My CNC router...Design Done..Y and Z Built..

[Locster13]

This forum has been great over the past 6 months...

I designed a router for cutting composite boat parts about 6 months ago, bought a 220V welder and am about 1/2 done with the build.. Here's some pics of the design.. I'll throw somne pics of the build up if anyone is interested..

Will hold material 100" x 52" (4x8 with a couple inches of material needing to be trimmed)...

I've got a 3.75 HP router but will probably build an AC driven spindle wth a VFD if the machine can handle it...

Frame is 3x3x1/4 steel tubing. In theory it will weigh about 2,000 lbs when completed.. We shall see.

I buil the controller based on another guys controller, bought Mach 2 to try it and a couple used steppers to play with.. Motor controller works great..

Anyways, here's the .pdfs of the design..

Cheers,

Tony in Maine

[hugo carradini]

Interesting design looks structurally strong.
Keep posting your progress
Regards
Hugo Carradini

[Locster13]

I tried to find the beefiest routers that folks seem to use in a home to medium shop and used those sections for similar size router..

Some of the angled steel routers on the market that are bolted together seem scary..

The monster industrials beasts (thermwood, etc) are much beefier but this seemed like a good compromise..

Vibration is a function of mass so when all is said and done there's a temptation to fill the tubing with conctrete Thinking about it this might not be a bad idea if there is vibration.. Until it is move time..

We shall see..

Cheers,

T

[wcarrothers]

Wow.. 3x3x1/4 tube.. That is a lot of weight. Interesting design ideas here.

I'm just a dope in the process of making my own with not as heavy material (althou my legs are 3x2 by either 3/16 or so steel) But I ended up deciding to mound my rack underneeth so it would not load with dust. Also I'm wondering if those are bearing blocks you are using or something else...

Also I hope to leave enough gap between the posts of x so I can slide pieces of 4x8 sheet in through the side (so figure 4-1/2' between my gantry support posts) not sure all the reasons for doing that just yet but I'm thinking it will come in handy incase I can't load something one way or want to rip cut a 4x8 the short way or something (think I will have a 7-1/4" circular saw mount for the machine at some point.

b.


See my pics so far of the build in another thread in this DIY section.

[Locster13]

I thought about dust but figured getting a vacuum into the mix was atop priority on the list since the fibers and dust of the compostites are quite unhealthy (carbon/epoxy). So I've got a small vacuum box designed in as well to handle a 3" hose...That should give me enough juice..

I figured I'd rather overspec than under spec the steel... It wound up being $185 more for the 1/4" than he 3/16 and $85 more for 3x3 than 3x2 which is what I started with.. Compared to the motors ($500), electronics ($1200), racks, pinions, linear bearings, bearings, shafts, pulleys, etc the steel was pretty cheap..

Only time will tell.. This is a first for me...

I have access to a bridgeport mill so I am going to bore bearing mounts directly into some 3/8" steel plate and press them on an arbor press...

T

[wcarrothers]

Sounds like a good plan on spending on the steel. Although as my machine gains weight I've been getting more sensitive to what I chose to use.. Course the table can gain as much weight as it wants with out effecting anything badly. It's the gantry that I'd say could be "to" heavy duty in some cases which would effect max speed (or in my thoughts distance/time for reversing direction)

That is a cool design. Will probably come out working better then mine.. Already have things I wish I did different. But not that many. Guess the list will grow once I get to using it..hehe

Hay what size motors are you going with>? I'm going to use 1100oz servo motors.

b.,

[Locster13]

I went with 1320 oz steppers...

Probably will regret it later..

Seems like most guys with steppers are ok with them.. THe composite cutting is more a fucntion of cutter speed and HP than feedrate so I'm hoping that if I get the right cutters and can work out a decenpt spindle set-up I'll be ok..

Just curious why you chose servos over steppers??

[wcarrothers]

THe design for my mill conversion used servos thus my power supply/controller is a servo controller (rather then stepper)..

Other then that I don't really have a real reason although I'm not partial to either one. I think having feedback (ie servo) is in a way smarter as I would not like to spend time thinking "did go to fast and loose a step?" But on the other hand with servos I think you have to be much more concerned that your limit switches work right every time. So that in a way is a downer.. Course I have noticed that if my geckos hit end of travel they don't try to move much longer before they fault out. Don't know if that is a "feature" or what but I've only had that happen a few times..

So before I can really play with my machine I have to finish all the limit wireing so that is a little downer to..hehe

b.

[lgalla]

Hey Tony,
Cool design. I am working on the exact same thing.Your gantry looks the same as my design.Is it all steel?I planned on a1/4"plate with the centre cut out and the bearing trucks mounted to it.Steel may be more cost effective and stronger than aluinium.One inch alu plate is $130.00 and weights 14lbs/sqft 3/8 steel is $25 and the weight is 15lbs/sqft.My gantry beams are 2"x4"x.125. @4.7lbs/ft
your 3"x3"x.25 weights in at 9.34lbs/ft.
I was planning on filling the gantry tubes with epoxy and ceramic microspheres to stiffen the structure and not increasing the weight too much.
A 10hp spindle
is100lbs,a7.5hp is about 60lbs my gantry will probably be 350lbs with everything included ie 2 servos drives and linear guides.
What do you plan for linear motion?I am considering belt drive x&y but do not know enough about it.Where are the pictures?Keep us posted.
Larry

[Locster13]

Here's a few pics of Z axis completed..

Used 3/8 steel for the box.

Z is driven via a rack and pinion from a stepper motor. Move on some HIWIN linear slides.. After pricing them out and searching e-ay for weeks wound up getting them at automation4less. Nice folks. Good service. Challenge and frustration in building the box is that the 3/8 plate is not perfectly flat and I did not have access to a surface grinder. In fact, I think I probably bent it ever so slightly by putting a relatively thin plate in a vise.. Not sure.. Isn't an issue except for 'pride in the job'. Learning alot about maching since I'm fairly inexperienced and there's no substitute for time on the mill unless you have some guru who can watch over you..

Larry, I'm going to use rack and pinion for X and ball screw for Y. The thing I'm still debating is wether or not to use two motors on X verus one with a five foot shaft going to a second rack and pinion on the other side.. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but I keep going back to the idea of one stepper being out of wack with the other stepper.. That just sounds ugly!

There's also a few pics of the controller attached.. Scehmatic attaced as well..

[Switcher]

Locster13,

What software did you design your table with?

Jerry

.

[ahmedsaid]

hello ..
i used PiC 16F48 as a full step interface between LPT of my PC and stepper motors , can any one tell me where to find a HEX file that can be loaded into PIC16F84 to drive stepper motors in HALF step ?