Folx,
was wondering if anyone has followed in Swede's footsteps & built
a CNC mill from scratch (as opposed to converting one of RF/Sieg clones) ?
I personally find 5bears.com's serialized CNC mill project a great reading
and find myself often going to it to read it over again. I'd gosofar as to compare Swede's writing to Lautard's (MBR series)... with Swede's writing
being a little better illustrated
I think that with rolled ballscrews/nuts being quite affordable these
days, and 0-backlash nut techniques being well documents (2 B2B
$20 ballnuts with wavy washers seems to be a favorite), one doesn't
have to spend his lifetime looking for killer Ebay deals (the kind Swede
is probably still gloating about ... $5 "THK mounting thingie" & likes).
20/80's Ebay store is MORE than reasonable
http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale for Al extrusions. Rex is not
that much more expensive:
http://rexroth.starlinear.com/framing_shop/default.aspx
With cost of CNC electronics/motors being equal for both "FTS" & "Retrofits" the only remainning piece of the puzzle is the linear slides (well that plus the spindle).
Outside of Ebay - does anyone know a good steady source for used/new slides of decent quality and affordable price ? It is interesting that one can buy a fully sufficient (with 0-backlash being within anyone's financial reach) and decent rolled ballscrew at 1/20 of the price of ground variety, yet there doesn't seem to be a good source for similar "budget" type slides ?
And of course, there's The Spindle Question ... I feel that even retrofitters discover that stock (0-2500 rpm) spindles are not quite good
in terms of IPMs and finish so they all could use a high-RPM one ... which again levels the playing field between FTS & Retrofits. If one is willing to
settle for lower RPM spindle for an FTS design, there's LMS etc - should not cost one more than $200 to get Mini-mill type spindle & motor ...
Continuing with the Spindle Question, there's a report of HSM-made high-RPM spindle, complete with plans etc, with non-detectable TIR - on this very Website ...
So ... what do you think ? Did any1 ever consider doing it the Swede's way and, if the answer is yes, did you ever do it ?
And, if Swede himself reads this post, can you describe to what extent have you used your home-made CNC mill ? BTW, continuation of the
CNC's project @ 5bears.com is long overdue
(just kidding)
TY
Rashid