Here's an easy way to remember which is which, at least for me. Hold your left hand before you. Thumb pointing up, that's your Z axis, up is positive. Index finger pointing away from you, that's your Y axis, away is positive. Mid finger bent to point right, that's your X axis, right is positive. Those are the work piece axis, by the way. In a machine like the C-beam, it gets bit confusing as the work table moves 'backwards' since it gets away from you to actually move the work piece in the negative in respect with tool end. The work piece just doesn't know about that. You just have to wire the steppers to make it work ...

 

Nice ... so what about some of those lethal projects of yours ? Anything safe enough (as if 'lethal' and 'safe' can be used to describe the same item in a single sentence ) to show here ? Maybe a letter opener, or something like that ?

 

I used this baby, without the plunge holder, on myOX :



It takes 1/4" and 1/2" standard and you can use a 1/8" adapter (Amana) for the more typical end mills used for CNC.

Got it on special for about 1/2 listed price as well. Works great on myOX' 1500mm X axis (double beam bolted at center to stay as true as possible).

All steppers are heavy NEMA23s, from SteppersOnLine ... 23HS30-3006D (269 os holding torque in bipolar config). Got it cutting deep into a piece of aluminum extrusion as if it was butter (an accident mind you, forget to zero my Z on a job ).

 

I know you didn't ask me, but if you read ALL the discussion thread you will see some ideas for "doubling up" in both the X and Y dimensions.
Personally I like the idea of a doubled Y length WITH two Y C-Beam carriages, but I suspect that I would quickly want to double up the tables as well, so that would add 3 more Y "carts". Too much +1'ing for now.
The X direction MIGHT need a stronger gantry - maybe, I have avoided thinking about this too much (for the time being).
I think doubling just the Y would be a BIG improvement and then doubling the X would only be a small additional improvement to that.
I'm assuming that it will be possible to orient most of my large projects with their long dimension along the Y axis.

Right now I'm absorbed with trying to get good cuts in aluminum.

I suggest you build this "as designed", go through the learning curve and THEN consider upgrades/upsizing.
BTW, there are practical limits to how long a lead screw of any given diameter can be run without whip, though at a guess we are probably OK with these at 1m.

OTOH, maybe an OX machine would be better than better than extending this machine to that size.

 

I'm not 1+ anyone, just experimenting, 8mm lead screw maybe a issue at 1m, a anti backlash nut should help if not I will look at leadscrews and ball screws of a larger diameter - double Y axis is a must but a linear rail either side maybe an idea, x gantry has been reinforced by a 4040 section between the towers, also I have upgraded the lower front and rear rails to 2080 to make it more ridged

 

The more I read about doubling the Y, using two motorized tracks, the more I'm thinking at keeping one motorized with a hefty NEMA23, dead center the table, with a non motorized (slave) on either side. The slaves will need to be a bit slack as their main role is to cary the weight (downward force), tracking (front to back) is just an assist to avoid going way off. Too tight and, being non motorized, things could jam. This would keep the cost down without affecting performance, right. Of course, jobs would need to centred on the work table to keep the weight on the motorized length. Shifting too much to one side could see the table move more on one side than the other (twist).

Now the one stepper will be moving the table and the work piece, so two steppers might be better than one if you plan on having a very wide (X axis) table / C-beam machine. On a very wide C-beam type machine, you could go with 2 motorized and 3 non-motorized (one center and one at either end of the table) to carry the potentially heavy work pieces.

Just a thought ...

 

Just a thought here and please feel free to disagree, but it seems to me that you will quickly reach the point where a Plate Maker becomes big enough that you might as well build a Ox. At some point, and I don't pretend to know where that is, the idea of moving the mass table and material instead of a gantry becomes questionably unbalanced. Certainly the wider the table is the quicker you'll reach that point.

And I could be all wet too. YMMV

 

It all has its pros and cons, I have limited space, I would like to cut rc parts like chassis rails (long and narrow, I have also been asked to do some wooden signs

I have yet to thrash out the bed dimensions but there looking around 820 x 400-425mm

2 motors on a gantry, 3rd and 4th on the x and z and then weight of the router all moving with trailing cables

Vs

2 Y axis bolted down , the build plates(gantry style) on the actuators with a 6-8mm aluminium build plate spanning both Y axis with the router only needs to move on 2 axis

costs - I already had the c-beam vs having to buy a complete kit again and troubleshoot any issues

wouldn't the world be a dull place if everyone did the same thing

 

Totally agree Flash and no criticism was even implied. And using materials on hand is a hallmark of the way I work. Of course, that requires a supply of Open Build parts on hand and the regular orders for inventory from the good folks there.

My wife keeps asking if I'm stocking up to open a Hardware store.

 

All I will say is never add up the costs, and choose your suppliers carefully

 

If I may ask ?
What machine have you post processed HSMWorks to ?
There is a HUGE selection, including generic grbl and generic grblplus - - but have you found the plate maker to match up "better" with any of the other machines ?
Also, what are you using for speeds and feeds on aluminum ?
I just got my 1/4 inch end mills all the way from China - I'm still "air milling" and cutting pink foam, but want to cut metal SO BADLY.

BTW, I read somewhere that the green "floral arrangements" foam really chokes up some peoples' breathing and is a known carcinogen.
I have some leftover hard pink foam insulation from a trailer roof that I insulated, so I'm practicing with that.
It is SO CHEAP and you get SO MUCH of it in a 2 ft by 8 ft board (-:
Easy on end mills if/when you get crashes too...

 

Well,

Where I think MY head is on this is that two Y beams would just about eliminate any "SLOP" that I may have allowed to creep in.
I've tried to keep everything tight without putting too much pre-load on anything, but the single Y just seems like a balancing act.
The twin beams look more like a bridge arrangement and bridges are more stable than teeter-totters ("see-saws" in England).
Anyway, my +1 game is strictly in my head, I have built to plan and it will be a while before I extend anything.
Hopefully not until I find a real NEED... although that will take some of the fun out of things.

Cost ? Well, as a "hobby" and as "therapy" - - this is a lot cheaper than sailing boats and/or analysts.

 

just ordered the aluminium (yes it does have 2 U's in it ) for the bed/build plate and electronics (2 drivers, pcb and more) to drive the 2 Y's

looks like I maybe looking at some sort of custom electronics to handle the current but tb6600 driver look like very old tech

 

I think about the two Y beams quite a lot, are you doubling the length of them as well ?
and if so will you have to double the side rails as well ?
and move the rear cross piece back ? ...I assume so.

I know you can't answer this until you build it, but how will you manually jog the two drives ?
It SEEMS as if you'll need to grasp both couplers and spin them the same amount at the same time - I would be alarmed if I found that I could turn one of them a bit before the other one stopped me - it would indicate some sort of diagonal slack.
Maybe that is the way to check for tightness ?
Dunno, it is late here and I'm just thinking out loud.

Good luck with it , PLEASE keep us updated on progress.

 

The Y's are standard 500mm , 500mm Y and the old X axis 500mm

manual jog maybe a issue but its easy enough to jog it in the software

 

In an earlier reply I had meant to mention that with NEMA 17 motors I had better luck isolating them with (cheap, simple, readily available) rubber grommets than with the (fancy and more expensive) astrosyns.
As I recall they were 1/8 inch and I used 5mm longer mounting bolts.
It can be worth putting grommets on BOTH sides if the bolts go THROUGH a mounting plate (which is not the case here).

I agree that router and vacuum noise drown out stepper motor noise, but for "dry runs" when checking set up the vacuum and router are off.
I might use this thing for drawing as well, "Spirograph" patterns with coloured pens can be fun and educational for kids - - for ME this isn't ALL about making chips (-:
{Special spelling, note the U in coloured}

 

A Sunday afternoon saw my C-Beam assembled, a great kit, thanks @ryan. Last night I wired up the steppers, taped on a pencil to the z and drew a 12 cm square .

Need to sort the bed, wire and fit the spindle, fit my optical end stops and calibrate properly.

Really enjoying things so far.

Might also need to learn some CAD CAM

 

Hi, guys

Been busy lately but I got the chance to try some m.d.f cuts, here is a link to the video, turn your speakers down though!

 

The phone was held wrong, i apologize for the twisted necks

 

lethal past projects of mine

 

Sorry about the pic of my fingers if your squeamish about these things! i did have a motorbike glove on which did save my fingers from being chopped off so i was lucky in a sense, it didn't hurt at all.... (until the shock subsided) then it stung like hell. The injections between the fingers were nasty as well but good news is i keep my fingers well away from spinning objects now! lesson learned

 

The misses told me to stop trying to defy gravity but its a childhood dream of mine, crazy thing is i don't like heights! I won't even go to the top of a lader!

I still have it in my mind to fly but i would settle for 5 foot off the ground!

 

My young cousin is into these things, he gave me a birds eye view through his, i would need to strap one on each foot i think to satisfy my flying needs. here is my cousin marty: http://www.martin-gardner.co.uk/