Mine came with leads but it's not the gargantuan toys you kids have

 

I was hoping to find something cheaper than McMaster. Thats where I get a lot of stuff but the prices arent always the best

 

Which one did you go with from McMaster?

 

So I'm nearly done with my conversion, and just have one last question about the method mounting the spindle.
I've got 2 of the black 65mm mounts for a 1.5kw spindle and I noticed that after mounting my spindle it had limited range.
After checking the z axis (all over..inch by frustrating inch) I finally found that the spindle mounts slightly get in the way of the linear blocks.
Has anyone found a work around for this?
Once mounted my amount of travel is being limited by the blocks holding the spindle.
Should I trim the corners off them?
I mean, I've already overbored holes, "modified" *winces* my mounting plates in places etc.. One more fiddly bit wouldn't surprise me.
Or did someone find the holy Grail of ideas to get the spindle out of the way?
Thanks!
Almost finished:
Dropbox - 20200322_175710.jpg - Simplify your life

Corners in the way:
Dropbox - 20200322_175730.jpg - Simplify your life

Spindle:
Dropbox - 20200322_175742.jpg - Simplify your life

 

So I got my build done and I've gotta say that it's nicer than the original v wheels, and third (?) the vote that openbuilds should offer this as an upgrade to their current build choices for the Workbee.
But..
I find that one drawback is that if you don't have the taller Y Axis plates, then your cutting envelope is considerably shortened from the original wheeled version, so that would have to be part of the upgrade version.
I've lost 5 inches of cut envelope because the X axis bearing block no longer clears the Y axis blocks.
I may have to upgrade in the future but until then I need to make sellable products to afford that move. I haven't noticed an appreciable change in the stiffness of the machine when moving the z and x axes by hand but once I start cutting I'll look for any differences.
Thanks for posting this build, it offered a deeper look into changes and construction of the machine.

 

Hey guys, I have a few questions, I have an OX build I did with lead 8mm Lead screws and the wheels. I have been wanting to improve the rigidity and accuracy. I was thinking of adding the linear bearing on the tops of my current rails which are not c-beam thinking it would help stiffen the extrusion. I am thinking of changing the rails out with C-beam. Now is it better to put the linear bearings on the top and bottom edges on of the extrusion or the sides like this machine.? Sphinx 55 on MGN12 linear rails

Also, my machine bed is about 40x40" what lead screw would you go with. I see some here are running 1/2" from McMaster. would these be better than the china ball screws?

thanks for any input

Ian

 

Giarc,
Thanks for the info! How do you like the extrusion for the gantry uprights vs aluminum plates as far as rigidity?
Ian

 

I haven't actually cut anything yet... just got all this done, but I put my rails on the top & bottom. It's one of quite a few modifications I made. I like the rails this way because it keeps the head tucked back closer to the gantry. And I'm sure it helps stiffen the gantry,but I also doubled up the c-beam to further stiffen mine.

 

Did you make or buy the dust shoe shown in the image in the above post?

 

So did u put a C-Beam behind the one in the picture, I see some allen bolts above and below the lead screw?

 

I basically wanna cut the same stuff you do, I have thought about a 4th axis down the road at some point. Lowering the gantry tho is something I have not considered.

 

Yes - the c-beams are bolted through, and bonded with VHB tape. The rails are both on the front beam; the back on is there just to help with twist (and it does). Eventually i'll post my build on here.. right now i'm trying to get caught up on jobs I've gotten behind on while I set this new machine up.

 

I realize this upgrade was started sometime ago. I'm wanting to do the same thing type of upgrade to my "workbee" using linear rails. Anyway of getting the "X", "Y" and "Z" axis blocks cut? They would be a bit challenging for me to cut. I didn't see what size linear rails you were using but I was thinking 20mm rails inlew of 15mm or would 15 be ok?

Thanks
Doug

 

Made them out of 5mm (x and y) and 10mm (z) thick aluminum L profiles. You can download drawings and fusion models from here: Workbee on rails documentation
Rails used are hgr15 and hgh15ca blocks/sliders.

 

Thank you, that is pretty cool. Maybe I can find someone to make the parts for me around here. I don't have a way to do it myself.

 

Are you selling these X/Y/Z plates somewhere? I am looking to upgrade my stock 1515 to linear rails ASAP and like the upper and lower rail design that for some reason, those companies that offer upgrade kits, are mounting the linear slides on the face of the C-Beam and STILL use the poly wheels for rotational support I guess.. Please let me know what you charge for a plate set!

 

@Jacob Lotter - this is the one and only desing/modification that I was looking for on forums without any success. I literally laughed for victory when someone showed me your project! This is 100% exacly what I am looking for and OpenBuilds should add something similar as an option decades ago! I got fed up with loose wheels and I have a lot of play in Z Axis - cutting aluminium has to be very conservatie and even while v-carving plywood I can't go deeper than 3mm single pass.

Right now I want to only mod my Z axis because this one is giving me 99% problems. I made some notes and few questions, would be awesome if you guys in this project could help me out

I was also using @azrael_sk designs and notes.

1. Do you find using only 2 carriages on Z axis enough? I don't mind spending a lil bit more to make my Z finally stiff, but just wondering are 4 carriages way better than 2? @azrael_sk made quite nice desing for 4.
2. As I said I want to upgrade only Z axis at the m oment so I want to screw it back to the original X gantry plate. I see here that you guys are doing some custom holes for you custom X gantry plates, but what if I want to use the original one, is there any easy way to which original holes could I use and how to mount?
3. Also about holes - how I can secure my carriages holders to the Z axis original plate? The holes made by @azrael_sk don't match and that's because I want to use original plates I bet.

I attach some photos of getting everything set up. As you can see - there is not much clearence to use screws to screw it to original X.

Thanks a lot! I feel that this is the answer to my problems, but I just need to dial it up a little bit

 

If you have 4 carriages use them! I have on my Z four since I used 2 300mm rails and each rail came with two carriages.

 

So what size rail are you using. Are th HGH15 guide rails with 15mm linear rails.