[CarveOne]

This is going to be a complete rebuild of my first CNC machine, the red oak Solsylva 25x37. Stiffness and extra mass is the goal. Once stripped of useful parts, the red oak frame will be set aside for the time being. It will not be junked.

Some of the mechanical parts like the 5 start lead screws, anti-backlash nuts, bearings, and couplers will be re-used on the new version. The frame will be completely redesigned using 1.5" x 3" steel channel and 1/4" x 4" cold roll steel rails and Ahren's short bearing carriages.

The 5 start lead screws, anti-backlash nuts, and rails were removed from my Work Table CNC machine rebuilds (and upgrades) and will not be additional expense. The eight bearing carriages and the steel channel material were purchased in the past month. Around mid-January I'll order a Gecko G540 to replace the 3 axis Xylotex since the rebuild will use a dual motor X axis. The Xylotex 425 oz-in motors are probably not the best match for the G540 and are likely to be replaced with new motors.

So, over the past week I cut the channel to length (36" and 48") and mitered the ends at 45 degrees. Today I welded them together. That seemed to go well until the argon/co2 gas cylinder started running low on pressure. I barely finished and some of the welds inside the corners look ugly but will hold ok. 4" legs cut from 1.5" x 3" channel will be tacked in place tomorrow. Eventually, there will be leveling feet added to the bottom of the legs.

Tomorrow I'll attach the X axis rails. The three 1/2" holes will have washers and flat head machine screws through them. There will be four additional flat head machine screws installed into counter sunk holes.

As on my big machine, the rails will be vertically oriented and steel gantry supports will tie the upper and lower carriages together and also support the steel channel beam and rail. The beam will sit on top of the upper carriages. I'll build a new steel Z axis similar to the one on the big machine that can use the Hitachi M12VC router.

The first issue I found is that when the carriages are installed on a rail with a piece of channel between the carriages as shown in the three photos the bolt heads slightly rub against the channel. This can be used to help center the rail on the channel. The bolt heads need to be trimmed on the lathe by about 0.050" for adequate clearance after the rails are bolted to the channels. It will not affect using a wrench on the bolt heads. I'll just remove the "crown" a little.

I haven't decided on a paint yet. It will be either the textured silver, or a camo paint job.

CarveOne