Build Thread- Joe's 2006 Upgrade

[mhiggins]

I have been working on a new gantry for my 2006 which incorporates design elements from Joe's 4x4 as well as mods inspired by other DIY machines, commercial units and some of my own ideas. I will try to give credit to those whose concepts inspired my design but sometimes I forget where I found them. I'll do my best since I don't want to take credit for anyone's work.



I know my existing machine doesn't look exactly like the traditional Joe's 2006. If you would like to know why, here is a link to my original machine build.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...ghtly+modified

[mhiggins]

[mhiggins]

Some info on the 4th axis build.

[mhiggins]

More an the 4th axis.

[DayneInfo]

HURRY...I want to see more

[calgrdnr]

Thanks Mike , I have been think about modding my z and y also. I will be watching with great interest. also would like indexer


Kent

[mhiggins]

Here is a video showing my cable carrier. I modified drawings I found on this thread to create the toolpath.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...=cable+carrier

[mhiggins]

I found the inspiration for the carriage on this thread.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...uter+enclosure

I changed the design by leaving two inches between the 1030 extrusions to make room for the leadscrew. The plates on top and bottom were made with a hacksaw and a file out of some scrap machine parts I had on hand and are 3/8" thick.

I used 1/4" plate on the front and back. Two pieces on the front to allow for the leadnut to pass between. Two pieces on the back to allow for additional adjustment between the upper and lower v-groove bearings. The bolts that mount the bearings pass through the plates and thread into nuts in the extrusion.

EDIT: I almost forgot to thank Joe for his 4x4 design which is the inspiration for the gantry and v-groove bearings. The last pic sort of tells it all.

[mhiggins]

I used 3/4" aluminum plate for the Z-axis. The leadnut is mounted to another piece I sawed out of scrap extrusion and bolted to the back of the 3/4" plate. The center pic shows how I used a bushing to line up and mark the bracket with a transfer punch. The bushing was filed down on the drill press to fit the hole in the upper bracket of the carriage.

In the first pic you can see there is a bearing block on the top and bottom of the upper plate. The two bearings are loaded against each other and there is no support for the leadscrew at the bottom it just free floats. I used a dumpster threaded clamp on the top and a plain steel clamp on the bottom.

[lumberjack_jeff]

Very nice cable chain. What dimensions did you use?

[FandZ]

I like it all. Nice work! I'm going to have to make some of that energy chain. I recently enclosed my wires into a wire shield like you showed in your 1st video. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't make it bend in the air like yours did...lol I feel like an idiot now.

[mhiggins]

The first pic shows the bracket for the leadnut and the second shows a gusset that I added just for the heck of it. I'm sure it would have been plenty stong without it.

In the last pic you can't actually see the leadnut but you can see theends of the machine screws that hold it on. You will also notice that I drilled a 5/16" hole just below the leadscrew for a 1/4" rod to pass through. I made HDPE support followers for the leadscrew. I threaded the ends of some harware store steel rod to screw into the followers and used jamb nuts to keep them tight and indexed. You can see the jamb nut in the last pic.

All I had was 3/4" HDPE so I cut a 1" wide piece for the bottom and cut a 1/4" deep tenon to ride in the slot on the extrusion. I used a 1/2" ball mill to cut the groove in the top and bolted the two pieces together with machine screws. The followers are captured between the extrusion and the leadscrew. The leadnut bracket will hit one of the followers and drag the whole assembly with it allowing the other follower to support the leadscrew. The followers are short enough that they don't reduce the axis travel.

EDIT: I added a pic that shows the follower a little better.