A while back I have this machine designed by a company that is no longer around. This is a machine I use to level large live edge wood slabs. I use a 3.25 hp router with a 2 inch surfacing bit. I am looking for ideas to make this more rigid. The gantry free rolls and the router carriage and router are on hand operated lead screws. There is a lot of play in the router and carriage. I’m a little lost for how I can tighten this up so there is no play. The wheels seem to just hear grooves on the side of them in only a few hours of use thus returning to the original problem of having to much play. I also want to make the gantry more stable with less play. I am running into the same problem with the wheels. Any ideas are appreciated.
That router is way too heavy to be hanging off a single rail like that. With a little ingenuity you could add another rail similar to the LEAD 1010 High Z Mod (screw the 20x80 verticals to the inside face of the Y-axis gantry plates to mount the upper rail on) but keep it short though similar to the LEAD 1515. Upgrading to the Xtreme wheels would also be helpful as they don't wear as easily. A better option would be to put an opposing rail and balancing the load better. This eliminates the eccentric loading on the wheels. Some concepts include : Need help with x large build for slab flattening | OpenBuilds, Slab Flattening Table | OpenBuilds, and Rock n Roll | OpenBuilds. All of these would require a substantial rebuild of what you have to start with but will give you a more balanced system when you're done.
