JWhitten published a new build:

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Thanks!

 

Getting there. Will be more so when I get the motor mounts made and the electronics installed. Thanks for the kind words!

 

Thanks for the kind words! I'm planning on mounting them on plates and then arranging for the plates to swivel on a bearing race attached to the side gusset plates for the gantry-- one on each side. Then to secure the other end to the gusset plate with a strong spring such that the motor is held tightly but can skip a tooth if for some reason it might get into a bind (so it won't burn up the motor). Under ordinary circumstances it would never occur and is just a safety provision really. Then I will rug up something similar across the top for the XY carriage. Cncrouterparts.com uses a similar method if you want to take a look and see what I have in mind.

 

Looking forward to seeing it.

 

Yes, I agree. I was originally going to make it out of wood, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made (to me) to just build it out of extrusions. That way I can bolt on anything I need (electronics, switches, vacuum, etc) and can still cut a sheet of plywood to fit under it for a shelf. The only major thing I would do different if I were going to build it all over again from scratch would be to use all 40-series extrusions. They're just beefier and heavier. The cost would go up some, but probably not as much as you might think if you're careful in your shopping. As far as cutting a full sheet, that's been on my wish list for a very long time. My first one was 1500 x 1000 mm so less than half the size of this one. And it always felt like it was too large for the small projects and not large enough for the big ones. So this time I decided to make what i really wanted and then build (redesign) the workshop around it. Not sure what I'm going to do with the old one yet, but it will be moving out of the garage as soon as the new one is built. Maybe back into the basement. I dunno. I can't get the table down there in one piece though, so that would be a factor. Also don't really want to cut in the basement anymore as its carpeted and is used for family space. They put up with it for awhile when I first built it, but were all happy when I moved it out into the garage. ;-) One of my first non-CNC-machine-making projects is going to be designing new workspace and storage in the garage to make everything work. Right now I'm sort of limping around everything (and cursing a lot when I run into stuff unexpectedly...) because the garage is over-full and hard to work in. But it's only temporary. Salvation will come soon! ;-)

 

Sure, regularly-- typically once a week if I have anything new to report. Feel free to check it out anytime. I have just updated the project build page here on OpenBuilds and updated the photo. But come by and check out the full Project Log for the complete story and lots of photos: https://goo.gl/photos/Co81AvGwVijE2zow9.

John

 

Thanks! Very nice of you to say. It's been a lot of fun to build and now I'm looking forward to some warmer weather (anything above freezing would be nice) to see what it can do.

 

I'm not done yet ;-)

So Answer #1 is what I wrote on down below. Here is answer #2: I am strongly considering upgrading to a "real" spindle, which would pretty much scrap everything I've done in answer #1. But I'm still thinking of upgrading anyway mainly because of the noise, although the noise issue is quite a bit reduced with the addition of the SuperPID controller. Someone sent me this link this morning which shows the dramatic difference of a regular router versus a real spindle-- it's striking!

Side by Side comparison of Router and Spindle Sound Levels



Answer #1:

I already have the Bosch 1617EVS router, which everyone says is a great router (and I have to agree) with very low runout. I've also upgraded to Think and Tinker collets, which well on that router. And I've upgraded it using the SuperPID controller which adds a very good PID-feedback speed control function to it.

I specifically linked to this video because it shows both the off-the-shelf precision of the Bosch router and the improvement that the Think & Tinker collets can add.

SuperPID Speed Controller website: www.SuperPID.com - Super-PID Closed-loop Router Speed Controller

Precisebits / Think & Tinker website: Ultra-precision ER20 Collets!!!

Good Video on Think & Tinker Collets:

 

I have been looking at the water-cooled spindles in the 2-5K range. Not sure yet what I want to purchase. Still gathering info...

 

Yeah, that's a reasonable point. And I do agree that my Bosch running at a lower speed is nowhere near as loud.

 

Well the Bosch isn't super quiet, but it isn't terrible when it's just idling at the lower rpm's. You can talk over it.