Now. That’s a nice way to tension a ball screw. Next machine specs are changing by the day. This is why I love and hate this site. LOL

next machine will be a mini mill that won’t be so mini. Between a C-Beam and mini mill. Well. That’s the thinking now.

 

Ok. So this is a thick bracket. This is the X free floating end plate. It will attach the c-beams to the uprights. Need to drill the through holes how. 20mm thick.

 

Last plates completed tonight. Did a mock up to make sure everything worked as designed, and I’m very happy with the end results. This is the X plates. I moved the X axis back 10mm to remove some of the overhang off the front of the system.



Now, no angle brackets are needed, and the entire bracket becomes the connection, so 220mm to keep everything square. Total size for these plates are 220x70. The holes behind the c-beams that have nothing in then are to attach the 2040 across the back for the cable tray.

next on the hit list is to make the Z axis over, and beef it up. Any recommendations on how to do it? Travel is 200mm. I think I may just mill aluminum braces to attach to the outside of the C-beam for the z axis, but I’m not against making it completely from scratch.

X axis attached tonight with the new plates. Here is the floating side attached.

 

Rebuilt the y/x/a axis to install new plates and retram entire machine. Everything bolted right up and square, so I’m quite happy. Now on to the z axis. The aluminum on the machine is for that.

will be tackling the z axis tonight/tomorrow, so hopefully be completed by weekend. Using the design cues from a few other builds to customize the Z, and hopefully will work. More to come.

Machine 2 parts on order. C-beam XL with linear rails and ball screws. I’m also ordering closed loop steppers for this one, but will probable swap them around when then get here and use the open loop steppers from this machine on the new one.

 

Draft 1 of the Z-Axis update.



Linear rails will be fixed to the back of the base plate. The back braces will protect the linear blocks and the rail to help eliminate any chips from getting to them and add rigidity. This will move the spindle back 45MM to allow for complete use of the spoil board. This should push the 0/0 location just onto the spoil board, and eliminate any overhang. The entire axis will be fix together with M6 cap screws from the back to the front making this one unit. The spindle mount is a solid mount, 85MM wide, so the entire area that is open will be where the spindle mount attaches, and will be sandwiched between the from and back supports.

Still working on the back side for the ball screw attachment, but I am thinking about eliminating the nut block and using the flange on the ball nut to attach to the Z-Axis. Trying to make the distance between the X plate and the Z plate as narrow as possible, Not sure yet. But this is the basic design..

attaching a photo of the Z axis is process. Back plate profile and cut out for the spindle mount done.

 

New z axis shaping up. I changed the front struts, and went flat. I’ll look at adding struts on the front if I get flex, but I think this will help a lot. Basic structure is 3/8 plate for the middle, 1/2” off the front, and 3/4” off the back creating an I-beam. All held together with m8 bolts.

will have to re-design the dust collection as there isn’t enough space between the spindle and the back plate now. There is about .5mm between now.



Total, this will move the spindle back about 32mm. This will help keep everything on the spoiler board in the frame.

Also added simple brackets to the front and back of the C-beams of the Y/A to attach more
Solid to the flame and eliminate the cast angle brackets. A project later will be to make these as one piece. (Thanks @Rob Taylor for the idea after looking at M4 again.)



Last project for this is side shields for the inside of the Y/A C-beams. A simple 1/4”x10” aluminum bar, milled to the exact 220 dimensions to close off the sides. And then this will be a wrap! Well, except for the enclosure, but that’s another story.

All in all. Quite happy with the outcome. I’m now making my own aluminum parts and ready to make the next machine.

 

Wow. Quick delivery. Aluminum for last few projects already arrived. Just placed the order yesterday!



Cant tell in the pic. But 1/4x10x60 inches is a big piece of aluminum.

hopefully will finish up the Z and this parts this weekend!

 

Tonight, decided to hook the interface up to the system, and use it instead of the PC. Have to say, quite impressed with it so far. Ran 7 jobs with it, uploading the g-code from the web portal, and all worked. And was very easy to use.

Openbuilds team outdid themself with this addition! Even with out using their controller anymore, still work great!

 

with the Linear rails, and the end mounts I made, the system really stiffened up. Here is a quick cut, 8.5mm doc, 1500mm/m, 18k RPM with a 1/4” end mill cutting 3/4” MDF for the new spoiler board setup. As you can tell, there is no problem at that rate.

and, after I mount the new Z axis later today, it will stiffen up even more.

 

New spoiler board going on. Adding t-rail between boards and 1/4” bolt down points through out.


top layer will have a grid etched into the top for alignment.



between layers of the spoiler board there will be t-nuts embedded into the board.

 

Nice looking machine. I like the setup.
Here it is completed. Will run the SB surfacing tomorrow.

 

Yes, it helped some. The linear rails help a lot. And the new end plates helped tremendously. With the double C-beam, getting the tram and parallel of the 4 linear rails took time, and after the new plates, was much easier.

Now that I’m done, there are a few changes I would make, like how I mounted the linear rails for one. (Looks, not functionality. ). But, I can’t complain on the travel I am getting, and the rigidity.

 

Was getting some wavy readings from the spoiler board. I have a 3/4” Baltic Birch screw through to the torsion box below the frame. With a 3/4” MDF middle, and a 1/2” MDF top. Was getting about .5-.8mm variation from end to middle. And then back to within .1 at the far end. So decided to beef up the spoiler board, since I beefed up the rest of the machine.

solution? Let’s turn the machine base into a torsion box. So. Baltic birch torsion box on the bottom, an aluminum torsion box on the middle, and then the spoiler board on top. I’ll take measurements and report the results, but it’s gotta be better!



Cross supports every 300mm along the length of the frame. 12 500mm 2040’s. And some angle connectors.

 

Quick update. Where I was getting .6-.8mm prior to the supports, now it’s about .15-.2 after. So much better. Once I change the Z axis, I’ll surface the spoiler boards to take that all out. But, it is much stiffer now.

Tonight, added a new dust collector system to the machine. Replaced the wet/dry vac with a 2hp 2 stage dust collector. Installed the dust collector in the garage, and ran a 4” line in to the cyclone I installed under the machine. And I’m adding a sweep port by the front of the machine to ease floor clean ups.



Line ready for hook up tomorrow, as I ran out of 4” hose. Need another segment. All controlled by the coolant IoT’s.

Tomorrow, starting to mill the side panels to finish up the machine. Also changing the ball screws to sfu1610’s from the 1604’s and having them custom machined so they will be fixed on both ends. (Thanks to @Rob Taylor for the assist with being a sounding board for ideas!). So, I have the ball screw now for the Lead Lathe I’m looking to build, based off of @Giarc design.

almost to the completed end.

 

Well. ****. Was starting the aluminum tonight for the side panels. I was going to put a angle on top, 1/4x2, milled to cover the top of the c-beam and become the base platform for the 1/4 plate to cover the inside. I was also adding a 1/4x1” on the bottom c-beam so it was all nice and level. Only problem is I though I ordered 6063 angle, which gives a nice 90 degree corner inside and out. But, I got 6061 angle which has a nice radius on the inside corner. Now it won’t sit right. Do I attempt to run an endmill down the length of the angle to clear it out, and then reposition it to clear out the other end. (1524mm long and y axis has 1370mm travel.)

great plan. Poor execution

Well. Put this aside for now. Finish the Z axis instead.

I’m open for suggestions.

 

it’s going against the C-beam. To bevel the c-beam, I would have to disassemble the Y/A/X. I’ll look at that in the morning. It’s too late. And I’m about ready to take a hacksaw to it.

 

“But, these little set-backs are just what we need to take a giant step forward. Needless to say, I was a little despondent about the melt down, but then, in the midst of my preparations for hari kiri, it came to me.”

why not use my palm router with a top bearing pattern bit to clean up the inside radius.



Same 6061 angle corner. Top, not cleaned up. Bottom, cleaned up. Took about 1 min to do it.



That will do!

 

Ok. Let’s try a big file with the interface. Still uploading then I’ll run it.