Routy ACME Max with 850x850x200mm working area

Hello guys,

So, finally I made the step to SketchUp a week ago. I was using Lightwave 3D since 1996 in combination with ACAD. SolidWorks I never liked but messed around with it for some time. As a side note, make sure you have a good scrollwheel on your mouse as you will need it when you start with SketchUp .

Playing around with SketchUp I managed to make my first OpenBuilds design. The design needed to be:

• Affordable to build
• Relatively easy to build
• Use ONLY parts that OpenBuilds distributes
• Durable and solid with little to none flexing
• Largest working area with 1000mm ACME

Since I live in a 3rd World country and people are not spending much on technology, other than mobile phones, I had to keep the cost down. My first design was about 500USD more expensive due to extra 20*80mm V-Slot and using a lot of 90º corner brackets so I redid the design and called it V0.2, now using much less components and making it much more ridged than V0.1. Still, this isn’t going to be a low cost build (I don’t want to use the work “cheap” as OpenBuilds is quality all around!). The cost without the PSU, Stepper-drivers, control board and wood will be around 1350USD.

I focused more on an easy to adjust construction than on hiding brackets and screws. There is no shame in showing how things are made when all parts are well made; it’s actually the opposite of hiding, you want people to see it! The whole builds is straight forward and with just a few instructions and drawing it can be put together (and looking at the example build videos from openBuilds).

Local workshops ask 500USD+ to get plates made for router like the OX, what a rip-off. Sure I can get them on eBay and have them shipped to México but that’s not the point here. The point is, making something affordable it must be sold by OpenBuild. This assures quality and boosts the society of Open Hardware. It’s not an easy task but it can be done . People need to start with something and OpenBuilds can now do that by providing them ALL they need to finish their builds. Yes I know you can just cut plates by hand, build your CNC, cut the plates again with that machine but why not use the parts we already have?

It must be strong! Made for hardwoods that have soft and hard areas; you don’t want your router to slow down and flex on the hard areas and then bang into the soft areas for many reasons. Cutting Aluminum asks for repeatability which comes with how solid the whole setup is. Stretching your belts and ending up somewhere else in your cut than where it should end is out of the question so we go with a non-compromise 8mm ACME. OpenBuilds only provides up to 1000mm so the usable travel on an axis will be around 850mm. 850mm is most likely enough for most home and small workshop projects especially if you can slide the to cut parts trough the machine when one area of that part is finished. I know it’s get a bit more complicated if we cut something out of a block that is 200mm in the Z axis but we can see that as an extreme but still possible.



This is how the design looks on “paper”, still knowing from experience and logic, it should do its job well. Any input would be welcome. I also hope that others can use this design to implement more ACME over GT Timing belts.

I will put up a BOM and the drawing when I’ve cleaned all up.

-Ronald

 

Hello Jon,

Thank you for your comments, I was about to change exactly the things you said, so take a look how it would look like:

This will also take the cost up to about 1450 USD for what you see on the image less the wood .

 

@ Atomist,

It's up to the builder to ad more wheels to it, as you can see there are now 8 wheels on each side and you can add 10 more if needed on the Y-axis.

Cutting the V-Slot isn't a problem as I have a mittersaw with a Freud 12-Inch 96T non-ferrous blade and a guide on that cut all the peaces the right (and the same) length. I do agree that building a machine like this needs some handy work or tools .

To get all squared up isn't a problem at all. Like most builds you don't tighten up the bolts (screws) until one unit, say a side of the gantry, is put together. When you start to tighten all up you better make sure you have a good flat service to hold it down on that. Most building-blocks slide against each other for easy assembly. If you are worried about bolts and nuts getting loose, just add blue Loctite or similar to the bolts (screws) and let that dry over night before adding them to your construction. Silicon can be added between corner-brackets if you go real extreme .

Still, I'm open to make this design better, but not with special cut plates. If plates would be placed on some spots it could make the build even sturdier but the intention here is to give the people a build that can be made with OpenBuilds products only. Sure you need the wood and some rubber feet but I presume that in most countries they can be found at the local lumber and hardware store.

@ Jon,

Thank you, I think it turned out well too. It might be 100 bucks on top of the price but the first picture (v0.2) looks like a light version of the second picture (v0.3). Adding more wheels, like Atomist said, might be needed if you go real rough but then the ACME blocks will die first I would say. Would be nice to have a "better" nut there... Or a double one like on the Z axes, but that needs two gantry plates next to each other reducing the travel distance.


Anyway, I still need to clean up the drawing but first I will finish a redesign of the original Routy. That design can be beefed up and at the same time be lowered in cost. I'll post Routy "Basic" (might call it "BSX") V1.1 soon .

 

I'll explain all later on when then I'm done testing .

 

xPRO in a junction box :