I was planning on buying one of these down the road but decided to go ahead and pull the trigger. Just ordered. Thanks for the push!
I have increased height y-axis end plates, will the 5-6" travel version allow me to reach the bed with the increased y-axis height?
Holy Smokes! CNC4Newbies has already shipped my Linear Rail Z-Axis! they even messaged me to confirm that they drilled and tapped the appropriate bolt patterns for the x-carve and my dewalt spindle holder. It should be delivered by Friday. what a turn around! I can’t wait to get it all setup!
So much for upgrading over time. it looks like I have now purchased all of the upgrades that were suggested. Now what do I do? haha
Thanks for all of the help from everyone. I will post as I get the upgrades completed.
Ok so I got the linear z axis, the new motors, and the new belts all installed. This machine is becoming beastly.
Now I’m working on building g the new controller. I have an unused computer case that I’m planning on mounting the controller in for now. I’m just trying to layout the components and plan accordingly for my available space.
Ok so I got the controller built this past weekend and mounted in a spare computer case that I had.
I have spent some time calibrating all of the steps/mm and directions and will hopefully get to try some carving tonight.
I really like the 45deg layout. Building something that works as expected AND looks nice is a great accomplishment.
Yea. I initially angled everything to give me more vertical space but it turned out looking nice too. I’m very pleased with it.
I finally was able to get UGS working too. Was never able to get it to connect before. Just waiting on some new t-slot nuts for the aluminum bed so I can clamp to it.
What dl you use instead of the waste board?
How do you ordered the direct drive Z axis with the increased height?
I used aluminum T-track from Misumi for the new waste board.
I just ordered the cnc4newbies linear rail z-axis for 5-6" of travel.
Just did the same. Couldn’t resist 
Do you have a clue on what settings I will need to change in the X-Controller that is configured for an ACME ROD? Any steps x mm?
hmmm really interesting
So I’ve added a few more upgrades to the machine. Almost up and running just waiting on a few more parts which got delivered today.
Single piece x axis installed
1.5 kw watercooled spindle installed
2.2kw vfd
Jtec laser 2.8 watt(still need to make a mount to work with the new spindle)
Ok. Time for some further update and maybe I can get some help from folks on an issue I am seeing.
First, updates:
The watercooled spindle is operational at this point and my desire to cut aluminum took me to build an enclosure and also add flood cooling.
With this, I removed all of the connections through the terminal blocks and sealed the wires inside the enclosure.
My enclosure is just a simple 2020 rail box with plexi panels.
Now I am having some good success cutting my aluminum parts lately along with running my first facing ops.
My cut setting are as follows:
Fusion 2d adaptive: 40 ipm, .75” doc 24000rpm, .01 optimal load, 3/8” 3 flute zrn coated endmill. .05” radial stock to leave.
Followed by 2d contour with 4 .01” roughing passes and then 2 .005” finishes passes and repeat final pass.
The results are pretty good. The machine handles most of the cutting without a sweat.
The issue I am having is that it’s my y axis movement. Anytime there is y axis movement, the machine stutters a bit. This causes pretty rough surface and even some gouges. Now the light contour passes help remove these but they are still apparent while surfaces in the x axis are fantastic. X axis is along the long direction of the part, y is in the shorter direction.
I did experiment with increasing federate and that did seem to help a bit but I got to 80ipm and am not sure I want to really go much faster than that.
My spindle is pretty dang square shown by my facing op. It’s not 100% perfect but it’s really close.
I know some folks here do some pretty heavy aluminum work and could probably help me out.
I don’t think it is a MRR concern as the machine is great in the x direction. It is only in the y direction that this problem arises. But with the y axis having 2 steppers, it seems unlikely that they are bogging down.
I’m thinking it could potentiall have to do with the x axis twisting during y axis moves. But I have the single piece x and newbies z along with the axle mod for the v wheels. Although I can certainly still feel deflection about the x.
Appreciate any help or feedback on the machine progress.
Cory
The spindle flex (rake) during Y-motion. It could also be enhanced if the spindle isn’t exactly perpendicular to the surface.
Your gantry is small in dimension and will flex.
This is what i was thinking. which leads to the next set of upgrades…
I have Open builds C-beam, ballscrews, and linear rails waiting to be installed. but i need to make new X and Y axis endplates for everything.
