New member, new machine

[xyz-cnc]

Hey guys

Thought I should introduce myself, and show a few pics of a router table I designed & built.

My name is Eugene, everyone calls me Eug. I'm in the NE suburbs of Melbourne. In my job, one of the things we do is joinery work, but because it's not our main work, we used to get another shop to do all the CNC work for our cabinets. Earlier this year, we decided that we should be doing it ourselves. Contracting it out means relying on other people and falling into their schedules. Sometimes we need something done today, not in a week or so...

I looked at the CNC routers available locally, but couldn't justify the cost, plus we didn't need anything so large. I decided to design & build a CNC table suited to our needs.

I set myself some design goals.

I wanted it to be:

• Affordable. Anyone who has built a CNC table knows only too well how quickly the $$ add up
• Clean looking. No motors, cables, brackets, etc sticking up/hanging out
• Complete - limit/home switches, covers, brackets, wipers, etc are all part of the original design, not afterthoughts
• All built from steel, with aluminium only used on non structural items
• Built from parts available to most of us locally, preferably off the shelf - not having to import 8020 extrusions, linear rails, ballscrews and the like, wasting hundreds of $$ on shipping
• Built without the use of a lathe or a milling machine, without having to drill and tap hundreds of holes and the like.
• Quick & easy to assemble with basic tools
• Easily adjustable to compensate for wear - if necessary
• Scalable - build it small or large, or modify as required, with minimal changes
• Precise - although I put this last, it goes without saying that precision and repeatability were key goals

I did a lot of R&D, and decided to take a path different to most others.

I decided to use cold rolled RHS tube for the linear rails. It's readily available, very strong due to it's shape, easy to work with, and the dimensions are very accurate....
I chose roller chain for linear motion on X & Y axis, and rack & pinion for the Z, as it best suited my design.
I worked out that I don't need huge steppers - Nema23 frame size would be adequate for this build and I decided a small, cheap router will do the job OK.

Once those decisions (and many others) were made, I spent some time on Autocad designing it. It took me a while to incorporate everything - motors, switches, cable chains, brackets, etc, etc. but I'm glad I did it.

The plan all along was to have all the parts laser cut. Yes, that would add to the build cost, but IMHO, it would be worth every cent. It would ensure everything assembles like a jigsaw puzzle and is very precise.

After the parts were cut, I didn't bother with paint & chose to have it all powdercoated instead. The actual build didn't take very long as I had compiled a list of items required, and ordered them in advance. Took a week or 2 to put it together and get it working.

We have been using it for several months now and are very happy with the results - it does everything we need and more.

I'm not one to take build pics, but here's a few of the finished machine, and some vids of it in action. I've recently decided to put it up for sale on eBay as I've almost completed a slightly larger and more advanced table to replace this one.

[kiwichris]

Nice looking machine...

For the Aussie members, got a link to the auction?

Cheers, Chris H.

[amoisis]

nice looking machine well done on the build. What did you put in on your new table that is different from this one?

[xyz-cnc]

Nice looking machine...

For the Aussie members, got a link to the auction?

Cheers, Chris H.

Thanx Chris

If it doesn't break any rules here, it's item number: 260832358470

[xyz-cnc]

nice looking machine well done on the build. What did you put in on your new table that is different from this one?

Thank you.

I've made a few changes. The actual design and linear motion has remained the same. I've replaced those 425oz-in steppers on the X axis with 270oz-in ones and I've added 3:1 gearing on all the axis. The new table is slightly larger and uses a 3kw water cooled spindle instead of a router. I'm working on setting up a vacuum hold down table, dust extraction and pneumatic stops at the moment.

[electrolight]

Hello there
I am interested to know where you got the cold rolled steel from. I am in Brisbane.

Thanks

[xyz-cnc]

Hey mate

I got mine locally - probably not much help for you, but there are 3 places within 20 mins from me that stock it. Surdex steel and Robot trading only sell full 8M lengths. Handy Steel sell you any length you need, and cut it to size at no cost. As a guide, it costs me around $15/Lm.

If it were me, I'd google "RHS DuraGal Brisbane" or "RHS galvanised steel Brisbane"

[Momentz]

HI
Fantastic design, could you be so kind as to share how the linear motion works?, how it runs back and forth on the steel, and how your motors hook up to the rack?
Thanks so much

[xyz-cnc]

Thanx.

Basically, it uses bearings, positioned so as to take advantage of the accuracy of the cold rolled RHS, and roller chain for linear motion, which works exceptionally well.