David A's Benchtop CNC Version 2

[davida1234]

INSTALLATION OF FRONT BRACES:

Parts for the front brace (one side):



Carefully move the gantry forward to the front edge of linear rails:



Area of the front braces to be installed:

[davida1234]

Cut off 14 pieces from the 3/8 backer rod, about 3/4" long each:



Slide in a T-nut and a backer rod piece. Push it up in the slot and slide in the next set:



Position a total of 7 nuts with backer rods in the vertical slot per side.
Roll in a total of 10 T-nuts into the horizontal slots.

See photo:



Bring the front brace in place and slide the foam pieces to align the
nuts with the brace holes in vertical slot. Slide also roll-in nuts to align:

[davida1234]

Hand-tighten front brace:



Install front cap and tighten everything down:





From the back, glue two bumpers into recesses as done previously:






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ASSEMBLY OF MACHINE FRAME IS FINISHED:

[davida1234]

Machine frame assembly is finished. X-carriage / Z-slide assembly was finished before that:



Time to install the assembly onto the gantry.

First, Z-slide assist springs need to be installed to prevent the Z-slide from crashing down onto the bed.
Flip the assembly so that the spindle is in the back:



This is where the springs will be attached:



Four springs, two pins and a pull wire:



Place a block of wood about 2" thick between the slide and the top plate.
I used a piece of 2x4:



Push the spindle up against the wood block:

[davida1234]

Insert two of the springs into the slot:



Run the pin through the loops and push into the seat and
pull the other end of spring through the second slot with the pull wire:



And slip that spring end over the arm of spindle mount:



Do the same for the second spring:



Attach the other two springs the same way
to the other arm of the spindle mount:



Spring assist from the back:



Spring assist from the front:

[davida1234]

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IT IS HEAVY! YOU NEED ASSISTANCE!
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Take the whole X/Z assembly and slide over the gantry trucks:



First attach the upper plate to the trucks using 5mm screws and then the lower plate:



X-carriage with the Z-slide on the gantry:


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[davida1234]

Before the cross brace in the back of the X-carriage and all the other
periphery gets installed, it would be easiest to tram the Z-slide now.

Make sure all the screws and set screws shown and the corresponding
ones on the other side of the Z-slide are only finger-tight:



Put two 12" clamps top and bottom across the two side plates.
Make sure they clear the set screws:



Tighten them a bit at a time while moving the Z-slide up
and down until you can feel some drag on the Z-slide:



LEAVE THE CLAMPS IN PLACE !

[peteeng]

Hi David - what software are you using for your graphics? Peter

[davida1234]

Install two #10 x 2-1/2 screws into the back side of the top plate (blue arrows).
They and the four set screws on the side plates will be used for tramming:

Attachment 464808

Perform your preferred method of tramming. I found ProTram from Edge Technologies easy to use:

Attachment 464810

Attachment 464812

[davida1234]

Hi Peter,

It's not really graphics per say but simple image manipulation in Pixelmator Pro.
And I think I'm pretty mediocre with that after seeing what other people can do.

[davida1234]

The last three images somehow don't show up on my computer so I am re-posting here:

Install two #10 x 2-1/2 screws into the back side of the top plate (blue arrows).
They and the four set screws on the side plates will be used for tramming:



Perform your preferred method of tramming. I found ProTram from Edge Technologies easy to use:

[davida1234]

Tram first the RIGHT TO LEFT direction.
In my case, it was close and needed just a bit of adjustment.

LEFT TO RIGHT direction trammed, tighten down all four ball
bushings in small and alternating steps to the upper and lower plates:



You can take off the clamps on the side plates now and tram FRONT TO BACK direction.

FRONT TO BACK direction trammed, first tighten down upper and lower plates with 5mm screws to X-linear rail trucks:



Then tighten down the side plates to the ball bushings:



Tramming is finished.

[davida1234]

Install the back brace and the support support wing on the
X-carriage to finalize the X-carriage / Z-axis slide installation:





Use the set screws in the front of ball bushings to tighten the bushings
until the slide moves with some resistance similar to linear rail trucks:

[davida1234]

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THIS COMPLETES THE MECHANICAL ASSEMBLY OF THE MACHINE
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Next up will be the assembly of peripherals.

[davida1234]

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PERIPHERALS AND ADD-ONS FOR THE MACHINE
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CABLE MANAGEMENT:

Cable management starting from the spindle side will be installed on the spindle clamp:



Install one 10-24 threaded rod on the spindle clamp.
Use two locked coupling nuts to screw in the rod as far as it will go:



Install the same way the other threaded rod.
Install the power connector for the spindle:



Tighten down the two threaded rods with the coupling nuts:

[davida1234]

Slide down the red plastic part behind the two threaded rods as shown.
There is space on the red plastic for an electrical auxiliary connection if you want to use that:



Screw on the front plate onto the red plastic part using the lower four holes:



Take the back plate:



Place it behind the red plastic part:



Finish installation by tightening the back plate using the upper six holes:

[davida1234]

Install the 15-segment drag chain to front assembly:



Attach the other end to the cross brace in the back:



Upper drag chain is installed:

[davida1234]

Shelf for the long gantry drag chain in the back comes assembled:





Hook onto the top channel and push down. It snaps in place:



Install long drag chain onto the shelf:

[davida1234]

The Z-axis and X-axis drag chains are installed.
Front junction box was installed previously.
Gantry junction box is next:



Parts of gantry junction box:



Install as shown and pull all wiring through the cap.
Push excessive lengths of cables into cavities.
All aluminum edges are covered by plastic cap:

[davida1234]

Gantry junction box installed.
Install the second end cap onto the other end of gantry:



Install drag chain bracket (green).
Hook on pre-assembled drag chain shelf into extrusion channel (blue):



Install drag chain:



Cable management from electrical box to the spindle is finished: