Possibly New Stiffening Mod

Hello, this is my first post, but I’ve been reading the forum for a few days, researching the potential of the X-carve for my business. My first product will be a knife/multitool and I’ll most likely be doing a kickstarter for it so I’m trying to get production figured out. I will be machining kydex plastic for my sheaths and need to make sure the x-carve will work reliably.

It seems the main complaint for precision is rigidity. I’ve seen the bolt mod and others and will probably do one of those in addition to my idea if I decide to get the X-carve. I looked up the makerslide cross section and there is a 12mm space right in the middle of the beam. It’s sealed and appears nothing attaches there. I then got the idea of sliding a 10 or 12mm x 1000mm linear bearing rod right through the center and then filling the rest of the space with epoxy.

It would be very easy to do, require almost no tools and I think it would increase the rigidity and reduce chatter significantly, especially when paired with the bolt mod. The rods weigh about 3 lbs each, and are $35 for two on ebay. They’re 58-60 rockwell so much stiffer than cold or hot rolled steel. Just an idea, what do you guys think?

I was contemplating that something like that. Even with the bar mod I was still getting some torsion, the gantry twisting. So I thought about resin filling the rails. I got so far as to pick a resin before deciding to go all in and switch to c-beam.

Resining in a stiffening rod of some kind may do the job. It is worth a try, and no drilling involved. :wink:

I would think the resin would help with the twisting forces, and the rods would help with the vertical and horizontal forces. Since I can’t measure it, I’m not sure the 12mm rod would fit, but a 10mm could definitely be used. Since I will be machining mostly plastic I don’t think I’ll need to switch rails.

I just found another possible option which is a modification of the makerslide made by gryphon CNC, it looks like two makerslides combined into one. Probably means you could just swap the two rails for one. Here’s a link. They also have some attractive looking machines, but 2-3 times the cost of an x-carve.

I have recently heard some buzz on the web about Gryphon not being so trustworthy. ie;vaporware. I’m not sure if this is accurate or not so please tread carefully.

Their stuff looks intriguing but I personally have no need for it yet.

Good to know, I was a little worried when they’ve been around for like 3 years and there was only a couple youtube videos about them. I will probably stick with the xcarve just because of the forum and all I’ve heard about the stellar customer service.

Too bad about Gryphon not being so trustworthy. :unamused:
If you look at the gryphon Y rail profile, in addition to being a single beam it also has thicker walls and more internal cross bracing. All that extra mass should help make it a much stiffer rail. Dramatically increases the cost as well, but worth it if it works.

I went so far to contact a local aluminum extruder to see about having some custom rails made locally. Way too expensive to do as a one-off but it would make a good kickstarter project. Originally I was thinking of making a rail that matched the current profile, so it would be a simple replacement. No re-drilling of the brackets, no changing of the wheels. But it turns out it is just a tinny bit wider than they could do.
They could do something like the gryphon rail. But you would have to do the 40x40 mod to the brackets (drill out new mounting holes) and add some spacers to the wheels (not as big a deal as you can also switch to eccentric spacers). But at that point it started to get a bit too involved for a simple “drop in” upgrade.
Though I am hoping the inventibles is pursuing something along those lines. (as that Make magazine photo seemed to suggest)

Hopefully that new design is can be an upgrade, looks cool, although it looks like the 1000x1000 model would have to mount the xcontroller elsewhere. Hopefully the new one will be out when I make my purchase!