A skil saw??? You are a more daring person than myself. Such a precision type of cut for a skil saw using it to thin the width. Using a table saw made me leary while cutting, even while using feather-boards and push sticks. Personally I would not want to attempt this cut with a skil saw, but that’s just me. If I had to use a skil saw I would probably mount it to the bottom of a piece of MDF and flip the unit upside down and use it like a table saw.
I upgraded my Y axis to measure 1800mm. The mod that I used to stiffen the Y axis can be used on just about any length Y-rail. The down fall is that you will lose an inch or two from the overall width on the X axis.
Here is what I did. On the inside of the maker slide there are two t-slot channels. Along the lower channel, I ran a piece of 20mm X 80mm extrusion parallel to the channel. I then took a piece of 3/4" aluminum angle iron and drilled holes along its length that corresponded with the upper Tslot in the makerslide and the inner Tslot on the aluminum extrusion. Using Tnuts and bolts the angle iron can firmly attach the makerslide and the 20x80 extrusion. This adds a lot of stability to the makerslide.
To accomplish the height that I needed for my Z axis, I did not need the end plates that come with the stock X Carve. Instead I stacked multiple layers of 3/4" MDF to form a riser that the complete Y axis rails can be supported by along the entire length. Currently, I have 4 layers of MDF, so approximately a 3" riser. (I do believe that I can also get away with adding another layer or two to achieve for Zaxis height). The Y rails are attached directly to the top of the stack. I did this by laminating two of the pieces of MDF and drilling holes for the attachment hardware. I used longer bolts and t-nuts to attach the Y-Rail to the top two layers of MDF along the center T-slot track of the bottom of the Y rail. (The Y-rail now has one T-slot in the maker slide and two T-slots on the extrusion for a total of 3 T-slots running parallel on the bottom of the Y-rail setup, so I used the T-slot on the extrusion closest to the makerslide.)
The bottom two layers of the MDF stack were secured to the torsion box table that I constructed. Before attaching them I drilled access holes and pilot holes on all of the pieces. These pilot holes helped keep the stack aligned. The access holes allowed for access to the bolts that attach the Y rail to the MDF risers from underneath the table using a long screwdriver.
For a recap. I started with a torsion box table larger than the size of my Xcarve. I layered 4 strips of MDF on each side to support the Yrails. The Y-makerslide had a piece of 20x80 extrusion attached to the lower inside t-slot using aluminum angle iron as a brace and bolts and Tnuts to bring it all together. The New Y rails are then attached to the top of the MDF risers.
This makes the Y-axis rails rock solid. No twisting and no sagging. And like I said this can work on all lengths of the Yaxis rails.
The stack of MDF that the Yrails attached to is made from two widths of MDF. The top two layers of MDF are narrower than the bottom two. This is due impart to the V-wheels on the makerslide. The MDF has to stop short of the edge of the makerslide. (I aligned mine with the outside edge of the bottom Tslot on the makerslide.) this gives enough clearance so that the wheels do not bind. The bottom two layers of MDF are wider for a larger, more stable footprint.
I also want to add that I had to trim a blades width off of each side of the aluminum angle iron to bring it down flush with the top of the makerslide. This may not be needed but I cleaned up the seam.
If you can’t follow my chicken scratch, just let me know. I will attempt to post a photo.
