Looking for Steel - Adelaide, AU
 

Hello Gents,
I'm new to the forum (obviously) - have been contemplating building one of these beauties for a few years now as my second DIY CNC. My first machine is a hobby CNC made from plywood, so now its time to get a bit more serious.

Simply at the planning stage currently, reading through the threads to see what is required and it all seems quite daunting.

If there are any active members on these forums from Adelaide, SA who would be willing to lend advice or answer my no doubt n00b questions from time to time that would be appreciated.

Hopefully i can contribute to the forum in a more meaningful way as things progress.

Thanks
Evan

Welcome aboard!!! We find if you dive in and get started, the info you need is in the forum. You just need to get the plans and start reading ..... a lot !! :)

Welcome.
My first build was from MDF, then I got serious as you put it, and built a beauty.
Read and read.
Not exactly in your area but if you want a hand, send me the air fare, my rates are reasonable. :D

A few hours of work has yielded the following (pics attached)
My layout is based on a 1300x2550 (1220x2440 sheet with extra allowance for some margin of error).

According to the plans:
10 10 300, width is Y+430 = 1730mm
10 10 322, length is X+600 = 3150mm

I am unable to determine the position/location of the cross bearers relative to the main longtitudnal beam, so ive set it to an even 355mm from the end of the beam at both ends (see side view). I wouldnt mind some input on this as i dont want to end up with a location of the spoilboard that doesnt permit the spindle/end mill from cutting an entire board.

Any other comments/criticisms welcome.
Many thanks!

And the finished front view

I might suggest some diagonal cross braces, even partial on the end view near each end of the base. This will keep it from racking. Even diagonals in the 450x250 areas if you want to keep the 1024 area for storage or other use.... Best of luck with your build.

Sunbad,
You may need to check the setout of the cross beams - check dwg 10 10 300 as they are not set out symmetrical.
This allows for the gantry to run past to give full access to the cut area:)

Rick
are you able to elaborate please, im having difficulty locating any dimensions in the plans denoting how these should be laid out. 10 10 30 doesnt have any dimensions in my set?

Actually on the 10 10 300 weldment drawing it shows an offset of 100m of spindle in y-car, so is that all i need to do, reduce my 355mm dimension to 255mm?
the start location relative to the Y beams eludes me. If i measure the drawing with a ruler as proxy, i get a start position 200mm from the start of the beam.

Updated layout. I'd sure appreciate some feedback on the detail
Thanks

That looks better - probably don't need the right hand Y beam.

thanks Rick,
thinking i might use the last beam for a 4th axis or to clamp vertical work pieces somehow.

are steppers of this kind overkill for our applications?

http://www.automationtechnologiesinc...r-2830-oz-in-2

Yes, but the NEMA 34 on the product page look very nice for the price!

' this will move very large motion control applications!'

I think this answers the question.

I would worry about the safety factor.
If something goes wrong with all that torque available, can you stop it.

Not being an electronics man, will you need bigger breakout board and drives ?

Change of dimensions for motor plates also.
Depends on the price I suppose.
Just somethings I have though of.
Happy pondering s

Just received the quote for steel, supplier only sells lengths so there is significant wastage... Cost is for approx $700AUD.

What are other peoples experiences / thoughts with cost and wastage?

Just went through my Bluescope purchases and came to just over $900 for a slightly larger table. 3.6 x1.8 but I know there were a few other metal purchases as well but they were probably about $300 which included about $120 for 12mm aluminum plate Z drive. As for leftovers there was not much apart from about 1.9 Meters of the heavy channel which I turned into a metal brake along with a few other bits I got for it. All purchases were full length apart from the $300 which were smaller pieces.

so my quite seems reasonable i guess.

I spent about $1000 USD on steel. I had very little scrap.

We were quoted around that but when we got there it all changed. They made up some story oh don't know where he got that pricing from blah blah, ended up costing us $1100 for everything.

We went the 640oz motors from Homann's worked out cheaper at the time than the shipping costs from OS.

How do you find the size of the motors, if you had the your time again - would you consider going larger?

I notice you're in SA - without imposing - would it be possible to have a chat and possible meet at some point - would help with my build comprehension immensely.

Thanks

Motors are fine, these were selected the same as another build on the forum, we ended up making a drive reduction and have smooth operation and good speed.