Reply with QuoteThis is VERY cool.I just recently purchased the Momus plans myself and was looking to adapt it as I went to get a similar-ish work area. If you have any other images you feel comfortable sharing, I'd love to see 'em.
Indigo's 24x24 Momus build
I just finished my build and have a functioning CNC router after about two years of intermittent work. This is very exciting.
My original plan was to build a Mechmate machine with a 48x96 bed, but I didn't have a dedicated shop space to keep a beast of that size, so I opted to build out the electronics as specified in the Mechmate plans and then use LinuxCNC and the control electronics to run a smaller desktop CNC router. The control box is a Saginaw NEMA 4/12 Steel enclosure (24"H x 16"W x 8" D) from FactoryMation.com. Stepper controllers are 4x Gecko 203V mounted on 4" x 0.125" aluminum bar stock heat sink with a 12v muffin fan blowing over it to keep things cool. The parallel breakout board is a Practical Micro Design PMDX-122. I picked up a PC from a local Goodwill shop that sells refurbished computers, and installed Ubuntu and LinuxCNC.
After much research I decided to use the MomusCNC plans due to the well thought-out design, enclosed work area, and ease of construction (I'm sure this sounds familiar to many of you). But while I was impressed with the Momus plans overall, I wanted a machine that could handle at least 24x24 inches, so I set out to modify the plans to make that happen. The attached Sketchup rendering shows my modifications - increased enclosure size with a brace across the top front AND back to keep the X rails from flexing apart, 36 inch rails for X1, X2 and Y, and an added stepper motor on X2. The result of these mods is a 24.5"X by 26.25"Y work area - perfect! I was concerned about racking due to the increased Y gantry length, but the X2 motor seems to hold things in place pretty well.
I wanted to keep the whole thing together as a unit that I can move around the shop as necessary, so I built a rolling stand for the machine. A flip-top, removable enclosure seals the deal and contains the dust and noise (the photo shows it not-quite-finished - I got excited and took a photo before it was done!).
The next issue that I need to tackle is a dust collection solution. I surfaced a piece of MDF for the bed and was quickly overwhelmed by the insane amount of dust created. I had to put a respirator on and open the machine up and brush off the X and Y rails a few times while the surfacing program was running. There is enough space on the rolling rack that I could fit a small dust collector underneath. For now I will probably just build a port for the shop vac.
More photos coming soon, and hopefully some photos of completed projects.
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This is VERY cool.
I have a whole gallery of build images over at flickr.
There are a few things I would do differently. If you think you want to make similar modifications to the plans, I have some advice I would be happy to give.
Also, have any of you used the router to make upgraded parts out of aluminum? I'm thinking of a re-design of the bearing mounts at the ends of the gantry, maybe incorporating V-groove bearings and home-made V rail from cold rolled bar stock (the Mechmate forums have extensive information about DiY V-rails, including plans for an angle grinder jig to facilitate the grinding).
Nice build! I admire the amount of time you must have spent with sketchup laying out all the parts!
I can vouch for one that grinding the bar stock to make v-groove rails probably isn't necessary. I've had my v-groove Momus churning away for the last few weeks on regular flat bar and after a few hours the rail deforms and worked hardens, tighten down the bearings once last time and its smooth sailing. Mind you I'll bet if you can accurately grind the rail chamfers you'll have a much greater lateral righting force.
Off to view your gallery...
Thanks. The sketchup model was partially to help me understand how the parts fit together, but ended up being indispensable once I decided to enlarge the cutting area and add the second X motor.Originally Posted by FreeRider
Right. Probably not necessary, but I already have the Mechmate rail grinding jig (it came with the kit of laser cut parts for the machine) and an angle grinder, so setting up the job would probably only add a day or two. I think it's worth the time for that increased lateral strength.
Good job! This makes for a really nice size machine.
How are the belts working at the longer length? Are you using the same XL size belt? What belt and cord materials?
Just so everyone knows, the version 2.0 plans (and later, as version 2.1 is now out) was redesigned specifically so that it would be easy to add the second motor when increasing the machine size like this. Looks like you were starting with the version 1 plans, which had a bit of asymmetry between left and right, which I'm sure took a bit of SketchUp time to reconfigure. So it should be much more straightforward to do this from the current plans.
-Bob
Thanks Bob. The belts are doing quite well at that length. When powered up, I can push/pull on the gantry and the motors hold its position with no problems. I'm using McMaster part# 1840K1 XL belt, which is urethane with kevlar belting.
The second X motor did require some reconfiguring of the enclosure, but it didn't take much, since I mostly just copied/reflected the parts from the first side.
