I’ve recently found myself cutting more and more things out of aluminum on my 1000mm xcarve. Since learning a bit of fusion 360, aluminum has become more reliable and repeatable, but I felt like even if the X belt was tightened, it’d still skip teeth(not steps) occasionally when driving it hard so I decided that needed an upgrade. The Y axis with the dual stepper motors/belts has been fine but I think I’ll eventually be swapping those over to ball screws also because of how well this went with the X axis. Undecided if I will shrink the Y axis size.
I decided to go for a screw drive instead of the belt and moved the X stepper over to the left. I also found that I didn’t really use the full 1000mm width too often so I shortened it, added the ball screw, and added the steel bar mod while the X beams were apart. Much stiffer than just adding a few small #10 bolts between the rails.
I added descriptions below the photos in the imgur album to give a bit more detail.
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You should highly consider using 5 start ACME screws. Then you can get the couplers and anti-backlash nuts from dumpstercnc.com it might help simplify your design and
Hi, How these upgrades works any update looks great could you help and share part files what hardware need for complete process can have details please. What about Z Axis.
Thanks
Sorry for the delay, hadn’t gotten to test it until this past weekend. I upgraded the shaft collar/coupler with a steel sleeve with set screws. Worked fantastic on wood. I haven’t cut any aluminum yet with it though, which is what I’m crossing my fingers for. I need to dial in the steps calibration a little bit more and then I think I’ll be focusing on the Z axis a little. Now that the X is entirely rigid, I can see exactly how much deflection is coming from the Z wheels/slide.
I know linear rails would be nice but I think that’s a bit overkill for a machine based on aluminum rails, and if I was going to upgrade the slide rails, then what really would be left of the original xcarve at that point? Might as well just redesign a much more rigid assembly from the ground up.
The ballscrew mount is also just so very very slightly off center with the motor. Need to try and get them as dead on as I can before I go and mount the far end of the ball screw or I’ll be sending that wobble into the structure and that’s gonna just stall the stepper or cause something else to deflect.
Trial and error and lots of tinkering lol.
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Hi i would like to be able to insert the bar as your x-carve is it possible to have the fusion 360 file? Hello and thanks
