Well, here goes, my first CNC machine

[Patrick2by4]

Well, after lurking around for 4 months, it's time to take the plunge. I learned alot from reading Jeff's threads (HomeCNC), Eric (Balsaman) and many other other of you guys. I have to say that I am very impressed by this site and I'm trying to get some of my friends into this. One is already interested.

My machine is going to be made from both steel and plate aluminum (6061-t651). It will have a work area of approximately 30" x 65" and about 6" of height. I'm hoping to achieve about 120 ~180 ipm with my servos

One interesting feature which I plan to incorporate in the gantry is the ability to raise the height about 5 inchs if I ever want to do 10" columns on the 4th axis. It should take me about 20 minutes to raise the main beam with the ball screw.

Here is a quick sketch of the machine I'm planning to make

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[Patrick2by4]

here is another view of the machine Hopefully, everything should work out

[Patrick2by4]

here are the parts for the gantry

[Patrick2by4]

I started cutting down the alum plating with a 80 tooth carbide blade. The triple chip grind on the blade did a beautiful job on the edges. Not much work will be needed to finish the edges.

The plating is 5/8 thick

[Patrick2by4]

Here is the main beam of the gantry, it's 3" x 5" Alum rectangular stock with 1/8" walls. I was planning to mount it to the gantry with alum blocks. The mitre saw did a nice job squaring up the stock.

[ynneb]

Good posting Pat. Keep this thread up to date with all your work. If you dont get lots of comments, be assured there will be many readers and people who will follow you.
I will be keeping an eye out on your progress. Make sure you ask lots of silly questions along the way. Its the silly questions that people are afraid to ask that hold them back.

Good job mate.

[trubleshtr]

Looking good.
You used a "special blade" specificlly for cutting all that aluminum on your saws right?????
I would hate to see someone use a woodworking blade on aluminum stock.....ouch!!!!!!!!!!

[Ken_Shea]

You used a "special blade" specificlly for cutting all that aluminum on your saws right?????
I would hate to see someone use a woodworking blade on aluminum stock.....ouch!!!!!!!!!!

I was thinking the same thing trubleshtr, but sometimes a man has to do what he has to do


Looking real good patrick2by.

[jimbo]

He said he used a triple chip grind blade which is a tooth profile for cutting aluminum (and laminates). I have used it and it cuts aluminum like butter.

[Ken_Shea]

Post deleted after re-reading jimbo's post.

[Patrick2by4]

That right jimbo, a regular bevel tooth carbide blade would get nicked and give a ragged cut in aluminum but a triple chip grind carbide blade is designed for harder materials. I use it all the time on my job (finish carpenter) for cutting plastic, corian, aluminum (but not steel), formica... it works beautifully.

I just got the delivery of my metric cap screws today. I hope to start assembling the gantry next week; I'm not looking forward to all that drilling and tapping. I plan to use a cordless drill with a clutch to speed things up.

I picked up the metric taps at www.e-taps.com
the metric socket head cap screws at www.fastener-express.com

[ynneb]

Hey Pat, I notice on your machine you are spending a bit more money than mvaughan, who is doing a new router at the same time as you. It would be great to compile two open source projects. Would you also be prepared to make your work open source. It would mean you just did the same posts as you are already doing, but wrote a bit about each and every step you took. I would do the final compiling of the project, but you would get all the credits.
We need a few projects, so we can offer machines plans to cater for different building budgets.

All the plans would be made free to download. No one would be profiting from your work.

How does that sound? Just think, you would be known around the world.

[berin]

I have a quetsion? how are those slider rails? do they have any play in them or are they just as tight as can be? I've been thinking of getting one of those for my Z axis? What is really getting me is I'm debaiting how to setup my final machine when I get to that. But that will have 6 axis's.
tonight I'm going to start my documentary of where I have gotten so far. not to mention I finaly fixed one of my tools. So i can finaly finish the X axis on my machine.

[Patrick2by4]

Hey Benny, it would be fine with me if you want to make it a open source project. I'll try to give a little more detail of all the steps I take as well as detailed drawings and plenty of pictures as I'm able to submit them. I also will credit different individuals who shared information on this forum.

[jimbo]

To Benny, how about you "open-source" your router project. I only saw a few pictures and very little detail. I would be interested in the large cnc design.

patrick, nice parts. I was glancing at your drawing. I have a couple of suggestions before you get too far along and waste any materials.
1) It looks like you have a small plate that attaches the gantry to the trucks on the x axis, TO me that does not look very strong, you are relying on the strength of the material and bolts. I would suggest redesigning this area or add some gusseting. (maybe you intended this already) 2) Other people have mentioned that their gantries can/do flex. This is because it is a parallelogram, which is not stable. Add gussets at corners or otherwise add some triangulation. 3) How is the table supported? I would suggest adding supports in the center. You'd be surprised how much even 1/2" alum plate will flex only being supported in the ends. Just my opinion.

Maybe carry out the drawing a little further. Good luck. What kinds of things do you plan to cut with it?

[Patrick2by4]

"I have a question? how are those slider rails? do they have any play in them or are they just as tight as can be?"

hey berin, sorry for not answering your questions sooner, I was away for the weekend. The linear slides are very stable with no discernable play. I noticed that there are also seals around the joint where the blocks meet with the rail to prevent dust infiltration. I am not sure if this is true of all linear slide blocks but it is true of the models I am using (part # 1632-114-10 Star tech for the y axis; part # LAS15ALZ NSK for the x axis)

[Patrick2by4]

patrick, nice parts. I was glancing at your drawing. I have a couple of suggestions before you get too far along and waste any materials.
1) It looks like you have a small plate that attaches the gantry to the trucks on the x axis, TO me that does not look very strong, you are relying on the strength of the material and bolts.

It's true, I do intend to rest the gantry on 3/4" plates that will be bolted with about 4 bolt on each end of the gantry. Although the simple sketches didn't show it, there will also be a 1/4 alum plate connecting the bottom on the gantry legs together. (this will also connect to the ball screw via the nut located at the bottom between the linear slides) The top beam of the gantry will be securely bolted in as well which should eliminate any flexing or racking of the gantry. I considered putting in some trianglar brackets to strengthen the joint but decided to hold off on it for now. It would be simple to add it in later if I see the need.


How is the table supported? I would suggest adding supports in the center. You'd be surprised how much even 1/2" alum plate will flex only being supported in the ends.

The table will be supported by a 2" square tubular steel platform It will run the length of the table with plates supporting the end.

I will have more details in the drawings later (I'm still getting familar with AutoCad, sorry for the delay)

[Patrick2by4]

Well, I started drilling the holes in the gantry header for the linear slides. I plan to mount the rails on top and bottom instead of the front face of the gantry header. The reason I decided to do this is because the header is only 5 inches high and I feel the the sleeve that surrounds the main header will be more stable this way. (it also solves the problem of where to put the ball screw)

[Patrick2by4]

Well, I also tapped the holes for the linears rails in the main header of the gantry, 32 holes. All in all it went pretty smooth. I used a starter tap to make the intial threads in all the holes and then used a bottoming tap to tread the holes to its final dimension. A cordless drill with a clutch as well as a little oil sped things up quite a bit.

[Patrick2by4]

Well, I tapped the end caps today. (These will be screwed to the gantry sides and then the gantry main header will be screwed to them. I should have it done by Friday.