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What about acme screw and AB nut? Has similar advantages of gear reduction without the price tag of a gear box, and it will be easier to reduce/eliminate backlash than in a gearbox.

Looks good!
What do you intend to cut with it?
I guarantee you soon enough you will have reasons to upgrade or make it even better.
I haven't updated my build in a while, but I have gone through...

The easiest way I can think of is by connecting 2 steppers together.
If you connect two steppers together "correctly", when you spin one stepper, the other one will follow.
The torque will of...

I think this is a much better response than one of the earlier ones that could be misconstrued as insulting...
You didnt give away the answer, but you showed how he could get it.

I know everyone...

I think these gentlemen are just trying to save you some headache down the road. You dont have to take their advice if you dont want to.
I am not a pro, and I dont have calculations for you, but...

with the signals (step, dir, enable) being inputs into both drivers, I dont think there should be any concern with interaction between the 2 drivers. none of the drivers will be sending a signal that...

An alternative to using a relay to pull the e-stop pin low is a darlington pair.
ULN2003 is a very good one. For pulling a DC signal like the E stop signal low, I will recommend them over a relay --...

You can't accurately charge a 9V battery bank with 9V.
The charging voltage will depend on the battery chemistry -- most likely will be NiMH or lithium ion for consumer rechargable batteries in the...

looks good...
did you replace the brushless motor shaft with an er straight shank?
I think that is a better way to do it. For my setup, I had the spindle separate from the motor, and the motor...

For engraving, fan may not be necessary for the motor...
I have been using an outrunner brushless motor on my hobby CNC for over 3 years now. I have cut 0.5" thick aluminum plates with 0.25 endmills...

Thanks for your inputs guys on the spray foam...
I think I will go ahead and try it. Dont think it will hurt anything.
Once I am done building, I will run the machine before and after filling just...

Thanks for the input.
I am kind of on the fence on this one.
hoping someone who has actually done this will chime in and say that it worked or didnt work.
I am not really looking to add any more...

I read somewhere here that you can fill the square tubes with some type of gap filler to help with reducing vibration. Any recommendation on any particular type to use?
I saw a couple of gap fillers...

The welder must have poured a lot of heat on the metal because the smaller tube (4"X1") is slightly bent right at the weld joint.
I anticipated this since the tube is the thinest of the tubes...

The base frame, gantry, and alu pieces are all painted. There are a few imperfect spots, but the overall paint job is ok.
If I had to do it again, I would probably powdercoat it, especially the...

sorry I dont really have any suggestion on finding straight/flat tubing. maybe it was just luck... or maybe because the place I got them from deals primarilly on new steel tubes and plates.
I picked...

I think you can get even better performance by going higher on your travel per revolution, at least 0.5" travel per revolution, which I believe is a good ballance between speed and resolution.

My...

I have cut most of the aluminum pieces that I need, except for the spindle plate. The spindle plate is an interesting one as the design is still evolving. I plan to have an LED light, some sort of a...

Hmmm....
Does it mean that the anti-backlash ballscrews are not necessarily 0 backlash? Am I in for a rude awakening?
If they indeed have backlash, how much backlash should be expected?
what...

That was the question I pondered on for days.
I had started down the path of acme screws. I bought a set of 3/4 dia 4 start acme screws and plastic nuts from Roton. Felt that the 0.5" lead was a...

If you go with leadscrews, make sure you get something thick enough to avoid whipping. Maybe around 3/4" or 1" for a 0.5" lead screw.
Anything smaller will probably whip at higher speed.

Roton...

The aluminum plate is secured, but the table its secured to is not verywell supported.
I think you are right on the higher RPM and faster feed. Prior to reading your post, I ran a test cut at 28...

Thanks wizard for the input.
The primary weakness in my current machine is the gantry height (too high)and the work table (not well supported). The ROI on fixing any of these is not worth the...

Its actually not that bad.
I have been able to cut aluminum, just not as fast as I would like to, hence I am building another machine.

the question is between deeper cuts + slower feed and...

Deep cut and slow feed or shallow cut and faster feed?
I have a not so rigid machine which works ok with plastic, but chatters with aluminum. The gantry on this machine is a lot higher than it needs...

Welding day pictures :)
Not so much comment... just pics.
The mobile welder showed up bright and early at 9:00 in the morning, and we got busy. I think it was past 6:00 pm by the time he left. Most...

Welding is not one of my strong points. I own a mig which I pull out when I absolutely have to, but I am yet to get good at laying down the beads. After considering how much time and effort I have...

haha.. that's actually what I did... I drilled all the holes first before welding.
I had to drill over 200 holes with my CNC on the steel tubes. There is no way I could have done it accurately after...

Thanks guys! these are the types of feedback I was hoping for coming to this forum.
I am currently going with the acme high lead screws as I have those in hand at the moment. I will see how they...

I think it boils down to what u are used to and comfortable with.
I grew up in a metric system and later had to work in a metric+inch system (US).
The first thing I missed with the metric system in...