My Shopbuilt Machine

[dan_the_welder]

Hi, here is my baby, about three months of effort getting it going. I am cutting now with Mach 3, SheetCam and DeltaCad.

Accuracy is good, 25 IPM on plywood, .25 depth of cut, 1/4 bit.
I cut right through .090 aluminum diamond plate with a 1/4 solid carbide bit from Sears with some spray lube at about 10 IPM. Crazy fast 500 IPM rapids.

All the linear motion is 5/8" ball transfers from http://www.1stsourceproducts.com/btu_studmounted.htm Total cost was about $100 including shipping. They run straight on the 80/20 groove, they "run in" a bit and I had to tighten the trucks a few times. You will notice there are adjusters on one side of each truck.

I got the ball transfer idea from Accuratemike's oxy-actelyne table http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6923 and ran with it, i.e. made it 3D capable.

The rack came from McMaster Carr, the gears from a local bearing supplier. Ballscrew, nut, LoveJoy coupler and pillow block from McMaster Carr. Steppers and drivers from Ebay. Power Supply from Antek's Ebay store, http://stores.ebay.com/Antek-inc

Breakout board, relay card and step direction LED board from http://candcnc.com/ Obviously, I have neglected to install the cooling fan!

Misc stuff, from my junk bins and the scrap yard. Energy chain from http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/alas, I think there is no more, I got it from the store in person not from the website.

The frame is 1.5" 14 GA square tubing, it looks overbuilt, but I plan to convert this to a plasma cutter with a waterbed, so the crazy trussing is important, and asthetically pleasing to me!

Dust extraction is welded aluminum tube, pool cleaner hose and a Shopvac

I think the total cost, materials only is about $2200. Gear rack is tack welded to the angle iron, 80/20 gives you lots of places to attach stuff as well as adjustablity. The 80/20 was shimmed level and the table cut flat as the first job.

I am making a shelf in these pictures. I also made the router mount and dust collector shield on the machine. My first router was a big old Porter Cable Speedmatic, but it was too massive. It's intertia would mess up the rapids. The mount for that was a piece of channel aluminum and some big hose clamps, directly attached to the 80/20 z axis. Super easy to make.

Edit: I would do a lot of things differently next time. That is why I will turn this into a plasma and take what I have learned and make a burly router. Mmm vacuum table, v-rollers, SOUND ENCLOSURE!!!!!!!

[harryn]

Nice setup. Are you happy with the gear drive setup ? I have wondered if those are sensitive to dust or not, but maybe they are ok.

I was going to also jokingly ask you why you built such a wimpy frame. Looks good.

[dan_the_welder]

Hi Harryn,

I really like the gear drive. Super simple to set up, adjustable. And so far good at crushing anything in the way.

Also the tubing is very thin walled. But the trussing should make it able to hold about 1000 pounds or so at a comfortable working height!

[dan_the_welder]

Hi,

I am cutting slots in some reeded plaster moulding. It's being used as a decorative motif in the new house of the president of Florida State University.

This particular piece is getting the slots so it can be used as an air register for the HVAC system.

I just hand wrote the G code. I only wanted to cut a few slots at a time just in case the stepover was not consistant, as the moulding was all handmade.

I cut seven slots and then re-zero the x so I can compensate for the funkitude.

Dan

[zoltan]

Hi Dan,

Very clever. Do you have any drawings? What about the ball transfers, are they steel or plastics, also, do you observ any wear on the 80/20?

Thank you,

Zoltan

[dan_the_welder]

Hi,

No drawings. I designed as I built and hand made most of the parts.

I got lots of mileage out of a compass, a square and a punch.

The ball transfers are steel and the 80/20 does wear.

I "ran in" all the axies and from time to time, particularly after a bad crash they need to be tightened and run in again, but all it takes is a traverse or two.

The 80/20 is deformed to the shape of the ball and I am assuming it is getting work hardened as we go along.


Dan

[dan_the_welder]

AKA, those sexy swirlies.

I bought a 3M rolok kit from Discount Auto Parts, which included the adapter and some disks

Just use the row hole drilling macro in Mach or hand write some G-Code.

The z should just touch down and compress the rolok disk a bit. I am getting a bit of an inconsistant depth, but I plan to get some squishy, yet grippy foam drawer liner stuff from the big box store tomorrrow to allow for that.

Once I get the bugs out I will do the other side of this sheet. It is a custom interior door trim skin for an older Mustang.

I saw a photo of someone doing this using a cordless drill on their machine somewhere on the CNCzone probablly.


It'll be hawt.

Dan

[zoltan]

Dan,

Thank you for answers. Anyway great idea.

Zoltan

[dan_the_welder]

New sign for the Cafe.