Michael.M published a new build:

Read more about this build...

 

Thanks Gray!

 

Mine is only 800w. You actually got me curious how much it weighs. I threw it on the scale. 6lb 6oz

 

Is yours 65mm or 80mm diameter?

 

I would actually like to have a 1.5kw spindle. I have stalled this .8kw when accidentally taking too deep of cuts

 

Yeah they are .5"

 

No problem at all. They are 15mm rails for the Z + X axes and 20mm rails on the Y axes. The 15mm rails use M4 t-nuts and the 20mm use M5 t-nuts.The extrusions are based on 20mm profile so you go buy M4 & M5 2020 T-nuts.

 

Thanks buddy. I've been working on it for a really long time and I'm happy to share it finally.

 

The spindle mount is actually something I bought from Chris (Blue Ox) that was used on my Sphinx. I designed my new Z axis to be compatible with this mount.

Designed to Order Router/Spindle Mount for Almost All Routers/Spindles and CNCs | eBay

 

I can take some measurements of the mount if you're ever interested. You could the adjust to suit your 80mm spindle. It's a nice design. I actually designed my new Z axis to retain the mount.

 

Yeah I will. I actually designed the entire machine in SketchUp before I started the build. I had to make some adjustments along the way so I want to make sure all those adjustments are updated in the design files.

 

Hey thanks Joe. It was necessary for this machine as most of the plates have features or pockets on both sides of the plates.

 

Thank you!

 

Yeah I did cut them with this spindle. I think my depth of cut was around .4mm. The spindle has enough power but the problem I had was chip clearing. I had an air blast nozzle but really needed 2 of them because a single nozzle can't reach every angle especially once you get really deep. It took multiple weekends to complete the plates. With a light weight machine, the strategy you want to use is high feed rate with shallow depth of cut but you don't want it so shallow that you're making dust instead of chips.

 

As I cut the 1/2" plates, lots of chips were piling up on the Sphinx. It was a huge mess.

 

Haha I've seen similar comments here and there. I think the OpenBuilds system is a great for a first machine. I really pushed my Sphinx to the limits with these 1/2" plates and probably wouldn't have had any issues if I used a dust shoe combined with an air blast nozzle. The only plates I cut with mini mill were the X axis plates. You can them blued and scribed in the build pictures. My Sphinx was out of order by this time only because the serious buildup of chips damaged some of the wheels. This was completely my fault for not evacuating them properly.