Reply with QuoteGreat work so far Eric, it looks big and heavy, is it going to be more accurate than the midi? Are you going to produce a limited quantity?
Thanks Joe!
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I'm taking it easy today, I pushed myself yesterday to finish up the top plate! So I tinkered in the shop for about an hour finishing the legs with the adjustable feet. Then, I made a quick trip to ACE hardware to get four 3/8-16 Flat Head Stainless socket head screws 1" long.
After a quick assembly, I popped a few more pictures!
Widgit
Great work so far Eric, it looks big and heavy, is it going to be more accurate than the midi? Are you going to produce a limited quantity?
- sorry double post -
Last edited by nalmeida; 03-02-2008 at 01:37 PM.
I think he mention before this machine is for himself, so not sure if he will make others because of the cost involved.
Thanks!Originally Posted by nalmeida
It is much stronger, and hopefully will repeat more accurately!
As for production, well so far I have spent $1350 to build just one axis!
Unless I win the lottery, its not going into production! Probably special orders only!
Widgit
While surfing through eBay
I found a large metal Hoffman Box to hold all the electronics for this big router!
The box is 24x24x12 with a nice hinged lid!
It's slightly dented but at a small fraction of its new cost!
This is going to be so kool!
Widgit
Very nice Eric.
Still got that trademark widgit look to it.
Should be putting my special order in soon
Claudio
- WidgitMaster Wide Router with Kress FME 800, HobbyCNC 305oz Stepper Kit
- WidgitMaster Midi Router with Dremel
Current expense Report:
Monday morning I plan on ordering the metal material for the Y & Z axis components, along with more V-Tracks & V-Roller assemblies.
But before I start cutting any more metal, I have a set of Turners Cubes to make out of Cast Acrylic for Geof
Here is a list of out of pocket expenses for this big router so far!
Last edited by widgitmaster; 03-03-2008 at 09:20 AM.
Last night I spent several hours designing the Y & Z-Axis slide assemblies. One of the main criteria was to keep the width at 4.000", so that I would maintain a full 19" of travel in the Y-Axis.
The 2nd criteria was to keep the centerline of the lead screw in line with the center of the Double-V track and V-Rollers. This resulted in a very crowded design, but it all worked out perfectly after I rotated the Ball Nut so the narrow sides were between the V-Tracks.
This design is easy to machine, but must be held close in order to ensure everything in the router is sliding perpendicular to the table.
This morning I placed an order for the materials needed, as well as a low-carbon ground tooling plate.
The tooling plate will be used to make the Y-Axis rail supports, as they are 24 1/4" long and must have two 3/16" dia dowel pin holes in each end. The most important part is to make the dowel holes aligned perfectly with the holes on the opposite end. To do this, I plan on bolting the steel plate on the side of my angle plate, so that it hangs off the edge of the mill's table. Then on the bottom edge of the steel plate, I will fasten a perpendicular plate that will have two protruding pins for the rail supports to plug in to. This way, when drilling and reaming the other end the part will be precisely on location.
After the end holes a finished, I will make a pair of sacrificial end plates out of aluminum to align both rails parallel to each other, so that I can mill the long square tracks and drill the mounting holes for the Double-V track. These support rails will be machined from solid 2" dia. bar stock, not the hollow tubing I had chosen earlier in the project.
The other criteria for the Y-Axis slide block is that it must contain the limit switches for both Y & Z axis. In order to do this I will need to drill deep connecting holes for the wires, and mill out little pockets for each switch to be mounted in. Then somewhere on the top of the slide block, I will need to attach one end of a coiled multi-conductor cord like that used in a Microphone! The other end will be attached to one of the Y-Axis side plates, where it will junction with the wires from the X-Axis limit switches. From there, I may use a Molex Connector to plug the limit wires in to the BIG metal box!
Widgit
hey widgetmaster,
how much play do those v-groove bearings have? i guess im refering to axle play ,ive never even picked up one of those.but i too am likeing them alot..but was concerned about the play...trying to come up with a way ya could test em.for instance if the bearing was bolted into a plate and ya put an indicator on the side (checking axle play) how much does the thing move i would assume there would be "0" runout on the radial part of the bearing but was unsure of the axle play...normal ball bearing roller bearings have a good bit of "axle play" .so i was wondering how much these have...i have looked at cam followers not "v-groove" type ..they have "0" play in both dirrections from what i can tell (sry if i over explained that, i always feel its better to have too much info...rather than not enough)
"witty comment"
Actually, the Bishop-Wisecarver brand V-Bearings have two sets of balls, and are designed to take side pressure. as for any play in the tracking, it is ZERO! That's because one set of bearings is fixed and the other opposing bearing is adjusted with a cam and a lock nut!
You could tighten the bearing so much it would not slide at all!
Because I have two upper and two lower bearings spaced around 4" apart on one double-v track, it is impossible for the 24" long slide to "DogTrack" as it moves. Add a pre-loaded ball screw and nut, and you get a perfect sliding system!
Widgit
www.widgitmaster.com
It's not what you take away, it's what you are left with that counts!
thanks for the reply...
a while ago i was thinking about those bearings...didnt know they had two sets of bearings in each one...till a bit later...any way...i was thinking of turning out some v-groove steel "sleeves" on the cnc lathe to press fit over some skate bearings or maybe a better quality type bearing and see how the would run as v-groove rollers...still sounds like it could work especially if several were used ...but alass i still aint tried to make any of em...the factory ones are much better than i could make ...at least at the price...(i do have access to alot of machinery, so that wouldnt be a big cost...but time is worth alot as you know)
"witty comment"
The skate bearings as the inner bearing with a sleeve has been tried by two different people that i know of and did not work well, the only way to make them work good enough (and i mean just barely good enough) is to make a wide outer casing wide enough to use two bearings on the inside, this reduces the side axle loads quite abit.
I use the v-bearings as shown above on my new CNC 4x4 Hybrid and they work really well. I would just pay a little more and get them, you can get them in us for 11 to 12 dollars each, well worth it IMO, rather than your time in trying to make skate bearings work. again this is depending on your location and how easy it is to get the V-Bearings.
Joe
This morning I started working on the Y-Axis V-Rail supports, they are 2" dia solid 6061 aluminum.
First thing I did was mill them to length, then a quick polish in the lathe with some ScotchBrite!
Next I will need to make up the fixture for drilling and reaming the holes in each end.
Widgit
In order to drill & ream the end holes, I need to make a long side plate for my heavy angle plate. The side plate will have a pattern of holes which will enable me to use it for other projects, but for this one it also needs to have a plate mounted perpendicular to the side plate. The bottom plate will have two dowel pins to align it with the ground steel side plate, and have two dowel pins which will match up with the holes in the aluminum rails.
After making the fixture parts, I rotated the mill's turret and mounted the heavy angle plate to the mill's table. to finish the fixture, I 1st need to drill, tap & ream holes in the end of the steel plate for the bottom plate to fasten to.
Now after I dial in the aluminum rail, set the DRO to zero, I can drill the 4 1/4-20 UNC threaded holes. Then drill & ream the two dowel pin holes which will align the rail with the Y-Axis side plates. THe Bottom plate's dowel pins will allow me to drill the opposite end so that the dowel pin holes are perfectly aligned with the opposite end. This is necessary to ensure the V-Groove tracks are perfectly parallel and co-plane with each other after assembly.
I wanted to do this 1st, so that I could sweep up the shop and remove all the steel chips. That way my scrap man doesn't complain that my chips are contaminated, and I get a better price per pound!
Widgit
Once the fixture was finished, the drilling & tapping of the four ends went really fast!
While I was cleaning up the shop, the UPS truck delivered the electronics box for this new router!
The box is MUCH BIGGER than I had expected, I looks like the whole router would fit inside it! It measures 24x24x12, made by Hoffman, and all welded steel too! for only $160 on eBay
Well, that's enough for today!
Widgit
just think widgetmaster...you could stack several of those mini routers in that box...those bearings are 11~12 bux? where can i find em that cheap?..i had a link to em one time...but dont remember where. they werent that brand i dont think..but near the same price...mabey 20 bux...(11.50 sounds much better to me
"witty comment"
Last edited by widgitmaster; 03-07-2008 at 09:01 PM.
thanks...
"witty comment"
Today I started working on the 2nd fixture required to make the Y-Axis rail support bars. To do this I started with a piece of aluminum angle I found in a scrap yard. First I scribed some roughing lines, and made a few cuts on the band saw. Then I milled the ends and edges square, using my small face mill Lastly, I milled the narrow side of the angel perpendicular to the other side using a fly-cutter. Now it's time to drill & ream holes.
On the wide side, I drilled three 1/2" dia holes with the same spacing as the t-slots on my mill's table. Then I drilled and reamed the same hole pattern on the narrow side as was done on the ends of the two rails.
Next I pressed in some 3/16" dia x 1" long dowel pins, and fastened one of the angle plates on each end of the two support rails using some 1/4-20 SHCS.
Now I have to wait for the long Double-V rails to arrive, so that I mill the tracks into the rail supports. The V-Rails will be fastened to the rail supports using several #6-32 SHCS. The exact holes spacing is unknown at this time, so I will wait for the parts to arrive!
Now that the mill is empty, I decided to square up the two Y-Axis side plates. They are 26.125" x 12" x .750" MIC-6
These are the longest plates so far, and to get my mill to travel the extra 2", I had to remove the locking knob from under the table, so the hand crank didn't hit it. Fortunately I had an M12 SHCS that I could use temporarily!
Well, I stated at 7:00 AM this morning, and have accomplished allot!
Widgit
Last edited by widgitmaster; 03-08-2008 at 06:19 PM.
