DJs 80/20 design

[djmartins]

Hi all,

Been designing a router using Ahren's mounts and 1545 80/20 beams.
Think I will use angle and vee bearings for this one, the z-axis will use linear V rail as I scored a 14" pair off of Evilbay.
Will be expensive for the 80/20 parts but I am thinking it will be worth it in the long run.
What do y'all think of this one?

regards,
DJ

[Regnar]

Nice design, If you want to save some money you could use 1515 for the bed seeing you are only using the 1.5 side and not the 4.5 I dont think you will loose any strength by doing this. Also if you have a drill press and a mitter saw you can save a bundle on all the joining plates. I use acouple of different sources online to get flat bar aluminum in .250 inch sizes and then just glue a layout onto the metal and cut and drill. Last but not least you can make your own t nuts. They sell the blanks on ebay for a few bucks and you can make any size thread that you need. I have made 300 M3x.50 tnuts and 200 5/16x18. It takes time but after awhile it goes quicker and quicker.

Good luck with build!

[High Seas]

You might consider saving the costs for the legs and building/buying a second hand work bench for the support. I went ther route and was unhappy with the 8020 as the supporting legs. Yeah you can get it plenty rigid - but a lot of fiddling for a support mechanism. I have all the left overs "in stock" and they are evolving into other machines.
Just my .02 - or keep the materials and use for an overhead chip/noise enclosure.
Jim
In a similar design for the x axis -- I mounted the 8020 right to the $60 hardwood (oak) top of a nice second hand bench!

[ahren]

Hi DJ,
Looks good -- you've made a lot of changes since the first design you sent me. I'll be excited to see what your machine looks like when you start building. I'd second Jim's comment about buying a workbench for support. I ended up bolting my machine to a bench with a hardwood ply top, and it stiffened right up, even though I only built the bed with 1515.
I'm sorry my linear motion concept didn't work out for you, but it looks like you've designed in some of the other cncrouterparts.com components. It will be cool to see some of them in action once you start your build!

Best regards,

Ahren
www.cncrouterparts.com

[Dougie085]

I'd say definitely try and build the table out of something else. You don't realize how expensive 80/20 is until you get a quote for everything you need

[djmartins]

Hi DJ,
Looks good -- you've made a lot of changes since the first design you sent me. I'll be excited to see what your machine looks like when you start building. I'd second Jim's comment about buying a workbench for support. I ended up bolting my machine to a bench with a hardwood ply top, and it stiffened right up, even though I only built the bed with 1515.
I'm sorry my linear motion concept didn't work out for you, but it looks like you've designed in some of the other cncrouterparts.com components. It will be cool to see some of them in action once you start your build!

Best regards,

Ahren
www.cncrouterparts.com

This was my second go at it thinking I could get more XYZ travel if I went with 1545.
I tried to use as many of your parts as possible.
When I figured in the cost of the cold rolled plate and all, it wasn't much more to go to 1" angle and V bearings for what I hope is an upgrade.
It also simplifies the design a lot.
I am now tweaking the design a bit trying to get the Z closer to center and all that sort of stuff.
Didn't email you as I thought you were on vacation, Happy Holidays!

I am using simple aluminum blocks with minimal machining to mount the V bearings, 1" angle iron for the bearings to ride on, Ahren's bearing and motor mounts, the rest consisting of standard 80/20 parts.
If I need to move up to Nema34 motors I can just swap out the motor mounts.
Dumpster nuts with a simple two hole mounting block of aluminum to the 1545 parts and hopefully 1/2" 5 start ACME screws.

Everyone seems to be dead set against the 80/20 legs and bed which surprises me.
If I use them I get a lot of T slots and the whole machine is made from the same material and I can easily add a place to hold the controller, PC, dust collector, and tooling underneath the bed of the machine.
What sort of tweaking are talking about that makes the 80/20 so bad?
I need a few workbenches but I have yet to find a source for a strong ones at a good price.
The prices I have seen are over $300 plus BIG $ for shipping on a GOOD workbench that doesn't have T-slots.
Any ideas?
I have done some rough cost estimates of the 80/20 and it is not out of line when one adds in the other parts needed to make a machine.
It still won't be more than half the cost of the whole shebang but looks to be very sturdy and serviceable.

What problems have others had with working with the 80/20 stuff other than cost?


regards,
DJ

[studysession]

I like it. I am doing an 8020 design myself using the 1010 aluminum. I am using a belt driven design instead of the screws though. When you get it together, please post pic's.

.

[Dougie085]

Well if your prepared to spend 4+ grand then by all means I got a quote from 80/20 and it was like 2500-3000 for the aluminum needed to build a 8'x4' table and then I decided I needed to look at new options lol.

[djmartins]

Well if your prepared to spend 4+ grand then by all means I got a quote from 80/20 and it was like 2500-3000 for the aluminum needed to build a 8'x4' table and then I decided I needed to look at new options lol.

It is less than 1/4 of your $4,000 when I add it up.

Adding up the current extrusion costs from the 80/20 ebay outlet for the top part with the bed of the machine gives a total of $648.04, add on $146.20 for the lower part.
Just the extrusions for the XYZ rails is $316.07.
The bed parts alone cost $331.97 but if I change the layout could cost ~=$230.00 using two longer 1530s and 3x 1515s going across.
So I need to find a nice workbench, WITH T-slots for hold downs, for less than $376.20 if I use it instead of 80/20 pieces.

Therefore, I can get it as low as ~=$692.27 for all the extrusions needed to make it with the bed and legs.
Add in buying the other 80/20 stuff and it will be a bit less than $1,000 for all the 80/20 parts.
I designed it around what sizes were available from the 80/20 Ebay store to keep costs down.
Controllers, motors, PC, ACME screws, ACME nuts, software, V bearings, hardware, and all the rest are going to be a bit more than $1,000.

regards,
DJ

[Dougie085]

Hmm...how big is your table? I was going to do a 8'x4' table and they don't have any 10ft lengths on their ebay page. Also how much do you think yours is going to cost total? I may just follow your design I was looking to spend ~2000.

[djmartins]

Hmm...how big is your table? I was going to do a 8'x4' table and they don't have any 10ft lengths on their ebay page. Also how much do you think yours is going to cost total? I may just follow your design I was looking to spend ~2000.

I hope to keep my costs to that or less too.
I need to get permission from SWMBO for this.

It is more than 3' x 4', right now 56" x 37" x 10".
I am tweaking the design right now to decrease costs, solidify the design, and simplify machining.
Aluminum costs are through the roof, so I am decreasing the mounting plate thickness where I can to 3/4" plate.
I have a Taig CNC mill I am trying to get up and running and this will be the first parts I want to make on it.

I have in mind for future expansion being able to route the edge of a board at the front for dovetails, adding a rotary table at the end, and adding a rotating head on the Z (which is why the Z is 10" travel).
Let me get it further along and I will share it with you if you like it.


regards,
DJ

[Dougie085]

Yeah I'd really like to do 4'x4' at minimum. 2500 is my upper limit as I'd like to leave enough room to eventually and a high frequency spindle. I may just end up doing an entire machine out of steel except the gantry though. We'll see.