Buildup of the Big CNC machine.

Right since I cast some parts for my big CNC machine this weekend it's only fair I make a post about the buildup as well I suppose.

01 : The Frame

The frame is just a few bits of angle iron welded up to make a nice sturdy frame. I welded to pieces of square tubing to the frame which will be the X-Axis rails.






This picture already has the whole gantry assembly attached.. I didn't take any pictures of welding up the frame since that was around 3 years ago.

Just note the angle iron frame and the square tubing rails.


02 : The X-axis bearing runners.
This is all still very experimental, as in I hope it works... Well here is what I did.

First I took a 200mm piece of stock square bar and drilled the holes for the bearings to attach to.
These holes where then tapped and the bearings attached using a lock nut as a spacer between the bar and the bearing.









Hope you get the idea of what's going on here.


This will make for a very sturdy 90 degree rolling surface with the square tube rails I have on the frame.

Here is the runner on a angle iron to show how it will run on the rail.









Okay I didn't take any pictures of how I fixed that setup to the frame so I hope with these you'll be able to see what I did.















So there you have it my take on a linear bearing .. homemade. I hope it's as precise as It feels when I move it by hand.


The first picture in this post shows the complete x axis linear bearing system with the gantry attached.

03 : The Y and Z axis runner (linear bearing)

The Y and Z axis bearings are tied together and is just the same as the X axis bearings except that they both run on a single piece of square tubing instead of 2 like the x axis. there is a total of 8 bearings for each of these axis so my calculations say that they will hold up under the stress since the load are quite evenly spread.

Here is how I made the linear bearings.




The Y axis running on 40 mm square tube rail.

















The Z axis running on 40 mm square tube rail.













Here is a picture of the whole bearing assembly for both the Y and Z axis.













04 : The Complete deal

Here is the complete linear moving stage of the gantry router so far.


Everything runs smoothly there is no noticeable racking. I will have to reinforce the gantry uprights though. they are causing a slight wobble when the axis move and come to a stop. the inertia in the z axis still wants to keep going. That will be sorted out at a later stage.













well that is what I have so far... in this post we've completed the linear movement.. in the next post we'll start with the linear actuation.

keep checking in....