Ok so a major milestone was reached. I finished all the axis movements. No drives yet, but everything moves. This thing has ended up being VERY rigid, I’m pretty sure I could sit on the Y axis and it would slide just fine. I compromised a little using drawer slides for the z axis, but that’s more of a matter of what I had on hand. I plan on making a better Z axis using the router once it is working.
The welded parts have worked great, and are very strong. It’s not as difficult as you might think. I have no formal training, I picked up a wire feed welder at HD a few years back and it’s been a great investment. I use flux core wire so I don’t have to worry about renting, or keeping gas bottles. I know flux core gets a bad rap from professionals, but for the hobbyist it’s great.
I must add MDF sucks for anything but the most basic structures, and splits very easy. That being said I don’t think I would have made anything different, but it was still a total pain when working on the smaller parts. I might try white oak for smaller parts next time.
I have been looking at different stepper driver suppliers and I am leaning heavily towards the probotix (
www.probotix.com) stuff. I have been trying to find some reviews, but I guess they are pretty new. I have not read anything bad about them, can anyone comment on them?
Todd
