Meet Captain Howdy!

[samualt]

This thread will document my Captain Howdy CNC router. It will be a little different than most machines because it was designed to be as big and mobile as I could make it. The sides come off and can roll around on their own so they can be stored away. The Gantry comes off via a mini crane so it can be stored away. The whole idea is to have a 4'x8' router without giving up a garage space! When it is done I'd like the set-up and tear-down to be no more than 15 minutes.

Here is the Captain Howdy CNC Router Website.

Cutting Area: 4'x8'x10"
Servo Motors: 3 motors at 1500 ozin peak, nema 42
Controller: 3 x Rutex Controllers with motherboard and IO card.
Frame: Aluminum T-Slots
Linear Bearings: THK Rails on all three axis.
Actuators: 2 ball screws, 1 rack-and-pinion
Time to complete: One Year (Mostly planning and buying materials.)
Plans: My own design
Software: Rhino 3D, Visual Mill, Mach2

[anoel]

You're a big "Twisted Stister" fan?

[samualt]

The three hardest parts of building this router, so far, has been:
1. Preparing the frame. This includes the 32 holes I had to tap in the bottom of the legs just to bolt on the castors. Plus, all the boring of holes for the butt-joints and other T-slot connectors.
2. Mounting the big THK rails on top of the T-slots frame.
3. Drilling out 40 precision holes in the racks for the rack-and-pinion drive. The racks don't come with holes because they don't know how your going to mount them. I had to start with a 1/8" hole and work my way up to 5/16. So each hole got drilled about 4 times. 4 racks, 10 holes per rack, drilled 4 times each = about 160 times I had to drill.

anoel:
I know who "Twisted Sister" is, but I can't say I'm a fan really. Why do you ask?

Ynneb:
Yes, in case your wondering about the name "Captain Howdy", it was the name of the demon that Regan talked to through her Ouija board in the the movie the Excorcist. I thought it an only appropriate since this router was a devil to make and I plan on making some Ouija boards with it. It just sounded better than the obligatory "Mr. Chips", LOL.

[ynneb]

I know who "Twisted Sister" is, but I can't say I'm a fan really. Why do you ask?

I think they must refer to "Captain Howdy"

The Captain Howdy I know of appears in the Excorsist when the mum asks Regan who she is talking to.

Is your machine a spiritually inspired machine?

Good luck with your highly mobile machine. I guess you are making it lightweight so it can be levitated more easily.

EDIT: I was doubting my memory from 30 years ago so I did a search.
http://www.captainhowdy.com/

Sorry for such a lame addition to your thread. I will delete it in a while and make it more relivant.

[DDM]

Love the router man, a little more than I'd want to spend on aluminum but that's just my choice. I was wondering who you got your rack and pinion through and if you could give me some more detail on how you set it up. Pictures are always good, I don't think any of us would mind. Great job so far.

Carl

[samualt]

DDM:
The rack and pinion I bought at McMaster:
1. X-Axis Drive Shaft- 1/2" OD, 72", Shaft for Pinion Gears, McMaster - 1346K23
2. X-axis Pinion Gear-16 tooth, 1/2" Shaft, McMaster - 6325k22
3. X-Axis Gear Rack-4', 3/4"x3/4", 12 Pitch, Actually 49" Long, McMaster - 6295K142
I cut the shaft to size, about 54", and that leaves me some extra shafting for a pulley step-down shaft I need elsewhere. You can use any old pillow-block bearings for the shaft.
Add a pulley on your motor, a pulley on your shaft, a belt to transfer power and your done.
The racks will be mounted on the inside of the top T-slot rails, and the shaft with pinions will be on the back of the gantry. I'll post some pictures by the middle of next week...I'm still drilling holes in the racks tonight.

P.S. The aluminum T-slots only cost $625 shipped. I used surplus stuff. Sometimes you can find a good deal here and there.

[anoel]

Sorry, I had to jump in with Twisted Sister comment... but it just struck my (80's Hair metal memory banks.) Capt. Howdy was a Twsited Sister song. Dee Snider even went so far and to make a movie about Capt. Howdy a few years ago called "Strangeland"

Then there is the Exorcist connection too.

(good lookin' router so far though..)

[ynneb]

Hey Samault, whats happening with your project? Are you still working on it?

Do you want me to do a bit of house cleaning on your thread to get rid of the idle chat that we put on it ?

[samualt]

ynneb:
Tuesday night or at least by Wedsday I'll post a bunch of stuff on my monster Z-axis. I'm just now adding the last bit, the router mount. I don't mind the thread being cluttered but clean it up if you like. I think my project will really take off starting tomorrow. I hope to be done completely within two weeks.