WHen I built my Solsylva, I bought the 100 for $30 deal. There were a couple duds but were easy to find by spinning by hand. I actually built a few shop jigs with the leftovers, as well as had replacements on hand.Originally Posted by jm82792
Any of the roller skate bearings will work.
Also, if you haven't purchased new aluminum angle yet, I don't think being 1/16" off on the length is going to be a huge problem. I finally got my Solsylva 10x9 finished and cutting this past weekend and I know that my bearing lengths had to have been off by at least 1/16. That will not affect the squareness or the parallel aspects of the machine.
Good, I will use my current angle, and if it doesn't work I'll go with better accuracy.(I must be over compensating) I am so bad at getting past functional. I am usually sloppy and it shows with my partially functioning electronics projects neat code but a rat's nest of wires :'(
It sounds like we operate in a similar fashion. The nice thing about the Solsylva design is that if you are in the ball park things can be adjusted and shimmed to tighten and square things up.
One note, you will need your leadscrews before getting too far into the project. Before you ever attach the gantry you build and square the base and get the table moving on the leadscrew smoothly before moving on to the next piece of the project and I would suggest sticking with that process. Also, if you are going to use acme leadscrews make sure you read the part at the end about converting the design to acme because you will need a few different things than you do with the all thread rod.
From what I recall it's new bearings to fit the 3/8 screws, then your acme screws and nuts.
Thanks for the advice, I'll wait for my bearings, get the trucks done and order acme screws.
I'm at times a rusher of projects, but I'm trying to do it to what the plans specify
Working on the trucks, I'm realizing that cutting angle straight, and getting it all aligned is a pain. But there is some play with the screws and bearings, so they should turn out well.
The table slides nicely, not perfect(cheap bearings are the culprit?) but I think if I polish the pipes and lubricate them they'll be good. I'm going to be gone for a week, but I'm hoping to get the thing finished soon, initially I'll use allthread just to get everything working, then retrofit with acme.
How is your project going? I'm starting to embark on a 10x9 Solsylva build myself. Skate bearings arrived today, so looking forward to starting the trucks this weekend. I'll start my own build thread, but was interested to see how yours was coming along.
It's going well, it's just I'm not good with working with wood and I've been taking my time. I'm almost done with it,
I just need to screw the gantry on, assemble the z axis and I'm good for the frame. The design is great from what I'm noticing,
when you mess something up(as I have) you can use say a dremel to shave some wood off for the rails or such.
The trucks are not that hard to drill, I did it without a drill press and they are okay but with a drill press they'd be perfect and idiot proof.
OK...quick question for all of the experts here. I just got finished working with the aluminum angle. In drilling my holes, I don't think I got them all spaced EXACTLY 1/4 from the corners. I was using my drill press and probably should have drilled a small pilot hole, but went straight to the 3/8 bit. I think due to the bit running a bit, they might be off by as much as 1/16 or so in any direction. Should I go out and get another angle now that I learned my lesson and do them again? Or should I go ahead and finish, assemble them and see how far off they are?
Thoughts?
EDIT: Well I answered my own question...there is A LOT of play in the bearings, so there is plenty of room for adjustment...you could be almost a 1/4" off and still be able to adjust everything properly.
Last edited by piperpilot; 11-01-2011 at 10:34 PM.
Yep that's why I like the plans, I just need to do the final piece of the z axis and I'm done.
College has been eating my time, but it should be done soon.
Then it's time for the steppers and drivers.
The frame is done!
A few things are off, primarily because I lost access to a chop saw and lead time to get my hardware, since it seems even the home depot here lacks in variety. However, everything seems true(rails and such, but esthetically it's not great!). I just need to repurchase a bit more standard threaded rod since I bent one(thankfully I haven't purchased acme yet). Everything moves well, it's nice and smooth.
Building the machine isn't hard, but when you are using far less tools then needed and occasionally you get the tools you need -- things are more difficult then they should be. I learned a ton and definitely want to build another machine soon.
I'm torn between a 4X4 or a small machine with some elegantly implemented features(made from HPDE, 4th axis, dust containment and highly portable?).
I like wood since it's easy to work with and cheap, but I dislike the concept that with bad weather I could have worse accuracy due to the changing humidity levels.
I'm watching some 270 ounce steppers on ebay,
might get em under $60 plus they are Kelling brand and only have some light use.
In the end this whole machine should be under $250, probably $300 with leadscrews.
Sorry for the multiple posts but I think the steppers I want to order won't work.
kl23h276-28-4b from kelling are bipolar and the hobbycnc steppers are unipolar.
http://www.kelinginc.net/KL23H276-28-4B.pdf
According to the data sheet they have 4 wires, so in the end I'm assuming they won't work with the driver I wish to use..
You may look for steppers here Kysan Electronics
They have a $100 minimum order, so 3 motors will get you there.
I've experimented a lot with low cost linear motion and find the VXB https://www.vxb.com/
roller skate bearings with steel L-bracket or dual 1/8" rods in a 1/2" groove best for the $$.
Also, for the ACME nut, I'm using Nylon trimmer line epoxied in a hole the lowest cost solution.
This board has its limitation, but it does work for 4,6 and 8 wire steppers.
Buy cnc 4 axis, 4 axis cnc, 4 axis controller, CNC 4 Axis Stepper Motor Driver Board TB6560 Controller at Aliexpress.com
I've learned a lot through my build, however my parents have continually said I should just buy a machine. It's painful since I have a finished frame(minus some tweaks) however I do understand what they are saying, plus my cuts were not the most() accurate. In the end I purchased a Microcarve setup off of ebay. I do want to get the solsvania to work(just some shimming and such is needed), however it's been bugging me for so long to get a working CNC machine..
Currently I have all the DEMs of the Hawaiian Islands converted to DXF and I am rebuilding the surfaces using a couple features found in Meshlab. I'm hoping that if I get some decent work out(2.5D models of the islands), then I can defer the cost of the machine. It's a bit annoying since I've managed to get a ton of software packages to crash due to the large sizes of the files, but it seems that I am prevailing. I'm also wanting to get better with GIMP and sculpting in Blender, perhaps I'll get good enough that it will be worth while for me to purchase a Wacom tablet.
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