Newbie- Modding an x3 to cnc questions

[slektning]

First about me:

Im a complete newbie when it comes to cnc. I have some experience to cad
(had it in school and drew my own house, Got the plans approved and later built the whole thing) But other than that Im rather green.

Im an electrician so wiring is no problemo.


What I plan to use the mill for is making airgun parts, mostly in aluminium, but also carwing gunstocks and some machining in steel like fluting barrels.

I need to have a Longtitudinal travel of about 30 inches and a cross travel of about 10 inches to be able to carve gunstocks. what do i need to mod the hardware of the mill to achieve this?

Im thinking of using grinded c7 or c5 ballscrews but where can i find them cheapest?

Servo drives are what ive decided for but how strong do they need to be? Ive looked at the nema ones, but maybe there are better ones at a better price?

Im also planning on using geckodrives, but do I need more then just a geckodrive for each of the 4 axis and if i do, what do i need? i have 220volts in my workshop.

Pardon my spelling, but Im norwegian of nationality

Thanks in advance for much needed help

[The Blight]

Well, as far as I can see, you have a couple options to choose from.

One is to get a big old milling machine, and fitting it with ball screws, servos and controller. This can take a lot of time, and cost quite a bit. I don't know if this will end up being cheaper in the end.

The other is to buy a smaller milling machine for the aluminum, and steel milling, and fitting it with cnc controlls, and in addition buy a cnc router for the gun stock. If you need the 30" travel for milling steel, then you will need a mill.

The last one is to take a look at some of the cnc mills you can buy with everything you need. I took a look at tormach, but the X travel is not up to your specs. Then I took a look at the industrial hobbies mill, and I read somewhere that it has over 30" of X travel, and 12.5Y. I have no idea what it would cost to have it shipped to Norway, but maybe Phil (Also a Norwegian guy) would know some more about this as he owns a tormach mill.

Are you planning on selling air guns? Or is this just for your own amusement?

Og velkommen! Er også norsk, men tar utdannelse i dk.

[slektning]

An old mill with large capacity wont fit in my workshop im affraid

The 30inch travel is for gunstock production mostly, but if it turns out too difficult to achieve on an x3 i guess a router could also do the trick

The only problem with a separat router is the extra space it needs.

Ive seen hoss extend the x-axis quite a bit and that was on a smaller x2 mill. Couldnt a similar method be used on the x3?

This cnc mill will be for my amusement mostly, certently not to make a living from

Ive tried to find a tormach fore sale, but it looks like a much more expensive machine. Maybe someone could tip me off on god places to look?

[The Blight]

I have the same problem with space.

Well, you could probably do that on an X3, but you will run into some problems.

The table of an X3 is 550mm. It has 400mm of travel, so that leaves 150mm of contact. To achieve 800mm of travel, you will have to add 400mm of table, and that gives you a table of 950mm. When the table is positioned all the way to either side, you will have 800mm hanging off on one side, only supported by 150mm of dovetail. You can build some kind of support on either side (bearings or something similar), so that when the table is hanging more then 200-300mm on either side, it will rest on these to take away some of the stress. I have played with this thought for my X2 mill, but now I have started drawing up a much bigger machine (1000x400x600mm travel).

A router does take up some extra space, but if you don't build it too tall, you can place it up against a wall. Just a thought.

I would just contact the producer about the tormach, but it's a pretty big machine.

Found this machine in Denmark. Looks pretty good, but the price is waay too high.
Don't know if you have seen http://www.dreibenk.com/

I too want to make parts for airguns and such, so we are heading the same way. I will try to make money of it at some point though. I'm going to build a router for the gunstocks too.

[slektning]

I agree that a router design made for gunstock production is better than to build a cnc mill that takes up alot of extra space.

What about a 500mm x-axis travel? I dont want to streatch the limits too much

Ive seen dreibenk.com but the x3 costs about 28000 NOK

Arc euro trade can deliver a x3 to my door for 12000 NOK

What size of servo motors would you recommend?

Are you by any chance on the luftskytter.net forum aswell?

[The Blight]

500mm travel? I have no idea how you would go about that with an X3. You could probably chop up 2 tables, and somehow bolt them together to get the desired travel, but then you would have to do a lot of machining. Getting a mill with the desired travels is the best way to go. Don't know where you would get it though.

Yep. I have no idea why they think they can take so much for such a machine.

homeshopcnc.com has some nice servo motors, and stepper motors. If I wanted servo motors on an X3, I would choose the biggest they have.

Never seen that page before. Looks nice. I'm more into airsoft myself.

[Oldboy]

Im responding since I read last post about putting two X3 tables together.
I have put two X2 tables together. And yes it was alot of milling. Most of the milling was new Dovetail milling. Im at the point of my last dovetail pass.
And I gave up on it for now. The new table Base has 10.5 inches of X travel with a 6 inch wide cast iron mill table.
If you don't have alot of space in your shop. Making a Combo lathe/mill might be for you. I don't understand why you need to Flut 30 inches?
Most barrel Flutting is less.
Im using a 12 inch lathe, 42" bed to make my lathe/mill with 4th axis.
I have a 8 inch dia. 4 jaw lathe chuck on it now.
By doing it this way i will turn/tapper 30'' barrels,Flutting 26",use my 18.5 inch mill table for milling Flat parts. If i had a longer mill table i could mill up to the 26 inch Y axis travel. My X axis travel will only be 5 inches. But then i don't plan on turning anything over 5 inches in Dia. My lathe only has a spindle Bore of 3/4 inch dia on the back end.
A 1 inch or more would be better for barrel chambering.
But can't have everything in a small home shop.
Unless your rich?
Hope my story/information helps you?

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by slektning I agree that a router design made for gunstock production is better than to build a cnc mill that takes up alot of extra space. What about a 500mm x-axis travel? I dont want to streatch the limits too much Ive seen dreibenk.com but the x3 costs about 28000 NOK Arc euro trade can deliver a x3 to my door for 12000 NOK What size of servo motors would you recommend? Are you by any chance on the luftskytter.net forum aswell?

If you really want a long travel to the stocks, how about apurpose built router.
A machine with long x axis 1000 mm and a Y of 100mm would probably do the trick and won't take up a bunch of room. It wouldn't be bigger than a lathe.
The other option would be a lathe with a mill attachment.

[slektning]

30inch travel was for gunstock carving, but I think a router will be better for that task

A 20 inch travel will more than do for my metal milling needs.
I think that maybe a new table is the way to go? Joining two tables sounds difficult... But maybe it isnt?

Anybody know what size servomotor to get?

And a good source for good ballscrews?

The Blight: Done some airsofting in my younger days but now its mostly PCP airguns

[alexccmeister]

I am currently doing a project to increase my X axis and Y axis. X axis will be achieved by joining two X2 table together similar to Oldboy is doing. Any reason why you have stopped?

Alex

[slektning]

Ading a lathe cunction on the table sounds like good idea
My first consern is getting servo motors that are strong enough.
What size nema servos will fit the task?