BEONE's first router

[beone]

Hi Guys,
I finally decided to start my 1st router. Mostly based on Ger21's ideas. Sstarted to get angle for the bearing carriers, looked at the price, picked my jaw up off the floor, and thought "I can do better, I have a foundry!" Foundry is my other big hobby. So I made a pattern for the bearing carrier with a flat back and sides for easy bolting width 3". Cast a few to play with, need a way to square up the sides. I need to make the machine to make the machine. I built the torsion box for the Y axis ,"conformal shimmed" two carriers and made a "lash up" to machine the rest of the carriers. Hooked up a $29 HF one hp router with a carbide bit and proceeded to machine the sides--workes very good. more later
Dave Brandon

[posix]

well that's not fair! you have your very own foundry.
you should go out and scrounge and buy off the shelf bits just like the rest of us!

on a serious note I can't see if that whole thing is metal or just bearing carriers? if I were you I'd use this machine to make patterns and cast as much as I can! stepper supports come to mind, as do bearing blocks!

good job!

[beone]

At this point just the bearing carriers, bearings and tubes are metal, all else is 1/2 and 1/4 ply. I like this design for the carriers since they give a flat back for attachnemt and perpendicular sides for attachment. Making patterns is one of the major reasons for making the machine. I will try to have better pics up in a day or so.

[beone]

Got a few more pictures, I cast a few more bearig carriers and machined them on the lashup above. Now I just need to mount the bearings. Also built my x axis table. Guys, building a torsion box is easy. Although I am an accomplished woodworker, I only used my tablesaw to cut my strips, and my drill press with a hole saw to cut the pipe divots. I am using 1 inch conduit. All of the force shouldb taken up by the torsion box so the pipe is just a hard place for the bearings to ride on. My 'eggcrate' was made up of induvidual parts as I didn't want to spend the time to half lapp all the joints. It should make no difference in either strength or rigidity. My acme rod is on the way and I will order my electronics in the next few days. I have about decided on the 3 269 motor, board and power supply @ $345. Yes,No,Maybe comments?

pic-1 carrier straight from sand
pic2 and 3 machined on x base
dave

[beone]

I just had a thought. I loke the idea of the grooved rollers for the z axis. Keeping the spindle centerline as close th the y axis as possible will reduce torque and thus ais rigidity. I had planned to cast some blanks to machine on my small lathe to use two skate bearings.
My thought, has anyone ever tried to machine the skate wheels themselves? It's a very hard polyurethane, hard enough? will it cut at all? If anyone has tried this please reply.
Dave

[posix]

why experiment with soft skate wheels when you're trying to achieve optimum rigidity? if you're afraid it's too soft for machining then it's probably just as soft for using as a v-groove bearing. I'd just reuse the bearings themselves, make some brass or steel v-groove rings to slip onto the bearings. even delrin is soft and it was supposed to be "artificial stone". yeah right.

[beone]

Well, I have the feeling that the wheels will be to soft, but I don't know. Thats why I wondered if someone had tried it. We won't know till then. Also rubbers are notoriously difficult to machine. I will probably cast the rings to machine to hold two bearings.

[posix]

I have the same router as you do, just blue not yellow. mine is 850w, yours?
is it noisy because mine is unbearable even at it's slowest setting. that's when it's not cutting, when it starts cutting I get a headache. what has more influence on this, bearings or case or something else?
also everyone has it easy with brackets for their routers as they are round but this one is funny shape, middle is round but those two sides make it difficult. and I see no easy way of removing the plunging mechanism. have you tried it?

[beone]

Hi Guys,
Been a while since I posted, so an update.
It Works!!! Cut my first part about an hour ago. My machine is all from 1/2 ply with Roller blade bearings. For the Z axis i cast blanks so I could machine them to hold two bearings and them a v groove to run against pipe. The pipes on my machine are conduit, 1" for X and Y, 3/4" for z. Since the tubes are supported the size is not critical. I bought the Xylotex 3 axis kit - I am very happy- and Mach2 and Meshcam.
I have lots of little details to attend to but it runs well. The pictures show the machine and the first carving. Just my Foundry logo from a dxf- but it works! So far I am only cutting foam until some of those loose ends are tied up.
Dave

[CNCRob]

Congrats on the first part, It came out great.

[Kammo1]

Hi beone, that looks an impressive machine and well done on a great build. How do you find the Xylotex and how easy is it to set up??? I will be starting my machine real soon as the build sisde is no trouble but the electronic side is a little daunting as I do not know where to start I am really confused. I would like a 3 axis kit that will go together easy with no fuss and the choices have been the Hobby CNC and the Xylotex, the hobby CNC looks like I would have to assemble the whole lot and is putting me off but the Xylotex looks like something that I could do. Am I correct in saying that with the Xylotex all you have to do is hook up the motors and thats it ?? any help would be greatly appreciated. Also I have see this that looks very,very tempting http://www.picobotics.com/PicoCNC.html I live here in the UK so alot of what I need is in the US but I need to get it right 1st time and I cannot afford to make costly mistakes.

[beone]

Hi Kammo1
I felt the same as you about the electronic side, I just wasn't ready to solder my own boards. I got the xylotex 3 axis kit and am generally happy with it. However, last thursday as I was finishing a large planing cut on my sacrificial table the drive failed. It has been sent back to xyotex. The drive would have had about an hour on it so failure due to a weak component would not be too unusual ( thats why good computers specify a 24 hour 'burn-in' before they are shipped. So at this point its wait and see how fast xylotex turns my board around. I liked the kit having everything I needed with two exceptions. It would be nice if they offered 25 or 50 ft rolls of four conductor wire to lengthen the motor leads as this can be a little hard to find, and it would be nice if they ofered the parrallel extension cables.
Dave