Thinking about getting the Acro 40x40 Was wondering if it’s capable of installing a Bosch colt router on it
Ya... That's a negative Ghost Rider. What do you plan on cutting? I've thought about using 4040 on X with 2060 on Y with a small ~300W spindle. But it would only be good for foams, cardboard, and light woods such as balsa and bass. However, it would be a lot cheaper to build a larger model since rigidity isn't as extreme as a smaller CBeam setup.
They told me the c beam would work with what I want to do. As far as that I want to cut wood metal etc.. I’m tired of doing it all free hand and doing so it’s very difficult. This is a panel I made for a gun cabinet all done by hand would have been more precise if I had built one of these cnc
That probably would have taken 15 minutes by machine. How large of a cutting area do you need? If you need anything above 24" of y travel, then it may be a good idea to look into a moving gantry instead of a moving table. The Sphinx and Ox are the two top machines in that aspect. The Ox is belt driven, but with a proper setup, it will handle any wood project just fine and the occasional aluminum with shallow cuts. (I normally despise the Ox because I despise belts, but a moving gantry is just a bit more solid than a moving table.)
I want to build it strong and dependable. I really don’t know how much work space I need never know what I may run into lol. I looked at the ox already haven’t looked at the sphinx yet. I don’t see the need to work a 4’x8’ sheet of wood lol. May be 30” x 30” that may be too big also what are the standard sizes and beyond that this metric size material trying to figure it all out I don’t use metric all the time. I found some cnc made out of mdf also. Another thing is how small of a project can these do?
Here is the original, but there are quite a few active models on the very first page on the forum right now. C-Beam cnc Cutting something smaller is no problem. Going bigger requires more structure, which is why the Acro is incapable of doing the job.
I didn't either. I studied up here at Openbuilds University. I read through the builds of the designs which were similar to what I wanted and read the pros and cons of what the builder discovered. I learned CAD first (sketchup) - a valuable skill - and designed my own trying to incorporate the "pros" of the other builders and stumbled upon my own "pros" and a couple of "cons" as well. I spent about 9 months researching and designing before I placed my first order. Every minute was fun, but I like learning new stuff. The only wasted money I spent, IMHO, was on the first attempt at the electronics with the DRV8825 drivers. They overheated easily even with a fan blowing on them. I quickly made the switch to the more capable DQ542ma drivers. They were more time consuming to hook up, but worth it. Don't spill beer on them while they are powered up and running. They don't like that.
Yeah I kinda know what I want to build but these aluminum plates are so expensive. I’m a sheet metal worker/ welder fabricator by trade and it seems like they are awfully highly priced
There's really no magic to a lot of these plates. I don't know what kind of shop equipment you have access to but a number of forum members have gotten started with little more than a circular saw and a power drill. Some start with plywood plates to get something up and running, others go directly to 1/4" aluminum sheet for their first set of plates. If you've already got good shop skills, you're head and shoulders above many of the builders here. Take a look at the sphinx plates. All that truly matters is getting the holes in the right place. You can cut the edges with an angle grinder if you have to. They don't matter. Won't be pretty but if it gets the job done that's what matters.
Yes, they will be kind of heavy, but, if you make the aluminum plates the first real project you cut on your machine and you don't use high movement speed while cutting, no reason not to make them out of steel as a starting point.
Just need the print to make them and the demnsions I saw some where on here but I can’t find them and I did print it out but wasn’t right they fit on a reg sheet of printer paper
Remember with steel you can go thinner and still get the same stiffness. (Stiffness is what counts here not strength.) 7ga steel has about the same stiffness as 1/4" aluminum. Dig through the CNC section and you'll find several examples of projects with steel plates. They went with what was locally available or could be locally fabricated.
I couldn’t find them again when I printed it out had no name or anything on it it was a pattern that printed out with 4 of them on it, it came out all black with just like white outlines and were small
The Sphinx plates can be made from mdf, plywood, steel , 3d printed , aluminium , ect. with success. In fact we have had builds with all of the above. Just use what you have, you can always use the machine to make new parts down the road. Rick is correct the external shape can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Bolt lengths may need changed if you differ from the 1/4" designed plate thickness. Using the hardware listed in my B.O.M here are the important measurements in addition to the wheel and nut block location holes taken care of when using a template. Plate Thickness: 1/4" / 6.35mm (all plates) Bolt Head Recesses: 1.6mm (front and rear x-axis plates using OB hardware) Bearing Pocket: 16.1mm dia x 5mm deep pocket with 18.1mm x 1mm deep flange (front, rear, side y-axis plates) To layout all the major holes (wheels, bearings, nut blocks ect.) I print off a pdf template and center punch each one before drilling. Here is a preview of my templates. Here is the link "Here" to the pdf files I posted for the sphinx plates. The pdf files are sized 1:1 printable on a4. You can export the plate outline for use with any printer size you have access to using the fusion files or export postscript files directly from the original sketchup file. See one of my old videos "Here" I go over the sketchup export option. One of the great things about sketchup is the measurement tool. You can use the circle center points to double check measurements on your printed templates vs the original cad file.
David Hi. I don't know if you have used Sketchup at all, but it is a program you need to get into when venturing into the world of CNC. It's a very simple, but very powerful 3D program, for designing models that you can then convert and use your CNC to cut for you. There are others that do a similar job, but they can be a bit daunting at the outset, although there are many videos on YouTube to help tutor you along the way. Likewise, if you tap "3DWarehouse" into your browser, you will get the main archive for plans of 3d models that people have deposited there for others to use. Then tap in "Openbuilds", and you will be shown a wealth of models relating to many, many items related to the Openbuilds CNC machines. These are all free to use, and once you have used Sketchup for a while, you will discover how to use and adjust these models to suit your ideas. As always, you will need to read, and research, to get to know what you want and need, in this exciting world of CNC. Gray
I cut and drilled all my plates with a scroll saw, drill press, chop saw, and a table saw. Here is how: Lead Screw Driven Ox Derivative (850x1500)
If you have a A4 printer, yeah just print them out. Make sure your printer is set to 1:1 or 100% ect. each printer might use different terminology but the pdf's are full size so any scaling can skew the dimensions. If you don't have a A4 printer most libraries or offices paper places should. A4 is larger then regular us letter (A4 = 210mm by 297mm US-Letter = 215.9mm by 279.4mm). The plates will fit on a household us letter printer as well but new pdf files would need created. If you need the pdf files for a us letter printer let me know and on my next free day I will draw them up for you
I’m lost I have a cannon mx490 I did print them out as they how they were on the pdf so I’m assuming the pattern is bigger than what it came out as
Here you go David. This should simplify things a bit. I have completely redrawn the Sphinx cnc plate printable template set for standard us-letter paper and printers. You no longer need to worry about having A4 sized paper or a machine capable of printing it. I am so used to A4 paper I did not consider the confusion it may cause. I also added in some center to center dimensions on each sheet so you can manually check that the pages printed off correctly and to scale without having to open any cad software (fusion / sketchup) I have confirmed dimensional accuracy and printability on several printers tonight. You should be good to go.
