LeeWay Workshop, LLC -Cutty Shark 1

Leeway Workshop, LLC

July 30, 2010

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My CNC Router Project
What follows here is a chronicaling of my CNC router build project as logged at CNC ZONE. Okay Guys. Its time to get busy. Since I first knew that I had to have a CNC router just a mere few weeks ago (Thanks CNC Zone) I have gobbled up as many different designs as I possibly could from here and elsewhere on the web. I also took note of the items that I have on hand and developed a design that I want to use for my initial setup. Design has changed several times even after buying some of the materials that won't be needed now. I can see that it might pay to get the design down on paper first. I make blade guards for tablesaws. The guards are called Shark Guards. Ergo the play on words with the name of this machine. Anyway, the Cutty Shark I will mainly be for cutting polycarbonate and thin aluminum sheet. I have the basic frame parts already, so these dimensions are what I am hoping for. X axis = approximately 36". Y- axis = approx. 20". Y axis = maybe 4" or 5". I'll add more details a little later on. Here are a couple of images to get started with. Comments and suggestions are absolutely welcome and the sooner the better.

Comments from others that helped me along and posted in my build log with have this color background.

Looking at your drawing, do you really need the two top interior bearings? I would think the on the top the upper vertical bearing and outer horizontal bearing will work to hold it from moving side to side then on the bottom the lower vertical bearing is the only one needed to keep the gantry from upper movement.
Joe

You are probably right. This is most likely too many bearings. It would actually be 10 bearings per side with this setup. I wanted to make each side of the gantry sorta stand alone on its own without falling off if the gantry weren't there. My thinking is that this may actually reduce any chance of racking. Therefore, I think the top three are a must for starters. The gantry will be pretty heavy itself. All the parts are some nice steel that I had on hand. The 2" x 2" x 44 7/8" tubing is nearly 3/16" thick and the flat bar is 3/16" x 4" x 44 7/8". The end angle iron is 3" x 3" x 1/4" x 24 5/8". I was thinking because of this, there would be very little chance that the router would want to lift the gantry anyway, so I might get away with just some delrin. This could be mounted and adjusted a little easier than the bearings.
I bought 100 bearings on Ebay. I have about twenty peices of 3/4" x 3/4" x 4' aluminum square tube and some brass rod on hand already. This was another reason for overkill in the drawing. I have a mini-mill, mini-lathe and 4"x6" bandsaw to make the build much easier.
Some other details of this build that I have bought are the Xylotex three axis driver board. Three 270 oz. steppers from Home Shop CNC. A 24 volt power supply, assorted bearings, shaft couplings, fan, bushings switches and what not from Surplus Center. I bought some 5/8" 8 acme rod and 6 square brass nuts from Mcmaster Carr. I haven't yet bought the license to run Mach 2, but that should be the last thing major that I'll purchase. I managed to pick up a couple of double bearinged 12" long new THK rails on Ebay for the z axis.
The basic design is one that I should evenually be able to retrofit THK rails on for the other two axes if I am able to find any deals on them. I'll be makin my own contoller box out of aluminum. I'll powder coat it when done. Any suggestions for initil switches lights bells and whistles for the box? Thats it for now. More updates soon. More thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Here is my idea for ya-

DXF file
Paul G

Thanks for a peek at that bearing design. It looks good and simple. I like simple and good. I have had this 4" zinc plated flat bar laying around for a long time. At least I have managed to cut it into shorter pieces now. I wanted to see how straight I could get it mounted, so I put one side together last night. It came out great. Its as straight as my T-square in both directions. I will use it for starters. I should have the frame complete this evening and will add some more photo's then. It feels good to start building it already, rather than just spending money and amassing parts.
After lifting the frame and track assembly for just one side, I am starting to think that this thing may weigh nearly as much as some of these smaller MDF rigs.
MDF and I do NOT see eye to eye. If thats all there was to cut in the world, My tablesaw would be on the curb.

Here's the next installment. I was able to get all my holes drilled for the 5/16" carriage bolts that hold the frame together. They also hold the rails on. Everything came out as square as I can measure. I had it leveled up in the picure and the frame is dead level. The rails tightened up great as well too. I am a happy camper at this point. I had originally intended for the machine to sit on this stationary table in the corner of my shop. Now I know that it has to be on casters. All sides of the machine will need to be accessible at times. Plus a steel framed base with casters will actually have less of a footprint. I ordered 4 casters from the Surplus Center They had what looks like a great deal on them. Here are a couple of photo's so that ya'll know it did happen.

I have just a little more progress to report. I worked on my all in one control panel this afternoon. Got a good start on it. I'll get it all together soon. I have a micro motherboard that will go in here. The fan on the bottom of the power supply is nearly as big as the big fan in the photo. Don't think I'll need to move quite that much air. I have two smaller normal size fans that I'll stick in there somewhere. I will need to put a filter on the outside somewhere as well. Perhaps on the back. I won't be cutting ANY MDF with this thing. No fine dust. I use a dust collector in my shop too, so that will help. I will be hooking up a dust port for the router as well. The box is .063 aluminum and 3/4" square aluminum tubing. All drilled and tapped with 10-24 screws. Could have used rivets, but just wasn't that sure I wouldn't need to take it back apart. Thought about powder coating it, but now that its going together.... The dimensions are 18" wide x 15" tall and 12" deep. Should be plenty of space in there. Thats it for now.

I used the Xylotex 3 Axis controller. Here is an image that shows how I have mine connected. I find that the documentation from Xylotex is inadequate for a guy that doesn't understand much about electronics. Hopefully this may be helpful to someone somewhere. I did the trial and error and cyhpering of the schematics. This works so far for me. Don't take my work for it. Home and Limit switch schematic for Xylotex 3 axis

Home and Limit switch schematic for Xylotex 3 axis

I have found that its far too difficult to try to post all that thread on this site with all the photo's and cutting and pasting. If you are interested, you can finish reading about the CNC Cutty Shark 1 here.