Hey let me look around for it. That was quite a while ago but if I don't still have it, I know how I made it. Give me a bit.

 

Do you have SketchUp? The reason I ask is I remember having to fiddle around with the right printer settings to get an actual scale picture of the sketchup plate model

 

Here's the plate with the two extra holes marked with a "+" in the middle. I am now trying to remember how I printed an actual size picture of the front face

 

Awesome! That's a great tip. Thank you.

 

You're talking about the longer chain that runs down the y axis?

 

Hey sorry i didn't get back to you sooner. The chain runs parallel to the x axis on a small L shaped aluminum profile. The end of the chain is bolted to a small piece of flat bar that's then bolted to the L profile. At the time, this was all just a trial and error but it's worked well

 

The L profile is bolted to the Y plates using the extra holes from the original motor mounting points.

 

I am using something similar to this. It works for now. It's also heavy. Im not sure aluminum extrusions would be sturdy enough to be honest.

 

Hey thank you! Please let me know if you need any more details. The OpenBuilds team have been amazingly helpful people to work with.

 

Hey it looks like your machine is coming along nicely. I am currently working on upgraded plates to utilize ballscrews and linear rails.

 

Currently testing my new DIY fogless coolant setup. 1/2" 6061 / 4.5mm 2FL carbide. Working on dialing in Feeds & Speeds.

 

I bought used THK linear rails and carriages before I built the Sphinx as I was looking to build a machine of my own design. I'm just now getting around to using them lol.

 

So the first test went ok with the new water based coolant system. Side finish is still not perfect but better than before. I can see I am still re-cutting my chips and leaving small marks on the side. I believe I need a nozzle on both sides of the spindle. I'm still not able to take more than .3 - .4mm DOC without some chatter but a lot of this is dialing in feeds and speeds. Before this cooling system, I would have absolutely terrible side finish about 1/3 from the bottom but again, chip evacuation is critical for a nice clean surface finish. This piece was done with no final finishing pass, just standard contour operation.

 

Actually I can hear the endmill grinding the chips left in the cut from the previous pass. The machine would probably be 1/2 as loud if I could clear all of them.

 

Kyo has SketchUp and Fusion Sphinx models included in his build guide. They are the shorter gantry plates though. I don't think I have a Fusion model of the gantry plates. I did a mock up in Sketchup. I can get you the dimensions if you want to alter the shorter plates.

 

Thanks buddy. Here's some more pictures. These are the ballscrew parts I am finally getting around to. You can see in the first picture the finish is great except for a weird bump where the machine lifts up to create a work holding tab (I must have some backlash or tool deflection). That first picture you commented on was an "L" shaped piece that allowed me to perform almost perfect two sided machining. The last picture is of the side that the air doesn't reach. This is 1/2" material but when I run 1/4", the air can reach a lot more.

 

Originally I only used my mist nozzle with air and just didn't hook up the coolant but recently I built the first version of a coolant system that uses water soluble coolant. It's still not perfect. I'm trying to make a fogless system because the cheaper mist type nozzles will fill the room with a coolant fog which isn't healthy.