[edmond]

Hi all.
I am starting my buildup on a Lionclaw LC50 CNC Router.I have ordered the pipe, bearings and a HobbyCNC driver board that I am picking up today.I have drawn up all the parts from the E drawings file Andy provided, they are in DXF format.Has anyone built this machine.

[edmond]

My HobbyCNC Driver Board arrived yesterday, so I spent this morning soldering it together everything went smoothly, it realy is a nice kit.Still busy laying out and modifing some of the parts to metric sizes.Im on a really tight budget with this buildup so its going to take a good few months.Im going to order the necessary bearings and Z axis linear bearings next week from VXB and hopefully collect the pipe next week as well.

[BobLWeiss]

I built one a couple of months ago. I didn't have access to a CNC machine at the time so I cut the parts out using woodworking tools in my shop. I can tell you that I am very pleased with the machine and the design is awesome!

Good luck with yours.

Bob

[edmond]

Hi Bob

What materials do you cut on your lionclaw machine, would it be suitable for some light aluminium cutting.I am battling to get Birch Veneer Plywood here in South Africa what else can I use in its place.I ordered the bearings for the leadscrews and some linear bearing bushings for the z axis on monday from VXB.com they are so much cheaper than buying them locally.
Thanks for the encouragement

Edmond

[BobLWeiss]

Hello Edmond,

I used 1/2" MDF and 1/2" Birch Plywood. Its easy to get here at Home Depot but not sure how easy it is for you. See if you can get MDF. That would work just fine.

Yes, the machine will handle light aluminum work as long as your router is good enough and you have the right bits.

Post some pictures as you go...its nice to see other people's builds.

Bob

[edmond]

Hi Bob

Thanks I will use 12mm MDF, I can get 15mm Birch Plywood but its expensive and I would have to modify all the drawings.I plan on using a 1.25 hp router to begin with until I can afford a 3.25hp Porter Cable Router Motor.Will post the pics as soon as I get going.Im going to try get the MDF this weekend.Im going to cut everything on a Multicam CNC Router at my work so that will make life easier.I plan on cutting wood, acrylic and aluminium on this machine.

Thanks
Edmond

[Jason Marsha]

You can also try acme 1/2" - 10 2 start which is 5 turns per inch or similar.
Then the motor does not need to rotate as fast and therefore the stepper remains in low rpm range where it has the most torque.

Some are using 1/2"-8 2 start on Joe's machine for the long axis, Joe is getting 200ipm (5080 mm/min) rapids, and 80-120ipm cutting , he can cut faster but he did not want to push the tool changer and router too much.

The Z axis however is best left with a smaller pitch all-thread or 1/2-10 acme.

NB. The above was related to the use of 200 oz/inch motor s

Edit: 1/2"-8 2 start not 4 start acme

Jason

[edmond]

Hi Jason

Thanks for the advice, but I can only get the trapezoidal threaded rod here in South Africa which is a single start 3mm pitch.Is there a good stockist of 1/2" 10TPI 2 start Acme rod you could recommend or somewhere where I can be it online.I have tried Enco but the shipping works out to $560 to South Africa for a 6 foot length!!!!.Thats why I was going to use M12 threaded rod to start off with.Mcmaster dont ship to South Africa either.Any other suggestions on what I could use.

Thanks
Edmond

[Jan de Ruyter]

Verbolt in Vereeniging does Acme thread
Tel: (016) 422 4491
Fax: (016) 421 1729
Gerald Nienaber [[email protected]]
[email protected]

[edmond]

Thanks Jan
Its nice to know there is another supplier in South Africa.The service I got from Igus was terrible, and when the trapezoidal rod arrived the one had a bend on the one end, I just straightened it by hand otherwise I will have wait another month or so for a replacement piece and I cant afford to have my machine down.

[edmond]

I did my first project since the new leadscrews have been installed.I can get 100ipm on the Y axis, 80ipm on the X axis, the X axis leadscrew still has a bit of whip I think im going to put a second bearing on the bad side to try and stabilize the screw better or maybe go to dual row 5201RS angular contact bearings to try and preload the screw better.I cut a velociraptor this past weekend, I used a 3mm upcut spiral O flute cutter.My collet reducer was finally finished, I eventually got a good friend to make up one for me so I can now use 3mm shank cutters in my 1/4" collet.I still need to sort out some kind of dust extraction as well as trying to quieten the machine down a bit.

[Jason Marsha]

www.mcmaster.com sells acme but I am not sure about shipping.
The 3mm pitch is a good place to start. Every rotation on the motor the gantry will move 3mm while the 1/2-10 2 start will move the gantry 5.08mm for every rotation.

Jason

[Jason Marsha]

Your progress is looking good. Wood chips flying by next month?
Keep up the good work

Jason

[edmond]

Thanks Jason.Do you know of a good source for cheap stepper motors, they are going to be the biggest expense in building this machine.I checked out HobbyCNC.com they seem about the best but with shipping and customs charges they cost about $220,maybe I should check out ebay they are to expensive to buy locally in South Africa the cheapest ones being equal to $140 each.

Cheers
Edmond

[Jason Marsha]

Thanks Jason.Do you know of a good source for cheap stepper motors, they are going to be the biggest expense in building this machine.I checked out HobbyCNC.com they seem about the best but with shipping and customs charges they cost about $220,maybe I should check out ebay they are to expensive to buy locally in South Africa the cheapest ones being equal to $140 each.

Cheers
Edmond

Ebay may be your best bet. I normally get the package deal from hobbycnc which includes all the board parts plus wire and motors so that I can get cutting as quickly as possible.

Jason

[rlrhett]

Of course. Still I had hoped to have a 30 inch foot print for a 20 inch cutting area. I also have about 3-1/2 feet length on the counter top for the 30 inch cutting dimension. Is that still not enough for the cutting area I want?

Truth be told, the largest object I intend to cut in my shop would be a finished piece 16" x 28". But, I know I want to cut that piece! :devious: so even a 24"x24" won't do the trick.

[joecnc2006]

I would go with his (HobbyCNC) new 305oz/in motors, they should run Very smooth for you.

Joe

[edmond]

I made a little progress this weekend, finished making the Aluminium Angle linear bearings and bought some components for the power supply.I had to buy a whole 6m length of Alu Angle so I still got about 5m left.I also rewound a microwave transformer using Bubba's excellent article, Im using the transformer for the power supply.I haven't made the router mounting bracket yet, I might just mount it using the plunge base and then reinforcing the spindle carriage sides to carry the load.The router weighs about 3 kg hope thats not too heavy.This week im going to start making a enclosure for the driver board and power supply, I have some 10mm offcut clear perspex so thats what im making it out of, will cut it and do all the holes on the CNC Router at work.
Thats it for now.

Cheers
Edmond

[edmond]

Its being a while since I last posted a reply because my progress has being a little slow.I made a little progress this weekend, I finished painted the parts with primer, I also trial fitted some of the gantry pieces everthing fitted together fine.I also drew up a router clamp in Corel Draw to match the funny profile of the router body, planning on cutting it this week in MDF or HDPE.I am having trouble getting lovejoy type couplers, I found some similiar couplings but they are very pricey at R300 or $41 each so I might just buy some 20mm thick Aluminium and make my own couplers at work on the Multicam CNC and will make the spiders out of 12mm thick HDPE, will work out a lot cheaper.
Thats it for now

[harryn]

I am enjoying reading your thread. It is unfortunate that it is difficult to source parts there, and obviously, shipping large parts like a lead screw is expensive.

This might explain why we tend to see so many Aussie's building up machines with belt drives - the belts can be rolled up into smaller packages along with some gears, etc. Not sure if that can work for you or not.

There is a very high ID theft / fraud rate for credit card purchases esp. from Nigeria, and this might be affecting the willingness of businesses to ship to S.A. I know it is a different country, but it tends to get thrown in with "Africa" in general.

If you could anticipate a need for a "batch" of routers to be sent for your own use and local re-sale to others, perhaps that makes the shipping a bit more reasonable per unit. I am kind of a Bosch fan and you can get a good idea of pricing from www.amazon.com, as well as others.

As far as belt drive parts, I am planning (at some point) to buy some precision belt parts from Brecoflex, so if that is interesting, maybe we can work something out.

Take care

Harry