DIY CNC Mill Project

[bigbam]

Hi, this is my first post to this great web site. I am still in the designing stage and would like to get some feedback on my ideas. The base is 36" x 30" iron surface plate that is ground flat to within .0005" over 12" and weighs in at about 650 lb. I would love to have a Bridgeport J head or clone to top off this project. Is it a good idea to use iron angle plates in supporting the gantry. I have considered bolting steel plates to the sides of the angle plates for additional strength. I have several set of linear rails to choose from for this project and plenty of ballscrews to use. If I use two screws to move the gantry is it best to use two motors independently or sync the two via a belt drive. Thanks for your feedback, BigBam

[candle]

go for belt sync - less problems if step lost will happend (ofcourse if you're going to use steppers for this)

[bigbam]

Just picked up this head at auction today. This seems to be a good setup for my project. Came off of a nice Bostomatic machine it even has a second high speed spindle by Precise. Both spindles have oil cooling systems, bearings feel great and I could not detect any play. This project is getting complex in a hurry. On the down side I did not get any tool holders for it and was wondering if any body had any info on toolholders. Appears to be a standard 40 taper but was told by a guy at the auction that the taper is possibly unique to the Bostomatic and that a standard toolholder would not work.

Thanks
BigBam

[Steve F]

NICE Spindle