Guys - You can solve the problem just like industry does. Use a "flech" beam. Sandwich a 1/8" steel plate between the 2 80x20 parts and the whole thing will have the support of an equivalent steel beam. Carpenters do it all the time with 2 - 2x12 and a 1/4" steel plate. Bolted together tight. Not a big deal. And a lot cheaper.

Please notice that I am still looking for the stupid box. Either it is so big I have never found it or so small that I have overlooked it.

Bob

 

That is what I am planning for my build(s) Bobt.

But even that will not allow the openbuilds v-slot derived machines to cary that monster rouer motor. It would be just to **** heavy.

 

Why not with 17 wheels on the top and 17 on the bottom that should support 85 pounds of weight. I should not weight more than that. I just love the idea of that many wheels. It reminds me of a choo-choo train. You just have to look at it right. Wait we are talking routers here not trains. Sorry.

Bob

 

One reinforcement I can think of would be to fill the very large voids of the v-slot extrusion with Epoxy Granite. This is just like the synthetic granite counter tops, and also used in very large machines to stiffen them and give them more mass in certain locations.

 

Some good conversation going on here I was also looking the Bosh. Also Mark you have outdone yourself. I just got in the parts to build the OX minus the plates. Wow everything is so nice and seems to be very high quality. Even the packing is great. I am super pumped to get this build going.

 

The added mass would be good for the base of the machine. Not for the gantry.

 

So what cnc control software are you guys using. This will be my first cnc build. Im guessing Mach3. If not what others are out there

 

I am going to try LinuxCNC first, but mach3 is what I have on my big router.

 

I would love to get into linux but command prompt scares me haha

 

From what I can tell nearly no command prompt needed to run LinuxCNC.

 

intial setup seems to require running a few commands form the command line. but day to day use is all GUI.

 

GUI is wonderful!

 

I have to agree with Nick the GUI looks great clean and simple

 

what about sandwiching wood between 2 20x80 beams? That should support 7 or 8 lbs. Like a 2x4 or something cheap.

 

Sounds great Mark. Just received more parts today. Very excited to see part 2 of the video series. Also can't wait to hear more about the plates for the OX.

 

Mark,

What is the z axis travel distance on the ox and routy?

 

Man! the black OX looks sweet

Im so building 1 for milling PCB and HDPE
Time to bust out the 890KV Outrunner

 

very cool idea
I have bin looking into a way to display the g-code being sent to GRBL on to a LCD
I was thinking there may be a way to in a sence snoop on the rx and tx lines and have a serial lcd disdply it.
Im sure there is a way as its done with other serial displays, just a matter of looking in the right places lol

 

What does an 890kV outrunner cost? Are the shafts pretty much all 8mm? Nevermind that's what we've been discussing all along, hehe. I think it would be fun to build a head for the OX that can do CNC, pick+place, 3D printing, and laser...

 

I have been playing with Synthetos TinyG board which has the GRBL embedded and 4axes motor driver (mapped to 6axes). For the GUI, the tgFX is the basic software I use - keeping everything open! There is also a GRBL shield for the Arduino.

 

Indeed the motor current tops out at 3A on the TinyG which is a shame.
The tgFX is also in the development stages and is a little buggy. I am looking at loading GRBL onto an UNO or the DUE and see if I can get the Gcode onto a SD card.
The other possibility is to interface it to an iPAD which would be awsome.

My interest (as a newly retired person -am 68yrs) is doing some 3D photo carving and the OX is perfect for that. (I may need a little more than 70mm Z travel but that's the beauty of your design - it can be modified. Thanks for all your contributions.