Over 2 years time to complete!

[Dan911]

Hello All,
I started this project over 2 years ago, my original plan was 6' x 11' table with cncrouterparts linear carriages. Back than I had a 2,400 sq. ft. shop that I no longer have so I had to reduce the size of table to 5' x 6' to fit in my very limited size of building space in my basement. I picked up THK 1660mm rails with HSR20 blocks on eBay for a good price that I will now use for my Y axis. I will hold on to the linear carriages for a future build. I already purchased most of my parts except for the 20mm supported rails, I was hoping to find THK rails long enough and reasonable priced. Main reason being the supported rails I will have to tap holes in the 1/4" steel, THK rails I could just use through holes like I'm doing on the Y axis.

I will keep this first post short, I plan I starting on the table and will post with pics. If anyone sees any flaws or ways to improve my design I would really appreciate your comments.

Dan



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[Dan911]

Got all parts ready needed to assemble table. I purchased some heavy duty machine legs that needed to be modified. The holes I drilled larger to except a 5/16 carriage bolt so can attach to the 1545 extrusion and a 9/16 hole in the 1545 extrusion to allow for leveling. The 3" base on feet have two holes so can be easily mounted to a future table.



I tapped the six 1530 cross pieces ends to bolt to 1545 rail. I used a drill with the clutch on a medium setting, seen this on a utube vid and worked great.



Than I drilled the 3/8 through holes in the rail than 9/16 in slot for bolt head. I seen a jig for this on ebay for $75.00 so I made my own.

[Dan911]

I had a few delays and setbacks. When assembling my table I realized I didn't have enough bolts and t-nuts so had to wait for them to be delivered. Once delivered the bolts came 1" not 3/4" so were to long. I was still able to bolt table together though, I just slid the t-nuts in place and will bolt corner braces in when the right size bolts arrive.



My other setback was while waiting for bolts and t-nuts I decided to get started with the gantry. When unpacking my speedymetal package I seen my 1/4"x 7" x 60" cold roll steel was bent. It was hard to see in pic so I placed a rail on top.



Fortunately I had a 72" piece of hot rolled steel, since I'm not using it with cncrouterparts linear carriages I think it should be fine. I was very concerned with drilling in steel with my cheap Robi drill press and getting the rails perfectly parallel to each other, but it worked out well. I clamped the rails on the steel made up a jig and took my time. Surprisingly to me drilling into the steel didn't seem much different than drilling into aluminum.



My next dilemma to decide is to cut the steel to the rail lengths and have the gantry cantilever 2 1/2" on each side(hate cutting the rails) or cut both steel and rails for the 60" gantry I planned.



BTW I decided not to go with the 20mm supported rails for the X axis and purchased these on Monday THK NSR20TBA2 2000 LM Guide Linear Bearing 2RAIL 4BLOCKS | eBay as of now they still haven't been shipped. Hoping to get before next weekend. Those rails I will have to cut the extra 6" off.

[Dan911]

Hello all,
Its been a busy week with work and didn't get much done, but I enjoyed coming home each day seeing my parts arriving. Since my last post I cut my 7" steel to the rail lengths(1660mm)then disassembled to paint steel. Been waiting for my THK rails for X axis to arrive so I could prepare the 2 1/2" steel plates and paint at same time.

Once back in my shoe-box work space the first thing I worked on was my gantry risers. The THK NSR blocks threaded holes were equally spaced in a square. I wanted to make sure holes/block were centered perfectly on the risers so I set up a fence on drill-press, after many times adjusting I drilled first hole than put other side against fence for second hole. Once I had two holes I went back and forth with risers using each other for a template. The only problem with this is that when came to the rear holes it wouldn't fit in drill-press and had to drill by hand with drill. I will never knock my Robi drill press again! r holes it



Today I started on the 2 1/2 steel plates for X axis. I did this a little different than the gantry plate. Reason being is the largest socket head bolt you can use for the THK rails so that socket head fits in rail is a M5. When using a drill bit to match the size of the bolt itself left a little play in hole of the rail and was hard to be precise. This time once I had rail clamped to steel I used a drill bit the exact size of hole in rail to make a mark, than finished with a drill bit the size of bolt.



I want to use the steel for a mending plate for cross pieces also, so set in place and used a slip nut to make marks and drilled.



I bolted rail to steel and every third hole with slip nut to attach to extrusion. The M5 nut was the exact size of the extrusion slot and had to make sure the flat part of nut was lined up with slot to slide in( a real pain). I loosened all bolts on table, once steel/rail was in place I tighten all evenly.



Mounted the gantry riser, had to use socket head bolt on back because it was deliberately close, I wanted the block underneath the back of riser as much as possible.



The other side tomorrow.

[Dan911]

I completed my other X axis side and placed the 3060 extrusion on it with a few bolts. The 3060 still needs to be cut and gantry assembled but did this to check if any problems with the X axis. I couldn't be anymore pleased how smooth it was, one push and went all the way to other end of table.

My next project is to fabricate the 3" aluminum blocks to mount the 34nema rack and pinion drives. If any could tell the size bolt/thread of the shoulder bolt that comes with rack and pinion would be a great help.

Thanks,
Dan

[jeffserv]

Dan,

Looks like fun... One thing I think you will, if possible... is make your carriage, for the Y (Backwards and Forward) have angle supports, and the carriage longer.
Also: Unless you have a ball screw on both sides... this will skew from side to side and tend to bind, so parts will not be the same from side to side. As well you need virtical support for rigidity.
See picture, to explain what I mean. Hope this helps.

[Dan911]

Hey Jeff,
Thanks for your much appreciated advice and agree with you 200%. You can see from my build thread I stop on the gantry and went to the X axis because designing wasn't complete and hoped for input like yours.

Thanks,
Dan

[Dan911]

Hello All,
Progress slowed trying to decide what to do with my Z axis. I have a K2 8" slide with air shocks and water coolent radiador all assembled from previous build, but when I purchased the K2 slide I made the mistake of getting it with a .1 leadscrew pitch. I have a invoice from velox in my paypay account for 55.00 just for a direct replacement 5 start leadscrew. With the price of a ballscrew with surpported rails from China on Ebay so cheap I couldn't decide what to do.





I decide to use the K2 slide as is and use the cnc to make a new Z axis in future project. The back is only 3/8 and from the holes it came with and the ones I made, it looked like a piece of swiss cheese. I decide to replace with a peice of 5/8 flat bar I already had.















You can see from last pic I have motor and spindle connected. I read from here that to tune motor you should progressively increase your velocity until stall and than back off 20%. I was up 1800 ipm without a stall but was getting nervous without any limit switches or bumpers so didn't go any higher. I decided to make a video to show this off. I was trying to get close to the end because it really fly s.

Can't upload have to upload to u tube first. I will do because pretty funny, didnt think so when first happened but later reviewing video I had to laugh. If you didnt already guess I hit jog button wrong way.

[jeffserv]

Looks nice... on that z axis... and yes... running at high speeds, some limits would be good.

When making something for a limit to read, I use proximity switches... more reliable. As well, make whatever it reads, long, in the direction of travel. What will happen at high speed is it will go past a small tab... and because of how most softwares work... it will stop, but maybe 1/2 inch or more beyond the tab that it read... then it is in limit mode, and you will not have a signal, thus you if you jog it, it hits the limit going the opposite way, and stop. You are stuck on the wrong side of the limit. You would then have to shut down, and hand crank it away from the limit.

Using a length of bar, maybe 3" long... so then it goes over the limit... it keeps reading, no matter how far it goes past, will make sure it reads.

On a fast machine, it can go past the signal, and not get the signal, and then crash. That is what a small tab will do on a fast machine.

I hope in words, that this makes since.

[alan_3301]

ouch, that sucks,.. Glad you had a blanket there to catch all the balls.
Otherwise looking good.

Did you end up using like 200 bolts for the x axis rails? or did you only use every other one. I've never seen them with so many bolt holes before.

[Dan911]

Thanks Jeff. You can see my wire harness in the pic with the 3kw spindle, the grey wires are already wired to BOB for limit/home swithches but didnt get around to hooking up yet. I most likely will go with cncrouterparts proximity switches and bumpers since my machine is there crp footprint modified to except the THK rails.

Yes Alan I was very lucky. I had the blanket there because was connecting my gear rack on that side. If it happened on the other side the bearings would of hit the slab and bounced everywhere and blended in with all the aluminum chips on the floor. Would have never found all the bearings like I did. My bolts on steel to 3060 are 12" apart. The rails have slip nuts to the 3060 every third hole(4"), I plan to add 3"x 3" steel angle iron to the back that will bolt to gantry risers and through 3060 to 7" steel plate( see drawing above).



Here's the video when it happened, I was trying to get it close to the end and then up the IPM. All fixed now and won't try that again until limit switches are installed. Ok to laugh...I did after all fixed and seen video.

[LeeWay]

You might also consider hard stops on the ends. I know it may limit actual travel a bit, but would certainly help prevent such an over run. A simple plate fixed on the ends of the 80/20 would be all you need. I also used some bolt in rubber bumpers on mine. Of course, since I have them installed, I never hit them.
Looking good, BTW. Video is labeled "Private".

[Dan911]

Thanks LeeWay, and I think I fixed video. I been looking at the steel hard stops/bumpers cncrouterparts sells.

Did you end up using like 200 bolts for the x axis rails? or did you only use every other one. I've never seen them with so many bolt holes before.

Alan after rereading your post I realized I misunderstood your question. Thought you were asking about the 7" x 1/4" x 66" steel plate the length of gantry. The THK rails on gantry every third hole is actually usable, the 2 holes in between every usable hole are through holes. Why these rails were made this way I have no clue.

Dan

[wizard]

Nice build log! You have already gotten some good advice but I'm wondering about your vertical clearance, expect ally after a spoil board is attached. At least in the 2D renderings it looks marginal though in some of the assembly pictures it looks to be OK.

Mechanically you don't want your gantry any higher than it needs to be but you also need clearance for your stock, cutters & etc's. It isn't a big deal really as your design would allow for spacers if you disco paver the need for more clearance.

I have to also agree with one of the other posters, find ways to install gussets for the verticals. Even a tiny gusset is better than nothing but if you can find the room make a large triangle from the top of the gantry vertical piece down. As to the actual gantry beam I would have suggested a bigger cross section but we can wait and see how this works for you.

[Dan911]

Hi Wizard, Thanks! I expect to have the same clearance as the crp standard from cncrouterparts(6"?). Even though I raised the 1530 cross pieces flush to the top of the 1545 and lost 1 1/2", I gained about a 1/2" height with the X axis THK rails. I also eliminated the carriage that rides under the 7" steel plate on gantry and utilized that space with the mounting of the Z axis.


If you take notice of recent pics i posted you see a 1/2" space on each side of K2 slide to the ends of 7" steel plate that the slide is mounted to. Waiting on 2 -1/2" x 6" x 24" aluminum plates I purchased on ebay. Than will fabricate 2 pieces like shown in pick below.



Dan

[wizard]

Hi Wizard, Thanks! I expect to have the same clearance as the crp standard from cncrouterparts(6"?). Even though I raised the 1530 cross pieces flush to the top of the 1545 and lost 1 1/2", I gained about a 1/2" height with the X axis THK rails. I also eliminated the carriage that rides under the 7" steel plate on gantry and utilized that space with the mounting of the Z axis.

That isn't too bad. I think your 3D renderings threw me.

If you take notice of recent pics i posted you see a 1/2" space on each side of K2 slide to the ends of 7" steel plate that the slide is mounted to. Waiting on 2 -1/2" x 6" x 24" aluminum plates I purchased on ebay. Than will fabricate 2 pieces like shown in pick below.



Dan