insert - do you have problems getting it to sit flush again after you have removed it? Any reason this is preferable to removing the entire bed?

**Ger21** · 19-03-2015

Actually, a wood router is not heavy at all, when you compare it to better, more powerful options (spindles).

Weight is your friend, and shouldn't really affect speed if the machine is powered correctly.

You have the 3rd part backwards. The slower you go, the more likely it'll be to cause burning. The faster you cut, the cooler the bit will be, and the longer it'll last. If your machine is rigid enough, you'll find that the lack of spindle power will be the limiting factor in how fast you can go.

**routercnc** · 19-03-2015

A cnc router for cutting wood with 1200x600 (or 1000) cutting area is entirely possible with aluminium extrusion but would need to be the heavy gauge type and around 80x160 in section.

My machine has a gantry of about 700mm width, using heavy gauge 80x80 section and I would go bigger next time.

Recent designs on this forum have also used an 'L' shape arrangement from 2 rectangular sections to get stiffness in 2 axes, which is certainly worth considering.

If going for the raised gantry style then 20mm side plates are a minimum, but I would recommend going all out for the raised X axis style with no gantry sides. It's not much more effort to make and will give better performance.

You mention 20mm round bars not flexing much but I'm afraid you would be surprised how much they do flex. My very first machine had 20mm chromed round bars and matching linear bearings and was one of the reasons that some of the holes were a bit oval. Instead I think you would be OK with supported round rail for wood cutting, but would look for profile linear rail on at least the Z axis (short therefore cheaper) as it is vastly superior.

You also mention rack and pinion but I would stick with ballscrews all round personally. In terms of how the end supports work - one end (usually the driven end) sits in a housing containing a pair of angular contact bearings. When the securing nut is tightened this supports the ballscrew, allows it to rotate, but prevents axial movement.
The other end is just a simple support bearing and just holds the ballscrew in place whilst it rotates.
If this is a bit daunting then rest assured that you can buy a ballscrew 'set' with the ballscrew, fixed bearing, floating bearing, retaining nut (special) and drive coupling all included. You can even request particular lengths machined to your requirements for very little extra - have a look on ebay or aliexpress for examples.

You can cut aluminium profile on a mitre saw if you fit a TCT aluminium cutting blade. Take your time and it will go through like butter.

**Boyan Silyavski** · 19-03-2015

From what you say i imagine you as an hardcore woodworker

.

Let me break some illusions:

-the best Festool router is crap compared to the cheapest Chinese water cooled spindle. Once you run a proper spindle you will wonder why you ever considered a router.

-Wooden machine base is asking for problems and wasted money

-Aluminum profile gantry on that span is asking for problems. That can be cured by bolting steel back plate to reinforce the aluminum profiles though. Profiles, not profile.
There is a cheap way to make a steel gantry and more expensive way, to make aluminum plate gantry. On your intended span the gantry will be somewhere like 1450-1500 wide/for 1000mm travel/ . So you don't need to know how to solder. Just design it and have somebody made it for you. It will still cost cheaper than aluminum. And the aluminum also needs to be bought and machined. So it could be as simple as soldering 2x 100x100x3mm together

-in my signature is the link to my 1rst build. You could find it quit inspiring if you like that style of machine. Somewhere inside are the free plans in sketchup. You could use ball screws, mounts and so, as i have drawn them one by one checking against the real product.
In fact all your questions about PR, ball screws, Breakout boards, motors and so are answered there. I am glad that at the time Dean broke my illusion about the rack and pinion and i ended using ball screws

-I say it every time : until you have them in your hands, dont drill holes for spindle mounts, ball screw nut housings and whatever Chinese thing from aluminum, cause many times they look the same but come with different holes placement or if they are cast the holes are misplaced some times.

I wish you luck with the build!

**Lee Roberts** · 19-03-2015

Hi guys,

Just to update you all on this thread, for some reason when I moderated a recent reply the result was the whole thread being removed.

This has happened to me before when using the mobile app so I think it's a bug in the software. As such I had to manually go in and restore each post by you - as you.

So if you've had notifications suggesting there has been new activity to this discussion but can't see anything new, now you know why. Please feel free to continue the discussion as normal.

Sorry for any inconvenience, have a great day.

.Me