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Here is the frame now fully welded, painted and rail supports being mounted.
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CNC Design from Scratch, w/Belt Drive Hi all,
Long time member, first machine build posting. I figured I have taken enough information form the CNCzone community, it is only right to give back with a build log of my newest creation. I hope that others may find some answers in my build methods, and actually encourage feedback + or -. That's what we are all here for right
Well, first some rough design specs. The dimensions for this machine are primarily dictated by the size of the parts I was able to obtain. If you want to go cheap, you sometimes have to use what you can get right?!
machine dimensions - 75.5" x 42.5"
cutting area (est) - 36" x 60
stepper drives - Gecko Vampires
stepper motors - 425 oz.in Nema 23
x and y axis - Belt drive
z axis - screw drive
build materials - steel frame, aluminum gantry
more to come................
Let's get started....
Here is the steel frame tacked up with a few welds to finish. It's 11 ga. 1" x 1 1/2" rectangular tubing and 3 inch casters.
Here is the frame now fully welded, painted and rail supports being mounted.
The Gantry is made completely out of 80/20. Most parts are 2"x4" so it is extremely rigid. Bearing adapter plates were made to mate the bolt pattern of the bearing pillow blocks to the 80/20 tslot spacing. The rails are now set, the gantry is mostly together. Very square, no binding, slop or any problems so far. It takes about 2-3 lbs of force to move the gantry right now. I can push/pull from any spot, middle or corner and it glides like butter. Very happy
looks like its coming along nicely.
I mocked up the short axis bearing rails to make sure everything was going to fit right (ok, I just couldn't wait to see what they would look like) I don't have any fasteners right now or they would be on there.
more pictures please.
Thought it would be a good idea to chime in and at least let everyone know what direction I'm heading with this. So I grabbed a shot straight from the virtual mechanical design of the machine. I don't have the z-axis designed yet for it, but it should be fairly straight foward when I get there. Disclaimer (all things are subject to change without notice). Fasteners, belts, pulleys, steppers and power supply all ordered today. Should be a busy weekend and all with fishing the opener....
Here is a shot of the long axis bearings and the adapter plate (to mate them to the 80/20. The other is a shot of an old Dahlgren control box that I gutted to use as my control box. It's already fused, has an awesome fan and a lit power switch. All of the panels on the box are replaceable so I can customize it later.
Well I finally got my fasteners that i needed to get the short gantry axis bearings installed. So I installed them and wow are they one there.
Well, alot of the goodies and trinkets that I've been ordering showed up today. This included:
- Power supply
- stepper motors
- some timing pulleys and belt material
- idler rollers
- and a heat sink for the geckos that a friend so graciously donated to the project
The drives and power supply will go into the controller box. Now I can start on the long axis drive train. There will be some details on that coming shortly.
The container of M.A.L. didn't come with the order. (Michelob Assembly Lube)
LOOKING GOOD
OK....well been busy the last few days but I managed to get my long axis motor plate machined (with my older small CNC machine). It turned out pretty good and everything fit perfect (doesn't happen often) I bolted it to the machine temporarily so I could see if everything was on track.
As you will tell by the pictures, I decided to go back to the fixed belt drive system and a single belt at that. I'm 99% confident that it will work. I don't know how well but everything seems logical about it. It's one of those things that I just have to prove to my stubborn self, I won't learn anything if I don't try and if it doesn't work for some reason I can always recycle the parts for a recirculating belt drive.
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