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My CNC Router Built Around The New C-Beam Rail

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by Robert Bailey, May 30, 2015.

  1. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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  2. Peter Oakes

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    Unfortunatly this one does not include the actual thread in the model either. A nice model but slightly short of complete

    Thanks for the effort though
     
  3. Peter Oakes

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    An interesting setup there, looks like your using an 80x40 C section in the front of your X axis and a 40x20 in the rear but have a set of wheels on all 3 slots of the X, 2 on the 80x40 and one on the 40x20, did you share those plates anywhere for the X axis, I would love to try them out and use them as is or modified for my CNC. A great way to increase the resistance to Y forces

    I also see from previous pictures you have mini wheels on the inside of the Z asis C Rail, are you using both inside and outside at the same time, I would imaging this is hard to setup but is very strong when complete
     
    #93 Peter Oakes, Jan 17, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2016
  4. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    yep everything is C-Beam. I did put the mini wheels into the Z-axis. but didn't take into account that the wheels are not the same thickness, we spent a couple of hours shimming things out to get them right. I also screwed up the other plates that required a little shimming, I am working on a revised set to take care of the 8mm bearing placement so I don't have to shim the 8mm block. here is all the files for the current build,
    but I am in the process of moving the 8mm bearings out to reduce shimming, the funny part is the Y gantry didn't require and spacers or shims, fit like it was meant to be designed that way. modify them all you want,
    the bearings I got off ebay don't have to make a pocket for them to sit in and they are bigger.
    New 10pcs Flange Ball Bearing F608ZZ 8*22*7 mm Metric flanged Bearing
     

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  5. Peter Oakes

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    Thanks, I appreciate the feedback and diagrams

    To confirm a few things

    Spacing between Extreme wheels on a 80x40 or 80x20 rail is 99.7mm as measured on your diagrams
    inner spacing on mini wheels for the inside of the C Rail (80x40) is 28.5mm

    I am assuming the slight less than a full unit of 10 is due to allowing more adjustment with the Excentrics and wheels not sized to an exact fit to the 10mm spacing due to fitting into the "V" ?

    I have yet to come across a document defining the nominal measurements and have seen a few over the months with slight differences in measurements, mostly where I have to measure on a diagram, in most cases though the adjustment of an excentric would be able to compensate

    I have found though with the mini wheels on the inside of a C section that the excentrics can rub on the rail depending on the rotation, I feel I need to file more of the corners to prevent this, has anyone else had an issue (I am using smaller washers / shims so thats not the issue with this

    oh, I assume the only place your using the flange bearings is the 8mm Screws ?

    Thanks again
    Peter
     
    #95 Peter Oakes, Jan 17, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2016
  6. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    Got my wheel spacing off these drawings, seems to work well. was finding some varying wheel diameter sizes, with the gantry installed and the bottom wheels loose we would find at least one wheel free spinning.
    when we started adjusting we had to make sure we didn't over tighten the eccentrics . I went with the flanged bearings because there is no need for a pocked, which means your plates are universal for the sides, plus it is a little bigger. If you haven't noticed yet, I have a dimension layer on most of them, you just have to turn it on. the only problem with the mini wheels is the thickness and the screws, we had to make our own length
    so they wouldn't hit the inter rail.
     

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  7. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    took a few more pictures this morning. pluss what I hope is the new Y gantry plates. will be testing them out in wood before milling in aluminum
     

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  8. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    Haven't talked about the main hold down board, here is a picture of it. we had the machine drill all the holes. there are 5/16" holes tor dowel pins to align square stock up and 1/4-20 threaded
    inserts placed every 3.5 inches around the workable surface . There is also a 24"x24" matching spoil board that goes on top.
     

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    gwandad and GrayUK like this.
  9. Cattmy

    Cattmy New
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    Whats the deepest DOC you've been able to achieve in 6061?
     
  10. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    my plates are 1/4" 6061-T6 , what you see in the last picture is 11mm or 7/16 6061-t6 which we haven't tried yet. where I work we have a materials testing lab and we get metals from customers and some times
    they don't want it back and they tell us to recycle it, so I have about 10 sheets of this to play with.
     
    GrayUK and Mark Carew like this.
  11. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    this past summer we got a Metal Supermarkets place 2 blocks form where I work.

    just picked up some 3003 aluminum for $30.
     

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  12. iWalldock

    iWalldock New
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    I'm really liking the look of your machine for my own build. Two questions... 1. What do you think of using the C-Beam, but using belts for x/y like a standard OX? I know the point of C-Beam is to have room for the leadscrew, but it seems that a 40x80 extrusion will be much stronger than the two 20x60 v-slots that are standard on the OX. Unless Openbuilds is coming out with a solid 40x80 extrusion like the new 40x40 I just saw? 2. I like the second rear support with wheels to further prevent flex. I was thinking I would use another C-Beam with internal wheels so I had room on top for the drag chain. Thoughts?

    Keep up the good work and thanks for your advice!
     
  13. Peter Oakes

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    I have taken the plunge to go 80x40's pretty much everywhere but still use belts, I will be doubling up the belts though using the one on top of the other method to improve accuracy and reduce stretch etc.
    My latest upgrade to some rather snazzy RED Rover OX Plates can be seen here :- The Bull Dog, A RoverCNC OX based 1500mm x 1500mm CNC - Tutorial build | OpenBuilds, it is heading pretty much the same way as your planning, hope it helps in your planning.
     
  14. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    I put the internal wheels on the Z but .....when we starter putting it together I hadn't looked at the specs for the wheels. the mini wheels are nor as thick as the regular V wheels and we had do shim every wheel
    on the Z. as far as a drag chain, I am putting a 1" aluminum right angle across the 40mm that the rear wheels ride, that is the reason for the long protrusion on the top of the Z , that is where it will the end will be mounted. I am redesigning the x plates to push the gantry wheels out 20mm, makes it easier to take apart the gantry, should have them later today, I added 20mm rail up both sides and across the gantry. I am
    working on a 4 wheel gantry to hold the power for the router and the hose for the vacuum, that way it all travels together. I you need close up pictures of anything let me know and I will post them.
     

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  15. Peter Oakes

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    One thing would add based on you pictures is an internal X plate to the Y gantry rails and up the wheels there to two rows as I have done on mine The Bull Dog, A RoverCNC OX based 1500mm x 1500mm CNC - Tutorial build | OpenBuilds , this will improve the rigididy of the X gantry and reduce wear on the Y Wheels as there will be more of them sharing the load

    P1020296 small.jpg
     
  16. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    yep, does make it stiffer. I haven't seen any real flex out of the Y as I did from the Z. I do have an inner plate made up if I had to go that route. I will attach it. Since it is snowing most of the office either didn't
    come in or left at lunch so I dot the mods done for the X. I haven't ran them in wood yet...so untested but all I did was expand them 20mm left and right so all the wheel placements for the Z didn't move.
     

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  17. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    here is a couple more pictures showing the position of the wire chain, as you can see I use the 40mm to also hang some clear vinyl to help keep chips from exiting the rear and I have 1/16 Lexan attached down the
    sides to help keep the rails clean. we are going to take the top 40mm of it and using heat guns get it bent to a 90 degree over the rail to better protect the rail from junk getting into it.
     

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  18. Peter Oakes

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    May I suggest you consider only bending the lexan 45 deg and leave a little more on it to still coveer the wheels, as this will cause the chips to fall back onto the table rather than pile up on the lexan and eventually fall onto the wheels and extrusions anyway
     
  19. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    good idea. here are a couple more pictures , getting closer to a finished.......na never finished always tinkering, CNC router.

    Vacuum hose and adapter came from home depot.
     

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  20. Cattmy

    Cattmy New
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    How did you use the eccentric spacers on the x-axis? Did you use 1 or 2 eccentrics, and if 1, which side?
     
  21. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    there are 4 on the lower X wheels and 4 on the left Z wheels and on mine there are 2 on the mini wheels on the inside of the c-beam on the Z
     
  22. matt_o_70

    matt_o_70 New
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    Robert - Can you share the .skp of these Y gantry plates? These are a fantastic looking part!

    Would be helpful if you know how many and what length shims or spacers were required for your Z axis mount to your X axis plates?
     
    #112 matt_o_70, Jan 24, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2016
  23. Florian Bauereisen

    Florian Bauereisen Well-Known
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    Hi,
    noticing the long cutouts between the wheels:
    couldn`t these be used to bolt on an l-shaped aluminium - to protect the spurgear wheels and belt from debris?
    make it removable still for ease of cleaning if needet..
    Just a thought...

    greets

    flo
     
  24. Peter Oakes

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    Yes you probably could quite easily, I would think all the cut outs are to reduce weight and as you can see, in my case it also allowed me to mount a limit sensor quite easilt without reducing the range of the Y axis
     
  25. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    did a little more work on it yesterday, finished the mono rail to guide the vacuum hose and power to the router, updated the firmware in the TinyG and gut out some 32mm blocks to test. not bad for a complete rebuild. here is the Y gantry plates, thought I had posted them but looks like I missed it.
     

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  26. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    the SKP file is in the previous post, as far as the Z goes my buddy put it together while I was working on the gantry, here is a couple of pictures showing the wheels
     

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  27. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    got my new dual shaft motors in for the X and Z axis. just finished reworking the Z also. my design doesn't require 1/8' spacer behind the delrin block so I was stumped when my buddy had to put them in. we took it apart and started from scratch and found he had rebuilt it like it had come apart with the 1/8" behind the block, so we removed all the spacers and it all went together without a hitch. here is the pictures of everything we did today.
     

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  28. Peter Oakes

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    very nice indeed, If its ok, I will take your X gantry plates design and modify for Belt Drive (Add back the Stepper mounts etc)
     
  29. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    here is a modified x plate design, moves the x wheels out 20mm . we found it difficult to adjust the wheels and get a wrench in there. please check measurements as I haven't cut any tests in wood yet, we will uses
    these on my buddy's build. I cut tests out of luan, cheaper than aluminum.
     

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  30. Robert Bailey

    Robert Bailey Well-Known
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    couple more pictures
     

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