My first

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Hi all,
Well, I'm kind of new around here, been lurking for months. The great machines here has inspired me to build my own. So here are the specs:
Moving gantry, 48 x 32 table
34 x 24 x 5.5 envelope, Porter-Cable 1 3/4HP router.
3 214oz/in Pac Sci Powermax II driving 1/2 10 Acme lead screws with Delrin AB nuts.
3 Embeddedtronic microstepping chopper drives running the steppers in series bipolar.
30A 30V PSU (3 10A 24VAC frame transformers, 1 per motor).
Igus Drylin W40 doubles for the X axis, rollerblade bearings and harden 1" shafts for the Y, W singles at 6" apart for the Z.
The gantry is built of 1010 and 1020 X beams from 8020, with 1/8" alum gusset plates.
Don't beat me up too much, but my camera is C*&p! Don't stare too long or you'll go blind. that said, here are some Pixs.

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Here is the back of the Y axis carriage. rollerblade bearings on harden 1" shaft. No lead screw yet.

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Here is the shaft mount. 1/2" PVC

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The front of the Z axis. The Drylin bearings were a sample I requested 12" of W40mm, then cut down the middle and mounted 6" apart. Had to build up the height between the Z back plate and the spindle mounting plate to make room for the lead screw. used 1" x .375" flat bar.

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Here is the Z axis with the router mounted.

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this is the top of the Z, awaiting the stepper mount.

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Here is a view of the gantry frame

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Here is the PSU. a 10A transformer per axis. It's built in a old PC case. The drivers will mount on the other side by the drive bay.

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I've been ordering parts for about a month, Enco and McMaster-Carr knows my shipping address well I've been building for about 2 weeks now, working from the Z down. I hope to spin up my Z stepper by next weekend. More to follow!
Bill

[ger21]

Do the 1" y-axis shafts deflect at all? To me that seems to be the biggest problem with both the rollerblade bearing designs, and the Thompson style unsupported linear bearings.

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I haven't checked with a dial indicator, but it doen't seem to. To tell the truth that was the first axis I built and if I were to start over I would use the Drylin system. It works well so I'll leave it for now.
Bill

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awww. jealousy.. cant wait till i get there...

my 40" Y axis linear bearing is in the mail... now i just need another zillion dollars of high end linear components, and ill be set.

keep te pics comming!