[Jeff5150]

Hi everyone, I was hoping to get some advice from the board on a few questions if you would indulge me? Before I do ask though I had to say the wealth of info in this community is staggering! I've been doing searches for a week but am having difficulty.

Basically, I've purchased the Solsylva 25X25 plans but was hoping to do some modifications right out of the gate:idea:. Mr. Steele is a very helpful guy and had said that the plan uses a trim router for a spindle and anything else is basically inadvisable. That being said I was hoping to use a Bosch 1617 (2 1/4 HP) for some luthier work, has anyone had any success in modifying the Z carriage on this plan set to accommodate the added weight and stress of a full size router? I assume that the gantry arms or sides that you see a lot with the swept back angling are there for this reason, but is there a down and dirty way to calculate the angle or dimensions required?

In the end the plan is to forgo the skate bearing and tube rails for linear and use either aluminum or Phenolic for added rigidity and stability to combat the extra force exerted by the spindle, much like Mr. Louie Atienza has done here
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBm4LWCNMF4]New Home Made CNC Router, Upgraded Parts! - YouTube[/ame]

once I can get this z carriage figured out and source some X or LE Phenolic I'm ready to move forward so any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Jeff

[CarveOne]

The gantry side plates are generally angled backwards to allow moving the center of weight of the gantry beam and router closer to the center of the carriage length. With rectangular side plates the beam can just be mounted to the rear edge of the plates or just inside between the plates. It also moves the actual cutting area rearward where it is more nearly centered on the machine table.

I built the Solsylva 25x37 using red oak instead of pine lumber and it works very well. A lot of luthiers use that plan set because the 37" dimension works better for cutting necks. I think you could easily stretch the 25x25 design to 25x36 or 25x48 if you wish to. It looks like a simpler design to build than my 25x37. Just lengthen the long axis parts to what you want and add the length that the gantry occupies so that you have at least the working length you need.

I made a lot of changes to my 25x37 like 1/2-10 ACME screws and Dumpster anti-backlash nuts, a redesigned bearing plate for the ACME screws, thrust bearings and washers, and I have had it jogging reliably at 250 ipm with a Xylotex driver and 425 oz steppers. It has 1/2-10 single start screws on it now. With a Gecko G540 driver even the 1/2-10 single start screws will give good performance. Being made of wood, it does flex under heavy cutting loads though.

Your Z axis assembly can be enhanced to handle the heavier router, or you could leave it as is and install a Dewalt DW611 1.25hp router for extra power over a regular cheap 1hp trim router. You will need to buy or make a different router mount to fit your Z axis.

CarveOne

[crane550]

Hey,

For what its worth I did the same thing your doing, and have had great results. I am currently running a 25x25 modified Solsylva, and the results are pretty good. I have cut hundreds (yes, hundreds) of guitars on my CNC with very good results. You can see my build thread here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...a_build_w.html

Feel free to take from the ideas, and avoid the mistakes I had. It is a very fun process.

One thing I would highly consider is linear rail setup like Atienza did. That would be my number 1 change if I were to do it over again. I'm at the point where I'm done modifying this machine and building another one completely from scratch. The Solsylva was an excellent starting place, though.

Alex

[Tomason]

It is difficult to understand.My technical knowledge is poor.I often look similar posts in the forum like:mini cnc router .Hope to learn some CNC router knowledge,
Good luck to you，hope you next post.