All steel, no welding, 2000x1300x250mm

[Wal]

Price :) ! The gold was to make things cheapER. 12 SBR20UU blocks cost me $60. Stainless steel shifts will be less than $50 for all axis. Shaft supports are integrated to parts and don't add any cost to the machine but a few seconds of cutting.

Hi Eurikain.

I've used TBR20's on my build and they work well etc. BUT, if I was building it again I'd use profile rail. Why? Rigidity (my rails aren't really long enough for this to be an issue for me) and ease of maintenance. Have a look at the attached pic:



The bearing housing in the block will work it's way loose from time to time despite the top and side grub screws that are meant to hold it in place (you can only nip 'em up so far before the unit binds). Once the bearing housing has loosened it will, over time, rotate and eventually the sharp corners of the cylinder will scrape along the rail supports. This isn't a catastrophe, nor should it lead to a catastrophic failure, but it's an annoyance that'll cost you time and an extra thing to watch out for. No biggie for a hobbyist like myself, but if downtime's something you want to avoid then do yourself a favour and buy profile rails...!

Wal.

[eurikain]

Hi Wal, and thanks for the input :)

I appreciate the advice ! Though I think I won't worry much about this as this is my first build and as I don't intend to machine things that often (I'm still a student and the machine will only be accessible on weekends). I went with SBR rails because in my humble opinion replacing a $5 SBR block every so often is not such a problem :) The machine design is done so that you can take it easily apart whenever you want and put it back together without loosing starigthness, rigidity or anything, as steel won't move when mounting / unmounting.

May be in a later version of this machine I will switch to profile rails and HWIN blocks though :)

[Wal]

That's fair enough. Just thought I'd give you a heads up. Best of luck with the build!

Wal.

[eurikain]

That's fair enough. Just thought I'd give you a heads up. Best of luck with the build!

Wal.

Very nice of you, that's what this forum is for and I'm looking forward to reading all you guys' caution advices and design improvement comments !

[eurikain]

Hey mates ! (hahahahaha for those of you who will get it)

I spent yesterday modeling the Y axis. Today I will make the gantry sides to fix the Y axis, fix its motor, and connect Y and Z if I have the time.

Here is a render of the Y axis with a section view (calculated weight is 28kg):

[Wal]

Looking at your renders - in reality, your rails will be supported along their entire length, won't they? Not at intervals, like you've got them in the images..?

Wal.

[Clive S]

Looking at your renders - in reality, your rails will be supported along their entire length, won't they? Not at intervals, like you've got them in the images..?

Wal.

Wal according to his first post he intends to weld them to the supports so not using conventional rails. ..Clive