For those that are wondering, the screws that I used to attach the linear trucks and rails, are as follows:
Mounting the rails to the T-nuts through 1/8"alum bar stock M4 X 22
Mounting the trucks to the 3/8" alum cast tool plating M5 X 14 (I got the short head variety, since I needed to counter bore the plating the depth of the heads) I got both these from McMaster Carr.
I attached the rails to the gantry in the same manor that I did for the X axis. The only difference is that I drilled 3/16" holes through the 1/8" bar instead of 1/4". This still gave me plenty of wiggle room. The bar stock was the same length as the rails and the end holes were real close to the end. So by drilling 3/16" holes I still had a little material between the hole and the end of the alum bar stock.
I have become a real believer in using pieces of wood to position things during attachment. I can make two pieces almost identical in length. The two pieces that are perpendicular to the rails insure that the rails are parallel to each other. The four pieces that are clamped on the ends of the rails keep the rails in place when screwing the shcs (socket head cap screws) to the t-nuts. And the 4 short pieces that are clamped on the short side of the 3060 extrusion keep the alum bar stock flush with the top and bottom of the gantry.
Rick
I reread my last post on attaching the linear rails to the gantry and it occurred to me that this method assured me of parallel rails, BUT the rails were not parallel to the top (or bottom) of the gantry.
I cut four more blocks and redid the mounting of the rails on the gantry.
I bought my Z axis from K2CNC.
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The backplate had many different mounting holes, unfortunately, the holes were not in the right place for my build. In fact the holes that were there would interfere with the holes I needed to drill.
When I originally purchased this Z axis, I really didn't have a solid idea of how I was going to attach this to the gantry. It's sort of the chicken and the egg thing. I really needed something in hand to figure out what I needed to have in hand.
I contacted K2CNC and they kindly offered to swap me my old plate for one with no mounting holes. Many thanks to K2CNC This made my day.
So as not to screw up the drilling of the 16 holes I needed. I practiced on a piece of plywood.
I'm not sure if the way I was told to mount my THK rails is the correct way but I will try to explain it.
1, I was told to mount the rails loosely.
2, Then mount the bearing blocks to their plate.
3, Slide the bearing blocks over one end of the rails just past the first mount hole on the rails.
4, Tighten down the first screw on both rails. Then slide the bearing blocks just past the second rail screw. Then tighten down that screw.
Repeat until you have to slide the bearing blocks back the other way to finish the last few holes.
Since I have not mounted my rails yet I do not know if this method works or not. If your wooden blocking does not do the trick maybe try the method I was told about.
Thank You.
If you toss in a way to insure LEVEL & SQUARENESS to the machine that's the method I used... allowing the sets of trucks to cause parallelism of the two rails. Next you must insure the rails sets are parallel and square to the gantry head piece which should be parallel and square to the machine bed. Then all that's left is achieving perpendicularity of the Z axis/router.
Steve
aka BOOMER52 >>> http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=159693
Well, I couldn't put it off any longer. It was time to build the bench that the router will reside upon. I used four 4 X 4's (one 10 footer and three 8 footers) from the local Home Depot. There is some real good lumber available now, with a little digging through the pile. 4 X 4's are green (ie not kiln dried), so I had gotten these a couple of months ago and painted the ends to minimize checking.
The legs are 3 in square and the cross pieces and stretchers are 1 1/4 X 2 1/4 in. The top and shelf are 3/4 in MDF.
Dimensions are 27 1/2 in tall and the surface is 32" X 42".
Now back to building the router.
That's not a bench, that's a piece of furniture!
Nice work.
Bob
"Bad decisions make good stories."
Yeah, very nice! A solid bench is a great foundation for the machine. My bench is a little light duty and I keep thinking about something more along these lines. You might just inspire me to "upgrade".
Wow... that cabinet background of yours is certainly shining through! NICE!!!
Steve
aka BOOMER52 >>> http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=159693
My wife has been eying it very suspiciously. I'm getting nervous.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]
Mach3 2010 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
[URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
Gerry, I've been using that same line on my wife for 15 years and strangely enough my shop is better furnished than my house! Eventually she will catch on...
Oh, she's caught on, but she's been humoring me I think.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]
Mach3 2010 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
[URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
Got myself one of these for Christmas. I have been using it for the last month and it has been great. It's a real solid tool and very accurate. I have a 0 to 1 inch Sterrett mic and the readings are identical between the two. It is handy to switch between metric and SAE. They even provide an extra battery.
http://www.amazon.com/True-Power-Stainless-Conversion-446/dp/B000YFT0A2/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t]Amazon.com: True Power 6"(150mm) Stainless Steel Digital Vernier Caliper with Inch Fractions/Decimal SAE/Metric Unit Display & Conversion #446: Home Improvement
I have been putting in some serious work on the router. I am milling up a spindle fixture to attach the router to the Z axis. More info and pictures forthcoming.
I just had to share this on the caliper.
Rick
I finally finished the router mount that will mount to the Z axis.
I have a small rotary table for the Sherline mill. This project was right on the edge of being too big for this mill. It took a little creativeness at times. I'm definitely getting some machining experience with this router build.
In celebration of finishing the mount for the Porter/Cable, I thought I would wire it up and see it in action. I haven't set any thing up in Mach3, so it is way off, but it moves like I expected.
Very nice Z-Axis! Great work.
Thank You.