Ok, alot of people have been asking about the machine, So after alot of thinking, designing, building, redesigning, rebuilding (three times) this is what i have thus far, it uses the my Carriage design on the X-Axis as well as the Y-Axis, the machine is accessed from the front. The X-Axis will actually be across the machine and the Y-Axis is front to back (Two motors). Using the STMD Drivers and the Keling 425oz motors, because of the length of the lead screws I travel at 120ipm. which is pleanty for me for a home built machine, (as it is I cut at 80 to 100 with rapids of 200ipm on my present machine). Using the 1/2"-8 two start acme, Dumpster Anti-backlash, and so on, the setup is very smooth, I will try to use a PC 7518 eventually on it but for now will prob. use the Hitachi.

Ok, what I am asking from you guys is to help design the Z-Axis as you can see in the picture the Z-Axis slide will be a bolt on to the front, 4-5/16" bolts. the width has to be 6" total for the bolt on plate and the over all width can not exceed 7.5" (to alow for the 48" travel) the bottom of the Axis carriage is 5.5" from table top and have to count for the auto tool changer. I have 4 V-Bearings which will be used for the Z-Axis slide. I have a few idea's but would like a little input and additional thoughts.

So if you can please submit DWG files and we can discuss them and maybe you will be the one to design my Z-Axis.

Thanks, Joe

Crazy nice Joe. Cant wait till you have it in action so I can see it run. I bet it will run pretty darn good.

Got the machine moved into its location, leveled with the Jack screws and used some angle for the adjustment feet.

Also got the walls up for the 8'x8' room it where it will sit (still have enough room to park truck in garage, All the walls are up except the rear, waiting for the belts to arive tommarrow from sdp-spi, to couple the two leadscrews together, to make sure the Gantry stays square incase one motor misses steps hoepfully the other motor will help it along. in one of the pictures you can see the shelf the computer and driver boards in a computer case.

Also on the otherside i have enough room for theDelta dust collection system, with the trash can seperator

Joe

The first cut on the machine was to make its own Dust Collection skirt.

I was very impressed with the quality of the cut, could not really see any chattering. Here are a couple of pictures of the center hole cutouts so you can see the quality of the cut and they are untouched straight out of the machine.

Joe

Here is a quick cutting video i did. Machine setup at 100ipm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr-nx3Ul3RM

Joe

Wow! Very nice.
I was planning on getting one of your kits for the last machine you designed but now that I see this new one... hmmm...

I have redesigned the machine with many improvements, switched the leadscrew, went with v-bearings instead, here are some peeks at some parts of the machine.

also some video, rapids over 300ipm.

over 300ipm rapids


X and Y Running at 200ipm




Joe

Well its about time for me to make space for the new 4x4 machine, so I have to put the original 4x4 up for sale (local delivery and/or pickup), here are some specs of it.

4x4 cutting area

4 - Keling 425oz.in motors,

4 - stmd driver boards with breakout board. http://www.avrstmd.com/
go to user gallery to see the controllor.

36v PSU.

I think alot of you have seen the machine on CNCZone, but if not here is a link to the whole machine.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38220

Offers are welcome (as long as they are reasonable).

Joe

Prototype has been sold.

new 4x4 setup and cutting now.

I made a Side Shield to help keep the cuttings on the table and also help from chips flying onto the lead screw.

Its a 1/4" thick x 6" plexi with carpet runner at the bottom, the 1/4" plexi is against the 80/20 and held into place with 1/4" machine screws, washer and t-nuts. The carper runner is slid under the washer to hold into place, It should work well.

Joe

Click to view attachment

Here is my Dust Collection on the router, hard to see but i used 1/2" acrylic cut out on the 4x4, feed rate 100ipm, 0.05 depth cuts, 18,000 rpm, and used a 1/4" 0-flute upspiral. Took 6 min 31 sec. to cut out even at the 0.05" stepdown.

picture of cut out acrylic and everything installed on router.

Joe

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

That's pretty...mine's just a vacuum hose zip-tied to the router! I end up shoving the chips into the "path" a lot.

Here are the videos of the machine cutting out a portion of the CNC 4x4 Hybrid parts out.

Drilling Holes

Joe's CNC 4x4 Hybrid Cutting Part 1 of 4

Pocketing

Joe's CNC 4x4 Hybrid Cutting Part 2 of 4

Cutting out parts with tabs

Joe's CNC 4x4 Hybrid Cutting Part 3 of 4

A portion of the Nested Parts

Joe's CNC 4x4 Hybrid Cutting Part 4 of 4

p.s. I still need to change the d/c skirting. I used a shopvac in video's so you can see better, but after changing skirt the debre will be diminished.

Enjoy,
Joe

Joe, I really enjoyed this video in which you explain your machine. Great job all around!

Wow, that was a great video! Thanks Joe!

Wish the quality was better, I need to get a video camera, and not use my digital camera in video mode.

Thanks for the compliment.

Joe

Same. Plus the lighting at my shop is crappy.