What would YOU do with all this?

[Nealieboyee]

So its a regular Friday night in September. You're chilling at home watching Judge Judy, when there is a knock on the door. You open it and Santa hands you this.


What we have here is:
3x THK HSR25 carriages and one 25mm rail, 320mm long. All genuine and in ok condition.
5x INA KWVE20B carriages and 8x 20mm rails, each 160mm long. Again, all genuine.
4x SC10UU bearings with end supports and 250mm long rods.
Now you have a dilemma. Ideally you need multiples of 4 carriages per axis on a CNC machine, but due to the length of the rails, and the fact that you only have three THK carriages this becomes a problem.
So, what would you do/make with these parts? Something useful like a fairly accurate desktop cnc machine? A lathe?
Here are the rules:
1. You have no money for more bearings etc. You do have just enough for the spindle and electronics.
2. Rails CAN be cut and joined together.
3. You can't sell everything on ebay.
4. You have access to tons of aluminium extrusion and this lovely 12mm aluminium surface plate 700x550 wide.


Me? Well I'm trying to build my 3'x2' cnc router, and I'd love to have a small machine to make the smaller parts with, out of aluminum. It would also be nice to have a cnc router in a quiet box in my room, on the table perhaps.

TLDR: Got some free stuff and now I need to find a way to make it work for me. Any ideas? No naysayers! I don't believe in can't.

Aaaaaaand GO!

[awerby]

Those 8 rails are really too short to build anything but a tiny CNC machine. The 5 smaller bearing trucks would be fine for your 3'x2' router's X and Y axes- just get some rails that are long enough, leaving room for the trucks, and another 3 trucks that match them so you'd have 8 - you need 4 for each axis. You could use the ones on the top row for your Z axis; just get another rail the same length. You can mount that using one truck per rail, although it's better if you use 2 - in which case you'd need another one. The stuff on the bottom 2 rows might make a nice latch for your shop door, to keep people from bothering you when you're in there building things. Spend the money you've hoarded for the spindle and electronics on the things you need for your frame, and hope Santa shows up again when it's done (Christmas is just around the corner)...

[Nealieboyee]

I already have everything I need for my 3'x2' CNC.

These parts are just for making something small and sturdy to learn with or play with etc. I like the latch on the door though

Come on people. Think outside the box I've managed to put something together in sketchup using only these parts, a bit of extrusion and some acetal/delrin and M8 threaded rod. It gave me a working area of about 100x150mm and that was with only 4 of the 160mm rails. There are 8 of them.

[lambodesigns]

Dedicated mortise and tenon cutter? You don't need much travel and setup would be super easy and accurate.

[LeeWay]

You could make a small lathe for cutting small brass,aluminum and even steel parts.
You would be limited to one truck per rail, but that would still give you decent travel for mall parts.
I built a small one to start with, but had longer rails for the Z. However they did not need to be nearly as long as they were.
Remember you do not need rails under the chuck.
you could make a really small but stout 3D printer, router, laser etc.
The rails can be ground and butted together if they are done with precision.

[Nealieboyee]

You could make a small lathe for cutting small brass,aluminum and even steel parts.
You would be limited to one truck per rail, but that would still give you decent travel for mall parts.
I built a small one to start with, but had longer rails for the Z. However they did not need to be nearly as long as they were.
Remember you do not need rails under the chuck.
you could make a really small but stout 3D printer, router, laser etc.
The rails can be ground and butted together if they are done with precision.

Ooh sounds good. I do have a couple of flanged plumbers blocks i can make a headstock with. And I could skip the electronics and buy a lathe chuck and motor instead. Well done. Do you have a pic of your lathe?

[LeeWay]

Here is the link to the build log for first cnc lathe.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/verti...1-cnc-cad.html

This is what replaced it.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/torma...c-tormach.html

Still cutting very small parts.

[widgitmaster]

Now short rails work fine linked together, but you need to mill s 2mm deep slot to keep them lined up!
The bevel on the ends can be machined or ground to a sharp edge, then the trucks will easily roll over the seam!
Short screws have a limited application, and can not be joined together!
The holes in the plate can be welded shut, and the surface can be leveled off with a sanding disc!
Have fun!
Widgit

Also, with the model number of the short rails, search ebay & Amazon for longer rails! The trucks are perfect!