I originally tried to build hack's first plan to no avail. Not that his plan wasn't good. I could not get the 8020 bearings to track without having too much play in them. Unsatisfied, I bought some (4) 30" thk rails, and 2 12" rails. I also bought some t-61 plate. 3/8". My question to the gurus here is simple. Is 3/8" thick enough for a 30 x 30 router. I have my doubts, but want experts to weigh in. Thanks in advance.

I bought some of dumpsters acme thread nut couplers. Those things look sweet. That solves on huge problem. I also bought some motor mounts from K2, anybody have any experience with either of these?

I tried to fab them myself. But I was only 80% satisfied with the results.

since no experts want to help, i put a picture up. Maybe this will help get me some advice. Please.

Depends how rigid ya want it. I don,t have a cnc mill yet but I did build a manual mill and I used 1/4 steel plates to mount the mill head to the z axis. After some use I have decided to replace the 1/4 with 1/2 steel. I could leave the 1/4 inch on there but I want the mill to handle taking an 1/8 deep cut in steel without chatter. So in your application I can see your gantry having a little side to side movement. Probably could add heavy duty angle iron(like bedframe metal) just attach it to the gantry side plates to stiffen it up. As for your base on the inside I would add triangler plates mounting to your 3/8 over to your 8020. Other than that looks like your off to agood start. Oh yeah by the way I,m not an expert but just given ya my worthless opinion.
Keep up the good work.

What are you using to cut your aluminum plate with? Table saw?

Table saw, miter saw, festool saw.

Bryan, I think the reason no-one has jumped in here is simply because your question is to vague. Are you planning on milling Ti? Or foam? Do you plan to cut your Ti @ 300Ipm and 1"DOC w/ a 3" end mill or are you cutting foam at 25ipm w/ a 1/4" end mill and 1/4" DOC. You can imagine the different machine requirments for these two milling senario's. What you've asked so far is great, but not precise enough for anyone to answer, most will just skip over it.

Put up some more spec's and you'll most likely get some more input..

Jerry [hope that helps in some way..:)]

Jerry, point duly noted. I had originally intended to cut only wood and plastic with it. However, as I began to build it, I now would like to do some Alum. I am planning on a 1-1/4 HP PC spindle. I am using the xylotex out of the box package of steppers. This way I can't screw up the electronics out of the gate. Once I am ready to upgrade, i'll ebay them. AS for feed rate and DOC, hell if i know I guess I am just going to see what she does. I will gladly welcome all suggestions.

I would say [ a total SWAG] that for wood, you'd probably be ok w/ what you've got. Assuming that the gantry is mounted inside those uprights and not on top. I would say your not there for aluminum. The nice thing is w/ the way you've gone, is that you can easily beef it up if nesc. All it would take would be to make the uprights into some type of beam shape w/ two more pc's of alum on each side and your there. It also might be a bit marginal along the x axis as well, but like you said.. try it.. its not going to cost any more to change it later or now.. you may find that due to its lightness making it stronger isn't the issue. I'd just keep going the way you are and see what happens..

Jerry [note.. this recommendation is worth about as much as the paper its written on :).. no garrentees of any kind..]

Here is a quick update. I got my router mount from K2 machine, my dumpster nuts, and my z axis screw and motor mounts from p remachine. I am getting a little fired up now. I how I don't screw this model up in the home stretch. I think i have about 15 hours left of assembly, maybe 150. Time will tell.
I have included a couple of pics. Not much to see yet. I will post more this weekend. I am hoping to get some good suggestions by posting this.

Bryan,
Keep posting. The machine is looking good.

Bobby

what exactly is a break out board? I saw something on the CNCdudez site www.bigbearcnc.com there is a free plan for a USB parallel interface that they claim will work with xylotex. It looks easy to build, but I can build crap like that. I'm in over my head with the CNC router. Is there anyone out there that would build that for me for a reasonable fee?

Try http://www.cnc4pc.com/Bidirectional_Breakout_Board.htm He makes a lot of different boards at a VERY reasonable price. He has a bi-directional breakout board for $26. At that price there is no reason to go through the trouble to build your own.

I need some help figuring out how many steps per rev. I have a xylotex drive, I think it comes standard in 8th step mode. On my x and y axis, i have 4tpi 2 start acme, and 4tpi on the z. Someone who knows their stuff, help me please.

steps/rev=(steps/rev of motor) * (step mode)

(200*2)8 = 1600 steps per revolution for my x & y, & 3200 for the z? is this correct?

4 thead per inch 2 start, or 4 turn per inch (8 threads per inch)? I've never seen 4 thread per inch 2 start.

you're correct. it's 1/2-8 2 start, which is 4 tpi. Sorry for the confusion. So I guess My tunrs per rev are (200*4)*8=6400?

you're correct. it's 1/2-8 2 start, which is 4 tpi. Sorry for the confusion. So I guess My tunrs per rev are (200*4)*8=6400?

lol. No, the turns/rev is 1. You aren't asking the question you think you are. The steps/rev is 1600. The steps/inch is 6400.

Madclicker, glad you can read my mind. I wish more people could. I have a noob question about Mach 3. I never thought the hardest part of building a router for me would be using the software. I wanted to cut holes in the MDF top for putting threaded inserts into. I drew it in Autocad2006, then imported it through lazycam, but I can't get it to cut them as pockets, no cut to the correct depth. Please point me in the right direction.

I used 1" jigplate for my gantry and 3/4" jigplate to support the 80/20 like you have. Your gantry uprights are pretty tall, so you'll most likely have to make them wider at the bottom to spread out the bearing trucks a bit more.

I would go with what you have....you can always redo the gantry or when you build your second machine change the design at that time.

I have a noob question about Mach 3. I never thought the hardest part of building a router for me would be using the software. I wanted to cut holes in the MDF top for putting threaded inserts into. I drew it in Autocad2006, then imported it through lazycam, but I can't get it to cut them as pockets, no cut to the correct depth. Please point me in the right direction.

If you haven't tried it, try my AutoCAD macro for exporting code. the few times I've looked at LazyCAM, it was very buggy and difficult to use. With my macro, creating a pocket is as simple as drawing a circle. If you have tried it and need help, just ask. It won't work in LT if that's what your using, though.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8226

Download it here.
http://home.comcast.net/~cncwoodworker/acad/downloads/AC2GCv039.zip (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ecncwoodworker/acad/downloads/AC2GCv039.zip)

Viper,
They are a little tall. I think, i will rebuild them on this machine first, get them they way I want them to work. THen I can use them on the next machine. I will definitely go with 1/2" plate, and I really need to offset it at least 4" back, so I don't lose so much useable space. I probably won't use the 80/20 on the next version. But I had some, and needed to get something working before I threw more money away.

Ger, does your macro work in AutoCad 2005? I remember looking at it before in 2000, but I don't have it anymore. I couldn't get it to come up. It tells me it loaded, but nothing shows up.

It should, I use it in 2006 and 2007. I'm assuming you loaded it by using Tools>Load Project, or through the VBA manager. Once loaded, go to Tools>Macro>Macros, select it it and click "run".

There are instuctions in the .pdf on how to create a toolbar button. Let me know if you need more help.