my first cnc router, peer review wanted

[tgrandahl]

So even in mounting the screw, think about mountings that make it easier to mount and remove (like a bearing plate) that bolts to the outside of the beam flange with a hole big enough in the flange to pull the whole screw through.

Alan[/QUOTE]

Thanks that's a good point and this being my first machine i'm sure i will be doing plenty of experimenting with components.

I do need to work on the bearing blocks, probably next order of business. Until then, I cleaned it up a little bit.

[tgrandahl]

So i added in some lead screw bearing blocks, i modeled them from ones available from PRECISIONTECHMACHINING.COM. At this point i am not sure if i am going to make my own, I already have my work cut out for me.

Constraining them to the model brought up the question of tension however; if a lead screw is slightly shorter than the spacing between the bearings, wouldn't this create significant backlash?

So would it be a good idea to machine the lead screw slightly longer than needed and have one bearing block mounted with springs between the block and bolt heads?