Hi all
So have been playing with the idea of building my own cnc machine for some time now, have looked at a number of different designs scattered around the web and finally decided to at least put pen to paper (so to speak) on a design of my own. Now while i have no experience in the DIY CNC realm i have worked on a few milling machines & lathes etc.. not extensively mind, but have some idea of the concepts at least.
So before I started acquiring the parts I though it best to seek out the advice of you fine folks on my design concepts and check if it is fit for purpose. My intention is to be able to mill aluminium and hopefully some non ferrous metals with this, but I would also like to be able to convert it to a plasma cutter and then later maybe even add some 3D printing capabilities.
Some basics of my designs:
X - 1000mm using 20mm round rails (either supported or not) Dual drive.
Y - 700mm using 20mm round rails (either supported or not)
Z - 200mm using 16mm round rails (either supported or not)
RM1605 Ballscrews all round
Will be using 6061 Aluminium. and 80x80 profile for the base frame
Either Nema 24 or 34 steppers. (designed with 24's)
So this was my first cut at a design, I haven't added all mounting holes etc to the design yet as I wanted to get some advice before I finish off with all the finer details, the problem with this design was the support that runs under the X will get in the way if I want to convert this into a plasma cutter, so wanted to try a open frame type design. This design was with SBR20 supported round rail for X&Y with SBR20UU Open linear Bearings and SBR16 & SBR16UU for the Z.
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This was then my take on the open frame design using high carbon steel W20 (h6) for X&Y rails and W16 (h6) for Z running through 6061 aluminium blocks (65x40 with different heights) this design would also not use BK & BF supports for the Ballscrews as I will machine out the supports for bearings into the aluminium (good idea or not??).
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I have left all shields and table bed off to get a better look at its guts. So my questions are, firstly around the design, would these be fit for purpose? Am open to any suggestions here. And then for the open frame design, I have seen that some people have used bushes rather than linear bearings, what are your guys take on bushes vs bearings for the axis rails?
Squigly out..
So have been playing with the idea of building my own cnc machine for some time now, have looked at a number of different designs scattered around the web and finally decided to at least put pen to paper (so to speak) on a design of my own. Now while i have no experience in the DIY CNC realm i have worked on a few milling machines & lathes etc.. not extensively mind, but have some idea of the concepts at least.
So before I started acquiring the parts I though it best to seek out the advice of you fine folks on my design concepts and check if it is fit for purpose. My intention is to be able to mill aluminium and hopefully some non ferrous metals with this, but I would also like to be able to convert it to a plasma cutter and then later maybe even add some 3D printing capabilities.
Some basics of my designs:
X - 1000mm using 20mm round rails (either supported or not) Dual drive.
Y - 700mm using 20mm round rails (either supported or not)
Z - 200mm using 16mm round rails (either supported or not)
RM1605 Ballscrews all round
Will be using 6061 Aluminium. and 80x80 profile for the base frame
Either Nema 24 or 34 steppers. (designed with 24's)
So this was my first cut at a design, I haven't added all mounting holes etc to the design yet as I wanted to get some advice before I finish off with all the finer details, the problem with this design was the support that runs under the X will get in the way if I want to convert this into a plasma cutter, so wanted to try a open frame type design. This design was with SBR20 supported round rail for X&Y with SBR20UU Open linear Bearings and SBR16 & SBR16UU for the Z.
This was then my take on the open frame design using high carbon steel W20 (h6) for X&Y rails and W16 (h6) for Z running through 6061 aluminium blocks (65x40 with different heights) this design would also not use BK & BF supports for the Ballscrews as I will machine out the supports for bearings into the aluminium (good idea or not??).
I have left all shields and table bed off to get a better look at its guts. So my questions are, firstly around the design, would these be fit for purpose? Am open to any suggestions here. And then for the open frame design, I have seen that some people have used bushes rather than linear bearings, what are your guys take on bushes vs bearings for the axis rails?
Squigly out..