Solsylva Rack and Leadscrew Router build.

[Rees Guitars]

Hello,
I've ordered plans for the Solsylva 24"x48" Router, as well at the 425 oz. 3 axis electronics kit from Xylotex. As soon as the plans arrive I will order the suggested leadscrews, leadnuts and bearings.

Heres some optional parts I plan on using:
-Dimensional Oak for the wood frame
-Acme leadscrews and leadnuts
-1 3/4 HP Milwaukee router, for now

I will mostly be using the router for making guitars and RC boat and airplane ribs, but I can see myself making almost anything from wood on it.

So far I've spent a little under $500 on the plans and electronics, hopefully another $700-$800 will finish it up for now, with upgrades later. Sound like a fair estimate?

-Ed

[abomb55076]

Sounds like youve got it pretty well planned out. Keep us updated on the build, I would like to see how it turns out!

[ZNAK]

xylotex is not the best choise because it uses allegroa3977 chip and it has 35v max

425 steppers is not good choice too because they have midband resonance( i own these motors), so you would not achieve fast speeds.

make a search on xylotex in forums and on 400ozin steppers.

all these things worth its money, but no the best choice)

hope to see your build finished)!

[CarveOne]

Originally Posted by Rees Guitars -snip- So far I've spent a little under $500 on the plans and electronics, hopefully another $700-$800 will finish it up for now, with upgrades later. Sound like a fair estimate? -Ed

If you squander away money like I did with my 25x37 build, add about $1,000. The red oak alone cost around $90 but is well worth it. Your estimate is probably not far off if you are very conservative in your purchases. I didn't use a breakout board and didn't install the limit and home switches that I bought. I paid more for some of the materials than I should have.

Good luck with your build. It should be a good one for guitars.

CarveOne

[Rees Guitars]

Can't afford to squander money away at this point! Hopefully having this machine will change that for the future. I'd like to build a decked out 4'x8' MechMate router as soon as possible, probably going to have about $8000 wrapped up in that one.

I'm not too concerned about top speed right now. I will definitely be using the resonance dampers CarveOne used on his Solsylva.

[CarveOne]

I could probably spend some time tweaking the spring tension and/or wheel diameter get those dampers working even better. The design with the ball bearings shown on the Solsylva site works also. Not sure which design is the better one though. There are viscous dampers available commercially but they tend to be pricey and not something that can easily be home built.

CarveOne

[Rees Guitars]

My Solsylva plans arrived today. They are great, well worth the money!

It looks like I may want to use rack and pinion. The price, quicker rapids, and simplicity are all appealing to me. I've still got some reading to do regarding possible resolution problems.

[CarveOne]

When I think of viscous dampers why is it that I get mental images of oil soaked socks flopping around on the end of the stepper shaft??

CarveOne

[Rees Guitars]

Whatever works! :P

[revwarguy]

I have seen some posts objecting to certain steppers for the solsylva. I am building one of these, but I haven't ordered the steppers, drivers, or leadscrews yet. Given that money is not horribly tight, but not abundant, and that I am going with leadscrews (leaning toward ACME 2 start) with an aluminum gantry, which stepper/driver/leadscrew combo should I get?

I like the hobbycnc package, but only because I like building the electronics kits to save money, but not at the cost of performance. Are they good/bad/indifferent? Solsylva kind of leads you toward hobbycnc or xylotex for their steppers. Did anyone use these and end up replacing them right away for some reason? If so, I would sure like to hear about it.

TIA,

Revwarguy

[CarveOne]

Gecko G540 is the drive with the smoothest motion and best internal protection that I am aware of in the low(er) cost arena. It doesn't come with a power supply or steppers from Gecko but you can find vendors that have the G540 in their package offerings.

Built in midband resonance reduction, open/short protection, and you don't need a breakout board for the G540. It is worth any additional cost to get them IHMO.

CarveOne

[grahamshere]

Listen to Carveone, don't think about just do it lol. Or if you can afford the gecko 203's then get those. You will be a happy man with gecko's, So Iv,e been told :7) .