Proposed T-Slot 8020 Build in Oz

[uspl]

Hi again

I was in Sydney all week at a trade show, boring as hell BUT I did notice that the display stands were all put together from some slotted section very much like 8020 but I could not expect they paid that sort of price.

Time to start looking on eBay for 2nd hand shop fitting material........

I will keep you posted.

[cutter100]

Getting ready for my first build and started a thread with a question but no reply yet. ( in t-slot section here) Have any of you seen or used faztek. They have a piece with an external t type shape on one side and I'm wondering if it would be good as the linear rail?

Part number is 15lg1515l-72.

sorry again for breaking in the thread but I want to place an order asap. and could use advise. Will be a 4x8 combo table plasma/router

Thanks ....Chris

[uspl]

I cannot comment on the profile itself but Faztek raises some interesting options.

Their pricing is much sharper than what I can source in Australia and with the current exchange rate I can do quite well. For example, a 40x80 profile at 48" is listed at $32USD. My equivalent here from AME is $46AUD per metre.

If I do all the conversions, the Faztek 48" come to $25 Australian per metre, saving me $21 per metre. I need about 10 lineal metres so the question is how much is shipping from Indiana to Melbourne going to cost ?

Anyone else in Victoria considering an 8020 build and maybe splitting freight costs ?

[Bear5k]

I cannot comment on the profile itself but Faztek raises some interesting options.

Their pricing is much sharper than what I can source in Australia and with the current exchange rate I can do quite well. For example, a 40x80 profile at 48" is listed at $32USD. My equivalent here from AME is $46AUD per metre.

If I do all the conversions, the Faztek 48" come to $25 Australian per metre, saving me $21 per metre. I need about 10 lineal metres so the question is how much is shipping from Indiana to Melbourne going to cost ?

Anyone else in Victoria considering an 8020 build and maybe splitting freight costs ?

I'm not sure whether shipping from Singapore to Melbourne will be too much better, but I've been favorably impressed with the Misumi extrusions I have (especially the GFS version versus the Bosch "heavy" 4590 extrusions I also have on-hand). Pricing here in the US is quite a bit cheaper than Bosch and 80/20, but how they price in SE Asia/Oceania is a testable hypothesis (the HFS8 extrusion in a 40mmx80mmx1000mm piece works out to AUD27.28 according to the site linked below). Misumi's GFS8 extrusion (basically 6061-T6 aluminium that is HEAVY) seems to be a real bargain, especially for longer, unsupported horizontal spans. The HFS8 extrusions have a lot more machining options from the factory, if that matters.

Aluminum Frames | MISUMI, the catalog company of Mechanical Components for Factory Automation. eCatalog

By the way, the catalog is a little maddening, but once you get used to it, there is some real power in the configuration options.

[cutter100]

Thanks for the response. ( although no answer...lol ) I was thinking a little more deeply and it's only 1.5" x 1.5" so I'm thinking it's probably a little on the small side. Be nice if they had that in 2x3". Oh well I'll keep thinking for now.

Thanks

[Bear5k]

Thanks for the response. ( although no answer...lol ) I was thinking a little more deeply and it's only 1.5" x 1.5" so I'm thinking it's probably a little on the small side. Be nice if they had that in 2x3". Oh well I'll keep thinking for now.

Thanks

Sorry. T-slot as a linear rail? It's possible, but since no vendor of which I'm aware will quote a "straightness" spec for the inside of the track, it's probably best only where limited precision is required. In fact, Bosch makes a few slide carriages with just this in mind. You are most likely much better off, though, looking at a dedicated rail/carriage system of some sort, though.

[cutter100]

Thanks bear I was wondering about that too. Plus I had asked faztek what deflection a 1.5" has and I might have stumpped them. They normally sell enclosers , machine cages, etc. Think I'll go with the 2x3 and angle with my bearing set up. Still just planning. Will start postting pics when I get going in the next week or so.

[uspl]

Evening all.
Sorry for not updating this for a while but work has been interfering with hobbies again.
Anyhow....
I got onto Australis - Conveyors and Profile Online Shop these guys and found some very sharp pricing for T-Slot.

They have come back to me with a quote on my design for a 500x1000mm moving table machine at under $1000 for a complete kit including all machining, drilling and fixtures to assemble, about half what I had been looking at previously.

I am using Frame Designer (FrameXpert | Custom Industrial Aluminum Furniture) to redo my drawings and scale down to a 40x40 frame. Based on Australis prices of $20l/m for 40x40 my project may again be a reality.

Keep you posted

[uspl]

Hi all

Finally got moving on this project.

I have decided to start with the electro-mechanical part of the build first. This is partly due to not having the floor space for the actual machine just yet, but mainly because I want to do a full prototype of the mechanics. I am not finally decided on the gantry design, particularly in regard to the Y-axis mounting so I am going to do a few test of my motors and ball screws first to be sure of acceleration and speed results.


Rather than buy motors from one place, controllers from another, I have bought an entire kit from Ocean Controls in Melbourne. To be perfectly honest, the kit price is a fair bit over the component price if I did a lot of web buying; the simple answer is that these guys are only a few minutes from home, they provide excellent customer service and are very knowledgeable. I basically paid more than I needed to in order to get a local warranty and I am happy with that decision.


I bought a CNC-011 kit as shown here
430 oz-in 3-axis CNC Pack with Sinusoidal Drivers :: Large Stepper Kits :: CNC :: Welcome to Ocean Controls and it arrived a month ago.

2x nice big power supplies
1x little power supply for the breakout board
1x breakout board that has plenty of I/O for limit switches etc
1x cable to suit
3x micro-stepping drivers
3x 410oz motors

Anyway, I spent the last couple of weeks testing various motor configurations and tuning with Mach3. i have settled on 1/8 micro-steps for now, the motors still have good torque at that setting and I can run them at about 750RPM to give me 3500mm per minute on all axis. Not the fastest machine going round but plenty fast enough for what I intend to do.


My test rig consists of the X-axis ball screw bolted to my workbench and hooked up to one motor. I fitted a bracket to the nut and attached a wire rope that runs to a pulley in the roof of my workshop, then down to a 20 litre bucket filed with sand. That gives me a nice load to pull against and is easily adjustable if needs be.


Next the frame

Herewith the first dry assemble of the frame.
This is only rough to ensure the fabricator sent all the right parts.

Looks OK so far, one minor quibble with the alignment holes at one end but overall very happy with what they did. Cost with freight from Sydney was just over $1k. That may sound high but remember this extrusion goes for over $200 per length and I got them to do all the drilling and tapping plus supply fixings.

Anyhow, off to the hardware store this morning to gather bits for making a proper table, then move onto the full assembly.

To do:

• Go 20km across town to the only electrical place that sells the cable I need by the metre
• Tear down an old photocopier, fabulous source of limit switches and optical sensors for free
• Ditto an old 19" rack server, free rack mount case for my electronics and VFD
• Back to eBay for the linear bearings and rails
• Source a 600mm ground ball screw for the Z axis, that's my biggest stumbling block so far.

I have also added a couple of shots of my 2.2kW HuanYang water cooled VFD spindle.

More to come this week, if anyone is interested I am happy to post my plans for the frame.

Cheers

[uspl]

I made up the linear slide assemblies for the x-axis last night and this morning, pretty happy with them so far.
Everything is still a dry fit mock up for now, I intend to pretty much assemble the whole thing except for electronics to learn from my mistakes then tear it down and do an accurate final build.

After several hours work, my lady's comment was "so it slides, big deal"

More photos

Linear Slide
Three pillow block bearings mounted to a 1000mm length of profile. Made two of these. Socket head screws make a nice concealed fixing

X Rail
These are 25mm case hardened rods mounted on an aluminium carrier. Each is 1600mm long.

Table
Like it says, table on rails. The 1600mm rods and the offset bearings allow the 1000mm table to slide completely under the gantry meaning I will get my full cut area.

[uspl]

Hi All

32c degrees in the shed so better off in front of the PC under the fan for a while. I am working on some manufacturing drawings for my Z Axis, up until now it has mainly existed as an idea in my head.

Drawings herewith, comments and suggestions for improvement appreciated. I am aiming to keep it as compact as possible while allowing for 200mm plus of Z travel. The spindle alone weighs in at 6.4kg plus the motor and bearings so I am going to need some sort of compensation, gas struts or springs to balance the load.

[uspl]

Evening all,

The sparkie dropped by this morning and hooked up the spindle motor.

HuanYang HY02D223B VFD driving a 2.2kW

Interesting time working our way through the Chinglish manual but some Google and crossed fingers got us through.

Had a minor hitch with the water pump; memo to self, check hoses are tight before starting pump. Nothing like a fountain in the middle of the workshop with 3 phase wiring exposed everywhere.

Anyway, all good in the end. The little spindle runs up to 24000 RPM in about 10 seconds and is pretty quiet too. I had it running for 30 minutes with the water cooler and the case temp stayed about 5 degrees above ambient so I am happy with that. Speed control is via a 10k pot on the analogue control port. When I go live I will probably swap that for digital control via RS-485.

Question:

I am using a 10k pot that meters at 8.9k when fully turned. That gives me speed control from 16000rpm to 24000rpm. Does that mean if I swap out for a 15k pot I can get a lower minimum speed ?


Cheers