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      Hi, welcome to my build, I am currently in the process of building an OX Metal mill by Schematix. Please note I have minimal experience in this area, but I am very willing to learn and have always had a genuine interest/curiosity. After dreaming for a while I figured I would give it a good ol crack and see how it goes and haven't looked back. I was going to post once the build was completed however Im hoping to get some advice on the later stages of the build (electrical) so please feel free to comment :).

      First off I would like to thank Schematix for sharing this excellent build and also providing some really good, easy to follow videos to help me build this beast.

      I took a few photos along the way with the intent of hopefully helping out someone with minimal experience like me, also pictures are fun to look at and most people like them. Initially I expected sourcing parts was going to be my first challenge being in Australia however, was mostly easy everything on Schematix list was easy to find at open builds, makerstore, eBay and aliexpress. 3dHubs was used to print off the required parts as I don't have a 3d printer (I will be building one soon).

      First off was to drill and tap the X carriage holes pretty simple using a drill press, and cut al my lengths of v slot to size.

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      I then moved onto threading all the required holes as per Schematix video build. This is something I completely underestimated time wise to the point that I accidentally messed the up the start of a couple of holes, the fix being to tap the holes deeper and use a longer thread bolt, my advice would be to take it nice and slow and clean the tap often, time consuming but worth it.
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      I got my wheels from aliexpress bulk (Delrin ?) they took a few weeks to get here but the savings were worth it, i don't have much experience to go by but they seem good quality and went together well with a little persuasion.
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      the X carriage was pretty easy very basically parts on parts. When I was ordering my bolts there were a couple of low profile m5 bolts unavailable in a couple of lengths, it was easy enough for me to simply cut down longer bolts in a jig I made with a hack saw or saws all.

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      Once the X carriage was was built it was a simple process to mount the z axis motor mount plates, 3d printed router mount and the lead screw.

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      I was concerned the lead screw was going to be a drama purely because didn't buy the ACME branded kind to save a few $$, I was delightfully surprised when it all went together nicely and didn't have any play whilst not being too tight. I intend to use the anti backlash lead screw nut to stop any slop from future wear.

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      Woohoo ! I must admit I was starting to get pretty excited seeing the the Z axis complete :)

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      Something to note, make sure you get the right sized flexi coupling, the couplings I had ordered were a little too small for my motors( my fault ), not to worry it took a few minutes to drill out a bigger hole on the press. You may have noticed the multiple spacers on my motor mounts , this is an adaption as there were no 35mm spacers available at the time, made up of 4 x 6mm spacers and a 9mm spacer.

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      Moving onto the gantry plates assembly was easy initially,once again following along Schematix video, parts on parts.

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      when it came to assembling the X and Z axis I ran into a problem. The holes that had tapped were essentially "threaded" before I put the bolts in, I put this down poor technique taping the holes accompanied with enthusiasm and impatience. The temporary fix I went with was to use longer bolts in the holes I could along with some thread locker and seems to be doing a fantastic job to the point where I accidentally snapped a bolt trying to back off a bolt :( whoops. I will certainly be revisiting this later on potentially for some strengthening/upgrades.

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      Assembling the Y axis was simple as sliding it onto the v slot and bolting it together. Certainly not rocket surgery. :D

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      Frame complete !!

      :D:D:D
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      This is where I decided to go in a slightly different direction and add in a Vacuum table to hold down my material. I used a full sheet of 19mm MDF cut in half, and used a full half for the base. I squared up the frame and cut out and glued on the pine 40mm box ensuring I left space for the carriage to travel. I then cut and spaced the individual channels and also cut out the top from the other half of mdf.
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      The hot was cut out for my shop vac and the glueing began. One side at a time I space and glued the channels in, placed the top on and applied vacuum to pull the channel into place.
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      Once everything had had a chance to cure under vacuum for half an hour or so I applied glue to all the seams to make all channels air tight. So far it seems to be working quite well its impossible to lift off the top sheet when the vacuum is applied. as for strengthening the table I intend on adding t nuts and bolting top sheet to the v slot and also screwing it to the outer frame.

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      It was then time to add the lead-screw, motors, cable chain and mounts to the Y axis, once again all went smoothly utilising schematix video.

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      Once all the hardware was in place i ran all the cabling back to my control box and started wiring it all in still running very smooth, almost too smooth .....

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      I am currently running a 24 v power supply with 2 x 12v fans in series, Arduino and a CNC shield. I'm using A4988 stepper motor drivers with some upgrades in the mail.

      Once it was all wired up I decided to take it for a spin (without Leadscrews) and it all worked except the X axis. when I would command the X axis to move the Z axis would make a faint noise and I could feel it move ever so slightly.

      I continued to play around and managed to get the x axis to move off a different driver . all motors and wiring works fine. I then had a close look at the CnC shield and notice that the drivers are all screaming hot and also that the fuse on the board has blown. I hardwired the CNC shield in place however now it seems to be shorting/ drawing all power from the arduino when powered up with only one stepper driver installed and the machine won't move at all now. I have tried a different Arduino with no success.

      IMG_4471.jpg

      This is the setup I am running I will be adding in the start hold buttons this week after work along with fault finding the CnC shield. for now thanks for your time :)

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      Attached Files:

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  • Build Details

    Build License:
    • CC - Attribution - CC BY

    Reason for this Build

    To feed my curiosity and build something cool.

    Inspired by

    Schematix - OX Metal 100%
  • Parts list

    Qty Part Name Part Link Comments
    0 Link Please ask for parts list
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