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All, in my rush to get the original post out before taking the kids to their sports practices yesterday, I neglected one of the most important parts to this entire discussion...strength of the two...

All,

Long post, but bear with me...

I'm in the early stages of designing my second router and focusing much more closely on performance aspects after lessons learned on my first machine.

One...

BTW, given the fact that i have 2X the usual number of blocks, I suppose one alternative would be to resell the 15mm units for someone to chop in half and make two complete sets of 32" bearings for a...

Just got a great deal on two pair of ~64" long NSK linear rails and bearing blocks. One is LH20 series (20mm) and the other is 15mm. Ironically the smaller set shipped with 8 bearing blocks for two...

Gerry,

I've learned more reading your posts over these past few years than probably anyone else, so I have to respect your input.

Acceleration is everything, at least until you hit your...

Hi all. Looking for verification or rejection of my gut intuition regarding sizing the Z axis motor of my next gantry machine relative to X and Y.

Design essentials for context:

3 axis gantry...

Gerry,

Can't argue with your statement on servos which are essentially limited only by the resolution of the encoders. However, if most people are using only 3:1 reduction from a 200 step/rev...

Al,

As Sherlock Holmes used to say, "you have an incredible grasp of the obvious." Thanks for pulling me back up to see the whole forest. So true.

Anyone out there have any opinion to share on mounting drive motors--servos or steppers--with the shaft oriented vertically? Any issues with lubrication or bearings I should be aware of before...

All,

Looking for opinions on gear reduction for rack & pinion motion.

My first pass math says I need reduction of somewhere between 10:1 and 25:1 depending on the size of pinion I choose in...

Hi all,

I'm embarking on my second gantry router design & build and would like to request your opinions and lessons learned on the speed of each axis relative to the others.

Background: this...

All,

I'm setting out to build my second gantry router and working up the nerve to graduate from steppers to servos. Seems like there should be an ideal ppr range for encoders, but just want to...

All,

Apologies for coming late to the game, but this thread intrigues me greatly. The holy grail of all DIY CNC tools is auto toolchanges, and I've spent hours looking for a cost-effective...

All,

I have an opportunity to purchase four refurbished commercial Shoda spindles and a dual inverter capable of powering two of them for $1500. All four are collet type, not ATC type. Won't...

Thoughts on building a gantry beam from a spaceframe rather than profile beams or extrusions? Seems like using the equivalent mass in a spaceframe design could yield significantly better rigidity...

So then why not simply couple both screws together mechanically with a belt, chain, or rack & pinion and drive with a single motor big enough to handle the accel/torque demand?

OK. I think I follow you now. You're referring to coupling motion between two axes, such as rigid tapping wherein you need the z-axis vertical position to vary at a set ratio with the rotary motion...

Al, I don't follow. What do you mean by "control capable of gearing"? Under either option A or B, you might or might not have gear ratios involved depending upon the desired positional resolution...

All,

I'm writing to solicit opinions on "coupled" motion such as driving the X-axis of a gantry router from both sides of the table. Which of the following is better?

Option A: "Mechanical"...

Hi all. Any idea how I can get acquainted with other DIY CNC'ers in southern Arizona? My buddy and I are in the Tucson area and we would like to compare notes and bounce ideas off others in the...

Should have mentioned--the material I have is light green in color, reinforced with white fibers (fiberglass?), very dense, very stiff, and smells bad when first cut. Thx.

I'm curious what kinds of tooling you're using to cut phenolic. I have a really nice sheet of 3/4" thick glass-reinforced phenolic, but cutting it with common woodworking tools like carbide-tipped...

Richard, I appreciate the confusion--I should have been more specific. I have both a woodworking and machining background before becoming an engineer, so I tend to interchange router and mill when...

Having already completed one working CNC router, I'm comfortable with the requirements for the next one. Just looking for thoughts from anyone who may have attempted the fight against gravity before...

All,

I want a bigger mill. Unfortunately, I can't have a bigger shop than I have now. Are the challenges of building a vertical bed CNC too much to overcome for the DIY'er?

Well said! I should have done my homework, but in my excitement after realizing that I could build a fully functional mill, I never expected software to generate code for the machine to cost more...

All,

I've spent several hours perusing this site and others trying to figure out a path to owning a full-featured CAM package starting with very limited resources. By way of background, I am...

Just wondering how does one buy an "older version of Mastercam" at any price? Been wondering about that a lot lately, but so far haven't found a way to make it happen...

Thanks,

Tom

All,

After searching further, I found the excellent (and very long I might add) thread on rattler style dampeners. The before and after videos are worth a thousand words, and I'm pretty sure this...

All,

My first machine is running, but suffering from random stalls on the X-axis. Can't seem to isolate them to high speed or low speed, but when it happens it's a very firm full stop in that...