Stiffen up the rails, or upgrade to something more hardy

Where did you get that? I was thinking screw drive would be best for this thing.

I just started making them. I also make the Gantry upgrade. Together it is a Beast.

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How much are you asking for them? For a 1000mm size? Thanks!

I am still working on perfecting the design. I have one in progress for a customer that agreed to beta test it for me. Once he has his installed and there are no issues, then I will be putting together a couple of different packages that can be ordered. I have already applied the Gantry upgrade to my machine and liked it so much I did the Y axis as well. I can tell you that if you sold your machine and then added enough money to purchase a machine that is as rigid as mine is now you will spend considerably more than you would on the upgrades. In other words, it isn’t a cheap upgrade. If you do both the Gantry and the Y axis, the only thing left that is original is the extrusions under the waste board, and possibly the waste board itself. The upgrades will be listed on my website when they become publicly available. Probably in about a month from now, maybe less.

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Yes and it will be interesting!! Look rigid too!!

Rigid is an understatement. I finished an upgrade for a customer and got it in the mail. It took two large boxes to put it all in. One for the two Y axis rails and one for the Gantry upgrade. Yes I did a Gantry upgrade for him too! It is truly a beast. Both boxes together weighed in at just over 100 pounds. I have already done the upgrade for both the Y axis and Gantry on my machine and as I said, Rigid is an understatement. You could stand on this thing and it doesn’t move.

!

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What’s the price for a complete 3 axis?

Honestly, I am still working that out. It seems like every time I order Aluminum the price goes up. I wish Trump and China would get their act together. I can tell you that it is definitely not a cheap upgrade. With that said, it will be far less than selling your X Carve and replacing it with something comparable after the upgrade. That takes into account what you would get for your X Carve when selling it. The X Carve and Inventables are great. It’s just that some of the owners are becoming successful at making a profit with them and find that the lack of serious Rigidity is keeping them from growing their business because they are unable to up the feeds and speeds without sacrificing quality. That and the fact that the clearance under the stock setup if raised opens up the ability to carve on thicker material. That can be resolve easily with taller Y axis end plates. It is built in to my upgrade. I expect to be offering either a Gantry upgrade where the customer uses their existing Y axis rails and drive system (pulleys and belts) but the Drive system for the X is upgraded to a Ball Screw and linear rails, or Both the Gantry and Y axis upgrade where everything is direct drive through Ball Screws and linear rails(Not Acme Rods).

So, if you are really wanting to eliminate the flexing, and you are considering selling your X Carve and buying a more rigid machine, this would be a less expensive option. After the complete 3 axis upgrade I just sent to a customer has been installed and I personally deliver and install a Gantry Upgrade for another customer, I will wait for their input and if there are no issues (Which I don’t expect since I have already done this to my machine)k, I will set a price point with options and make it available. You can watch for the release on my website at www.triquetra-cnc.com.

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Email me at charleyntexas@gmail.com and I will send you a pricing worksheet and you can pick and choose what you want upgraded.

Maybe you have not seen their square linear bearings Z axis!! It’s a piece of art in my opinion!!
All machined parts!! I can tell you it’s rock solid!!

Yes it is. Have they announced pricing yet?

This morning the kit was not on the website but I check later and yes!!!

Price is good! The specs are amazing!
I will talk to the wife and will order it!!
Need wife a probation:)))

That’s definitely the upgrade I had been waiting for, but it’s just a little too much for me. I think I’m just going to build an entirely new machine, use the x-carve to do the machining and then probably sell the x-carve when it’s done. I think it’s a great option, but you’re essentially only keeping the x-controller, which will then be the weakest part of that machine. It’s cool for sure, glad someone did it. I think I’m going to want something more rigid, and I’m starting to move towards a fixed gantry router, so I can do steel.

Yep, I totally agree. It cost way too much. For that amount there are other, better options.

I did notice that they are now offering one that is much like the one from TBD CNC. Huge improvement over what they had before.

In my opinion a Z axis is a Z axis, it’s not a big deal!!! Nothing to copy here!! The tbd one is made with simple aluminum extrusion, the one from Newbie is all cnc machined! and their leadscrews are supported at both ends VS only one, and no plastic printed parts!! And at better price:)) They do z axis and other parts since many years!!

Anyway nothing to compare!!

Just my opinion!!!
JK

All you comment about is CNC4Newbie stuff…

Just my opinion !!!

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Has anybody tried the CNC4Newbie Ultimate upgrade kit?

After 2 years of using v-wheels & belts I’m about ready to move onto something more solid. I like Charley’s POV that these upgrades aren’t cheap but still not as expensive as selling the XCarve and buying a next level CNC machine.

I don’t have any experience with the square linear bearings but I’ve seen that he’s moved to those over the sliders on his Z axis and people seem to like them. I have only upgraded the Z axis on my Gen 2 so I think it would be a huge stiffness improvement, especially with 269 oz motors.

I’m also wondering how much the 269 motor matters on the Z axis. I haven’t or don’t plan to carve aluminum so I’m curious if it makes much of a difference, even on hardwoods.

I don’t think it is necessary to put bigger motors on the Z Axis unless you upgrade to a much heavier spindle. The Stock X Carve Z axis motor will move a Dewalt just as well on the default configuration as it will on a upgraded Z axis. The X and Y axis is another story when upgrading away from extrusions and belts. In fact, when I build new machines, (not Upgrades), I move away from GRBL to Mach3, and use 425 oz steppers. I am even considering trying out some Nema 34’s.

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Without any XC mods, you can stiffen the Y like I did here for about $40. Some aluminum flat bar, few extrusion nuts and machine screws.

I used 3/8" bar because that’s what I had around. 1/4" would be fine.

  1. Get some aluminun flatstock. I made mine as tall as I could so the lower gantry extrusion just clears. This adds a little dust and chip protection for the Y belts.

  2. remove wasteboard.

  3. loosen the Y axis base extrusions and slide towards centre a bit.

  4. Measure the distance between the outside slot on the base 2020 extrusion and the slot on the inside of the Y makerslide.

  5. Bang a bunch of 5.5mm holes in your aluminum bar to line up with the slots for the two extrusions. Counterbore to look nice. The bottom row of holes is obviously going to be 10mm from the bottom edge of the barstock to line up with the 2020 extrusion.

  6. Rolll in some M5 nuts spaced with your hole pattern.

  7. Attach bar stock. Tighten your Y base extrusion back up to the intersections with X. (While I was in there I made some brackets and screwed down to a sheet MDF just to lock the frame into square. One of the shortcomings of the XC frame design is relying on the consumable waste-board to secure frame squareness. Now I can just replace wasteboard with impunity.)

  8. trim your wasteboard to fit the new Y width, or it’s a good opportunity to make a new one.

  9. Set your new machine working area and adjust your limit switch stop if needed.

The upgrade increases rigidity in three ways:

  1. against downward deflection on the Y makerslide
  2. against the side to side deflection from X axis gantry force.
  3. Maintaining base flatness over any surface deviation of whatever your machine is sitting on. You could do similar to the X axis base on the front and back if you didn’t want the ends open for workpieces that exceed your work area.

n.b. the one adjustment I did need to do to the XC because I made the bar stock height above the Y makerslide is shorten the bolts for the Idler wheel. They are about 1mm too long and hit. I just ground back a bit to clear. I later changed belts to 9mm so reduced clearance even more, so I used a reversed low profile M5 bolt so the head was facing inside and it clears just fine with the new idlers.

And finished

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