I was not able to source the right sized T-Bar.
All the easy to obtain stuff was either the wrong thickness or the “T” was too wide and could have interfered with the idler wheels.
I probably could have special ordered the size and shape I needed but I wans not willing to invest the time and $ in a test when I had a proven solution right at hand.
Steel rails are available here. http://www.bwc.com/products/components-accessories/dualvee-family-wheels-track/dualvee-single-edge-track.html
along with steel V wheels.
You will want to be sitting down when you check the prices.
Dave
I am currently building my X-carve so I’m taking the opportunity to make some mods right from the get go. I have bought the Dewalt 611 router so my first mod had to be the X axis stiffener. I read everything I could find on the mod and gave a few different options some serious thought but ended up going with the 2" 3/16 steel plate and 5 bolts. I clamped the maker slides and the plate together and used a surface plate to make sure I had the top and bottom V rails aligned. They I drilled and reamed five .250 holes. The bolts I had were going to be too long so I cut both the head of the bolt and the nut down to give me clearance. The final check on the surface plate confirmed that the rails stayed straight and parallel so I’m pretty pleased. The screws that hold the drag chain on the carriage are two long but that will be an easy fix, otherwise the carriage runs nicely along the axiz.
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Finally got around to adding some support to my Y-Axis. It is much more rigid now. As soon as I get around to remounting my dust shields, it will be even more rigid.
I also re-squared my machine and added two pieces of 3/4" mdf under the xcarve as I don’t think my bench was as flat as I thought it was. Now I’m debating whether there is any benifit to securing my Xcarve to the bench.
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What did you use for these supports? Are they something you found or had to make?
They came from from Misumiusa.com. I’m not sure which ones they are as I got them from Scott. @ScottKelley Can you chime in on which ones they are?
This mod goes all the way back to the days of the early Shapeokos and Shapeoko 2 mills. The mod goes a long way to stiffening the gantry and was used with great success by a number of guys on the Shapeoko. But it was never a true BOLT ON mod. The new gantry plates for the X Carve are less friendly to this mod than the Shapeoko plates are/were. It will require a new gantry plate plate to be milled for the mod to work and the V wheels and such on the gantry to be shimmed out to the right size for the SLIGHT difference in size from the twin maker slides.
I have all the supplies needed to work on this mod and it is something i have been working on it CAD for a bit. Right now i am trying to get caught up in production on my X Carve so tearing it spart for the mod is not high on my list. I am thinking to tear down the Shapeoko 2 and make the mod there first to work out the wheel spacing which will carry over to the X Carve also. I just have not had the chance to get around to it. I have spoken to Ed (maker of the Shapeoko) and there is no really reason why it will not work on the X Carve. I just need to take the info he sent over and some of the old forum posts for the OKO and apply it here. For my mills I would rather remove the Makerslides and replace with a single piece then be drilling into the Makerslides.
Overall the largest expense for this mod is the T nuts and screws needed to mount the V rails to the gantry extrusion. it takes 40 T nuts per 500MM section, so 80 for the 1000 guys. But like has been pointed out, the gantry plates do not have a mounting option that will work currently so they will have to be milled and new mounting holes put in place for the 40X40 gantry. The spacing on the Wheels is the bigger concern though. But the answers are in the shapeoko forums as it was a known mod. It is just a matter of tearing down one of my mills long enough to make the mod. I am waiting for Inventables to release the X/Z extrusions so I can make the mod on the OKO at the same time to avoid tearing it down twice. Hard to take a mill out of production and have to re-square and calibrate it too often.
Part was $1.35 each so I ordered 10 to save on the shipping.
They came really fast too.
SMK
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That could be done if someone wanted to go that path. Since I am starting to build my own CNCs and such, I have no shortage of T nuts laying around so it was easy for me as I buy them 100+ at a time. I am working to make it a mod anyone can do themselves if they choose or one that only needs a few items bought already milled them bolted together. I have a few other projects ahead of this one, but I have all the CAD models I need so it is just a matter of sitting down to do it overall.
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I’m still waiting for my X-Carve. But I was wondering if anyone had thought to measure the makerslide and lower extrusion on the Y axis to see if an 80/20 extrusion could be attached on the outside–connecting the makerslide and lower frame together using the existing slots for some serious bolt-on buttressing? Just an idea…
So much traffic on this subject now, I can’t find the post or member who said they installed the steel plate in the gantry while it was still on the Xcarve. I was wondering if anyone else tried this and how hard it was to pull off.
I took the makerslides off to drill holes in the X-axis, but it’s possible to do it by hand pretty easily. Just loosen up the screws that hold the makerslide to the Y plates so it can move a little when you slide the steel plate in.
I was just watching your video as a matter of fact. I have a drill press so I’m thinking I will do the same process as you. I’ve got some other tweaking to do so it should work out fine.
Great video by the way.
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Thanks, I’m glad it’s helping!
I like the idea of using wire for the reference. I think you can eliminate the sag issue by mounting the whole unit vertically while you work on this…
With the right set up and wire tension the amount of sag will be less than you can measure.
There would be no need to change the orientation of your machine. This method would come in handy on machines that have been lengthened to 1.8 meters long.
Dave
I used aluminum tee 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 by 3/16" just trimmed about blade width from both sides my cnc width is 59" no chance is will sag the aluminum was not very expensive bought online at orange aluminum
JosephSmith, did you mount the tee on the top or the bottom of the X axis? And, did you bolt through like you would for the steel mod or fasten it from the top/bottom?
I was thinking of aluminum T as well. Haven’t done the mod yet, but I did buy a piece of flat aluminum. I would love to see some pictures.