Messages

21

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: March 08, 2010, 08:28:06 PM »

Slept on the Z axis for a night and came up with a plan.  It will be based on the 1 inch thick by 5 inch 6061 T6 aluminum pieces procured at the local salvage yard.  Here the mill is happily plugging away doing a G83 routine for the mounting holes for the 4 bearing cassettes. A quick too change and it's back counter sinking the mounting holes.

22

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: March 08, 2010, 08:20:10 PM »

A couple of years ago I picked up a couple of THK linear rails and cassettes at the same scrapyard for $10 for the pair.  I got 4 rails and 4 cassettes and some .5 inch aluminum. The rails are about 26 inches long.  An hour later I had it stripped down and a "pile o' parts on the table.  Bearings were well greased as you can see and are in excellent shape.  Time for some thinking..

23

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: March 08, 2010, 08:10:10 PM »

Now for the deep Z axis.  I hit the local scrap/recycling yard this morning and purchased a couple of pieces of 1 inch thick by 5 inch pieces of 6061 T-6 aluminum. This is the primary material I will use for the Z.  I started off by chopping to the length a piece of the material to mount the bearings.  A chop saw with a carbide blade made the cut quickly.  I'll set up the mill to true the end after rough cutting to length.

24

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: March 08, 2010, 08:03:14 PM »

Took apart a Dell computer that will be the brains of this beast.  I was able to shrink it down by tossing all the useless bits of plastic and brackets. I got rid of the CD rom and the diskette drive ( I could always plug one in if I really needed to but I can't see a reason why I would need to.)  It now fits nicely in to the control panel I scored at the local scrapyard a while back. Another $10.00 well spent!

25

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: March 08, 2010, 07:58:48 PM »

Been working on the electrical enclosure for the 4 G&L Servo drives.  Got luck at the local scrap yard and scored a enclosure box for $5.00  Got all my wiring done in a couple of hours this afternoon.

26

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: February 21, 2010, 09:39:41 AM »

Can a man have too many clamps? NO!!

Here I am setting up the ball screw for the X axis.

Once measurements were taken it went to the CNC mill to make the mounting brackets. Everything will be roughly aligned and then shimmed to precision near the build end.

Next step: Contemplating the 5th axis.. Here in place with yet more clamps... Thinking...

27

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: February 17, 2010, 04:55:21 AM »

Russ, Max Z travel will be in excess of 18 inches and the Z will be able to rotate around the Y axis 45 degrees on each side of Zero.  I'll post some pics of the gantry in the coming days. 

Been working on the alignment of the X axis ball screw. (pics to follow)

28

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: February 13, 2010, 08:14:24 PM »

Today I put a jig together to align the primary THK rail along the X axis. Holes were drilled and then tapped with using lots of cutting oil and the slowest speed on my cordless drill.  I set the clutch on my drill near it's lowest setting and got all the holes done without breaking a single tap

Later the rail was placed on the frame and each socket head cap screw was installed so that they are all still loose but the heads are beneath the surface.  This allows me to move the gantry back and forth to get at all the screws.

Late in the day I started positioning the X axis ball screw assembly, more on that in the next few days...

29

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: February 11, 2010, 07:58:10 PM »

Gantry finally in place. This was heavy and dangerous work. Balancing a piece of steel like this on one floor jack and then rotating in 90 degrees is a bitch.  Resting for a while..

Here's a shot of my now messy shop with me in the pic so you can get a feel for the size of the machine.

30

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Heavy large scale gantry mill/router/3d carving 5 axis build

« on: February 11, 2010, 07:52:52 PM »

a couple of hours later the gantry is getting closer to home..