CNC router/laser engraver. son's new project with Dad's help

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Today was a productive day, the spindle is now mounted. a fair bit of work involved, truing up the cast spindle holder and making an adapter plate between the holder and the Z-axis plate.
It's really taking shape now, nowhere near finished but at least it's looking the part.

Here's a close-up of the spindle, note the mister also temporarily fitted.



We have fitted a cam nut on one corner to allow for fine-tuning when tramming. The method is top left-hand bolt is a plain M6 with a good fit, the top right is M6 with a 7.2mm hole in the casting, the bottom left is the same and the bottom right has an M5 bolt with a 7.2 mm Cam nut and with an 8mm hex head... I have to say that this all works perfectly and should make the final setup much easier.



The last picture to show overall progress, the Henry hoover below gives a good idea of the machine's size/capability. with the spindle now fitted we checked for any play/rock of the Z-axis, I'm happy to report that the answer is 'zero' movement, very impressive if I say so myself. There's still a lot to do and my son in his everlasting quest for perfection has decided to add yet another two rails to the 'Y-axis, this time we are adding rails to the top of the side pieces so that the Y-axis will have rails on top and sides.



it shouldn't be too long till the next update, we are on a roll just now...

Pete

[Deleted]

Evening guys

today was another good day well spent with my son in the workshop building his large CNC router, today's job was to fit the 'x' axis motor which included making an adapter plate and fitting an idler for the belt drive. The belt seen in the photos is just a temporary fitment while we worked out the required length and position of the idler/tensioner.

The first picture shows the stepper motor now bolted to the adapter plate and also a top view of the belt etc. These pictures were taken in a cramped space as we didn't move the router from the garage to the workshop today, it's just getting too heavy and barely fits through the workshop door, and even then only when dismantled and taken in at an angle.



A different angle on the motor, to give some idea of where we are, this is the back of the router behind the Y axis gantry which houses the Z axis spindle.



next up is a top view of the adapter plate which holds the belt pulleys and idler/tensioner.



Lastly, we have a side(sish) view of the plate and belt assembly, the proper belt will be wider and made for the job, rather than the temporary belt seen here which has been glued together. The idler pivot point is on one of the mounting bolts to the gantry. When tensioned and tightened up fully there is also a grub screw which will be tightened to ensure no possible slip.



hope that all makes sense chaps, we hope to get more done soon.


Pete

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Another good day spent on the CNC router, this time we finished off the 'Y' axis rails adding a very beefy top rail to go alongside the smaller side rails. This thing really is overkill but better to be strong to begin with. This will offset where many fail when trying to machine material which is normally beyond the DIY machine's capability. With these very strong rails and bearing blocks, we are confident that the machine will handle the high rpm that the spindle requires with no adverse deflection issues.

Here's a closeup of the twin-bearing blocks that will run along the very large 20 mm sq top rails.



a picture of the opposite side with its alloy mounting block attached.



Lastly, a general view to show both the top and side rails/blocks



The next job will be to mount the bearing blocks for the 'X' axis, we are getting close to finishing the machining work. Once that is done it will be a complete strip down, a good clean, and then the parts taken to my eldest son to be anodized before final reassembly. After that, it will be time for the electronics and calibration/setup, should be fun...


Pete

[Deleted]

I've not updated this for a while as my son took his cnc router home while I dismantled my workshop. He hasn't been idle though and I can share a couple of recent photo's. By the time I have the workshop up and running he'll be ready for the last few bits that I still need to machine.

As this photo shows he has made a start on the enclosure.



Here we have the monitor and the start of a hinged shelf that he will sit the keyboard too. Other jobs done are the control board housing and a few more control items, one of which is a hand held control unit to speed up setup and zeroing of each job.






Pete