Very sturdy looking machine @Shannon Tolliver and I really like the idea of using the grommets to bring the wires thought the table. I had forgotten about these guys and I can see using them at the front as well where the probe and Interface wires come up. Thanks for the share
Thanks I'm happy how it turned out considering I made all the aluminum plates manually with drill press and my woodworking saws. There is a few things I'd change if doing it again but mostly minor to make things easier to align and assemble.
Shannon Tolliver awesome machine. Curious about the single HGH20 rail and 2 blocks per side of the Y axis. Good and sturdy? I have another cnc build going and was wondering if you thought one rail was fine enough or if done again would you rebuild with 2 rails per side on the Y axis? I was thinking of running 1 per side myself. And are you cutting just wood or non ferrous metals too. Thanks for your input
So far I think one rail with 2 of the bigger blocks per side is solid. I've tried to see if I could get the Z to have flex and I can't notice any with hand force. So far I've only cut 1/2 acrylic and plywood and the machine has done well. With the acrylic it took 4mm deep passes with a 2 flute 1/4 up cut bit at full speed (a bit of an accident) without issues. I do plan to cut aluminum in the future but that will be in a few months once I get used to the machine and finish getting everything organized in my barn. I want to redo my corner plates in 1/2 inch aluminum and the gantry plates so that I can get my router further back on the Y axis.
Great thanks! Right now I have a machine built with mgn12 rails. Wanting to go hgh20's just wondering how deep I should go.
I'm using 15 on x axis. 20 on Y. 12 on x. I think they all work well for the intended purpose. No problem glad I can help.
@Shannon Tolliver what speeds are you using on your X & Y? I have 16mm ball screws and I fill the whip when I go at around 2540mm/sec and higher. @Corey Corbin I have also only one rail per Y axis side and I have no problems with it. I have made the Y plate a little wider so that the two carriage blocks are a little farther apart and give more stability. That said, it would be better to have two rail per side but than I would have had to make the machine higher and I didn't want to go that route now. Maybe one day I will change it, but not very likely.
@JustinTime I have my max set at 2500mm but I believe its in minutes. However I don't feel like the machine can actually achieve it with 1616 ball screws. The reason I say this is that when I ran a part at 1000mm/min it didn't seem to be much slower that jogging the machine. My Z is 1605 ball screw and moves much faster. Some day I'll do the math or measure because I am curious what my max is.
Yeah, my bad, I meant 2540mm per minute and not per second. My Z is only 10mm ball screw and can run much faster too since the length of the screw is only 300mm whereas the X and Y have 1400mm and 1500mm respectively, which is why they whip. I'm planning to put some thrust bearing on the X and Y in the future. I bought the bearings already.
What is the pitch of your ball screw? If your using a 16mm diameter 5 mm pitch ball screw over such a long distance I can see having issues with whip because of higher speed. I'm using a 16mm pitch which runs slower and I haven't noticed whip.
I should probably clarify my statement a bit. The 16mm pitch screw requires less revolutions to move the same distance as 5mm, therefore less RPM are required to achieve the given speed.
Yeah, I think thems the one I have, the 1605. I want to cut at higher speeds, >2540mm/min. As long as the bit can handle it my stepper are definitely up to it. All I have to do is make the ball screws up to it too.