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Thread: Phife's Fixed Gantry, Ridgid Z, Rotating Nut, CNC/3D Printer.

  1. #41

    Default Re: Phife's Fixed Gantry, Ridgid Z, Rotating Nut, CNC/3D Printer.

    Anything ever happen with this CNC build, been hunting for dual drive Z axis machines all morning this is the first I found, I wanted to build something that is like super rigid but highly accurate that can machine plastic sheet, aluminum sheet, and aluminum block with high accuracy and rigidty. The best idea I could come up with in my head is almost exactly like this machine. I would use hiwin linear rails though but I love that I found this, now I have a starting point! Any updates on this?



  2. #42
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    Default Re: Phife's Fixed Gantry, Ridgid Z, Rotating Nut, CNC/3D Printer.

    Hey, I totally forgot about this thread until I got the email notification.

    I ended up buying the machine from my old boss, It was just sitting there being used as a storage table. I offered him $1800 and took it all home. I ended up rebuilding the control cabinet into something much more industrial and upgraded the electronics and motors. I also put on a 2kw water cooled spindle and VFD.

    The machine works great, I was using it all the time for machining aluminum plates and sheet. I have an aluminum vacuum table and also a couple of 6" vices I can bolt onto it for work holding. Its currently in storage though as I moved and dont have a proper shop to set it up in.

    If you have any questions, let me know.



  3. #43

    Default Re: Phife's Fixed Gantry, Ridgid Z, Rotating Nut, CNC/3D Printer.

    Thanks man! I have a 3 year old CNC Router Parts PRO4824 and I do a lot of parts that are acrylic and delrin but i am also running a couple aluminum parts that are starting to sell well, but the rack and pinion drive system, v-groove rails and bears, and steppers arent providing the accuracy I need to be within the tolerance I need and running thousands of small aluminum parts from 6061 sheet is really wearing the machine. So instead of upgrading my CNC router to be more accurate, and then purchasing a Tormach for the metal, I wanted to build a hybrid cnc router/mill like this. Im glad to hear yours does aluminum well. At first I was just going to go fixed gantry then I was looking at my 3d printer yesterday and realized the Z would be much more rigid to cutting force if the whole gantry moved with dual drive. So this morning I was researching and stumbled on this. There arent many out there like it.

    Do you think attaching the motor to the ballnut rather than the screw is the way to go? Did that work well like that?

    I basically want to take the basic idea of this design and go a couple steps further. I was thinking of welded steel for a frame, and plan on using HIWIN linear rails, and Clearpath servo motors, dual drive Z, 3 hiwin rails and dual drive motors on the table. Side and rear enclosure with doors on the front, 3ftx2ft work area for a 2'x2' aluminum vac table, and then 1'x2' area for a machinist vise or 4th axis using my last available motor for mach3 or 4. Also with a space on one of the sides for a tool rack for an ATC spindle as my last piece.

    I figure for the cost of a Tormach Pcnc1100 with one of their tooling kits its about 15 grand, and I should be able to build this kind of machine for less than that, get the tooling I need, serve all the purposes I need in one machine and also save space in my shop. It should tide me over for a few years until I can either move or put and addition on my shop(garage) and get a VMC.

    I will make a worklog here when I begin building, hopefully in the spring time if things progress how they are, right now Im starting to purchase upgrades for my current machine that can be transferred over to the new one starting with some linear rails then the servos and once there are no more upgrades to mine Ill build the new frame and start my worklog then.

    Anyways Im rambling, glad I found this machine though and glad to know the design works well!



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